This is a house for a young South African family in Erlenbach, just outside Zurich along the lake. The plot is in a suburban context and therefor pretty dense with family homes, typical for the area. The site is on a slope, where on top there are beautiful views to the lake with evening sun and at the lower part there is a group of smaller family houses. The clients asked us for a solution for a house that made most of the big plot, wanting a view, but not end up with a house on top of the hill and a rest of a garden down below.
Designed by Gus Wüstemann Architects, the main house is a stony, concrete, hammer shaped volume over two levels, that contains the living rooms. In the upper part is the ‚public ‘living room for invitations and dining with a beautiful view over the lake of Zurich. On the ground level is the family lounge with an exterior patio that can be joined as one room with the living room. All the windows disappear and the inside and outside patio become one. That patio connects all bedrooms and is a lounge to sit together privately and watch a movie.
The circulations in and out of that space are controlled by concrete volumes at the ceiling that condense the space through mass and light and slow the circulation.
The two rooms are crossed above each other, at the ground floor level we pull a wooden curtain around the concrete volume to create the private sleeping quarters.
The upper living room has a shark fin like shape, so the space is very high at the back of the
Space with northern sky lights, and is lower at the front to frame the view.
