In the 17th century, wealthy citizens began to build summer houses outside Zurich's city walls and to create extensive gardens, most of which are now densely overbuilt.
The extensive gardens and the dense neighbourhood: these poles characterise the design of two residential buildings that are built in one of the last open gardens. The new buildings are set far away from the old ones and articulated as light pavilions. They stand at right angles to the slope on a rhombic footprint in order to offer little resistance to the slope and leave wide spaces in between.
It is not the view of the distant lake, but the view of the nearby trees that makes this place so special. A circumferential ribbon window therefore opens all the living spaces to the garden – without the residents having to live in the shop window, as the parapet and lintel give the rooms stability and protection to their occupants.
The all-round attention to the garden has its inner counterpart in a sequence of rooms characterised by wide views and divided by only a few bodies and walls. Where these are close together, they can be closed with recessed doors. In this way, the flowing open-plan space can be transformed into private chambers.
