Coarse concrete walls encase this house by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti, which overlooks Switzerland’s Lake Maggiore from a wooded site sunken down below street level .
The firm designed Casa Dem for one of its 3 directors, Jérôme de Meuron, his wife Paola and their 7-year-previous little one.
It is set into a steep slope beside the architects’ studio in Caviano – a region on the eastern shoreline of Lake Maggiore.
Two of the building’s three storeys sit beneath street degree. When approached from the road, the residence seems to be just one storey tall, but from the valley below its tall narrow form is uncovered.
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Deep square windows reduce in the building’s craggy concrete walls let light into the internal courtyards that bracket the two upper floors.
“The polygonal exterior shape and the steep topography of the website let the developing seem as an archaic stone block in middle of the forest,” explained the studio.
“This is reinforced by the rough washed concrete surfaces getting to be darker by the weathering,” said Wespi, de Meuron and Romeo.
“To the mountain-sided street, the development presents itself as a closed, straightforward a single-storey volume,” they additional. “To the valley side, the property seems as a narrow three-storey tower.”
The constructing has an irregular pentagonal type that was dictated by preparing restrictions, which stated minimum distances from a nearby forest, road and neighbouring home.
“The developing laws established the outer type of the developing, what frequently happens when leftover plots are created,” explained the architects.
Residing regions are largely arranged within a rectangular portion of the prepare, whilst courtyards and loggias are dotted close to the perimeter.
The prime floor of the home is utilised as the primary living location. The rough concrete walls of the room are decorated with paintings and sculptures by Jérôme de Meuron and Hanspeter Wespi.
The residing area connects straight with the street by means of a flagstone courtyard, which functions a small seating area developed into the wall. Cutaways in the outer wall offer you residents views of the surrounding vegetation.
A second courtyard on the other side of the living area faces onto the back of the residence.
“The inner courtyard on the seaside releases the see to the lake and the mountains by way of a huge roofed opening whilst its closed wall surfaces reflect the sunlight to the inside,” explained the architects.
“Both courtyards, every with a wisteria, allow the residing room turn into a garden space and allow the inhabitants encounter the varying atmospheres of the climate and the light in an uncommon intense way.”
A skylight is located above the chunky concrete staircase that connects the three floors, making it possible for light to penetrate to the lower degree.
The very first floor, entirely hidden from the street, faces out towards the forest and lake. Here, two bedrooms are ventilated by angular loggias, while a cellar and workshop are located in the base of the construction.
Photography is by Hannes Henz.
Undertaking credits:
Architects: Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
Engineer: de Giorgi & Partners
Constructing physics: IFEC Ingegneria
Master builder: Canonica
Windows: Morotti
Plasterer: Paolucci
Joiner: Romeo Buss
Furniture layout: Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
Fittings: Superplan Kaldewei, Professional, Architec, Emporio By way of Manzoni, Arwa Twin, Sanitär Tröesch
Ground floor program 
First floor program 
2nd floor strategy 
Roof plan 
Part
