Lin.Robbe.Seiler: La Gradelle housing  - best architects 23

Lin.Robbe.Seiler

La Gradelle housing

best architects 23

multi-family homes

Place

Cologny, Switzerland

Studio

www.lrs.ch

Photos

Rolf Seiler

Description

The project proposes a contemporary interpretation of the garden city, combining a human, landscape-oriented scale with the notion of density and rationality. Three towers of varying heights are set in the centre of a large garden. This strategy constitutes an organic volumetric response to the park while incorporating it into a heterogeneous build context. As the centrepiece of the plan, a park project by the landscape architects Studio Vulkan proposes maximum use of the plot through a peripheral loop promenade for its residents. By analogy, each apartment is designed as an interior landscape, with living areas spaciously laid out around a loggia set at the corners of the floor plan. Particular attention is paid to exterior extensions in the form of walkway balconies, which allow residents to circulate in and occupy the outside space. Folds at the corners of the balconies that alternate from one floor to the next substantially enhance their use value and amount of sunshine, helping create an organic, playful perception of the ensemble. Seeking a residential style, the façades use a contrasting language of expressive slabs of whitewashed prefabricated concrete combined with darker anodised aluminium walls set further back. The crossed balustrade rails create a play of light that changes according to the interior and exterior perspectives, highlighting the folded geometry of the three towers.