schoch tavli architekten
Villa Rose apartments
best architects 23
multi-family homes
Place
Hauptwil, Switzerland
Studio
Photos
Joshua Loher
Description
The new building was conceived for the site of the Villa
Rose, a late example of Hauptwil’s rich industrial past. The villa’s original
park serves here as a common element for the apartments, which respond to it
via the typology of a long, continuous building. This layout references a
history of hydropower use in Hauptwil, for the purpose of which buildings were
arranged parallel to the brook. It likewise alludes to the historic industrial
buildings in the gardens of the old castle. Architecturally, the double-sided
apartments connect the landscape spaces with Villa Rose’s new park. Direct
entrances on the ground floor and gallery reinforce this interconnection with
the park, encouraging its adoption as a communal area. It becomes a setting for
play, debate or eating together. Generous balconies outline a private space
while establishing the transition between landscape and the individual space of
the apartments. Together with a tile roof, the south façade reacts to the
topographic depression in front of it. Both the reconstructed gardener’s house
and the long building are architecturally linked to Villa Rose and the park. In
fact, the bare plaster architecture of the gardener’s house matches the
existent villa. Similarly, the long building, despite its individuality,
displays a wood structure and materiality in harmony with the ensemble. The
general concept rests on a contribution to the development and strengthening of
Hauptwil in a contextualised residential complex.