EMI Architekt*innen Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin
Stockmattstrasse townhouses
best architects 25 in gold
multi-family homes
Place
Zurich, Switzerland
Studio
Photos
Roland Bernath
Description
The townhouses on Stockmattstrasse are set at the rear of the property, close to Bruggerstrasse, a road that follows the River Limmat, connecting the town of Baden with the municipality of Turgi. A few businesses give the thoroughfare the character of a commercial strip. As part of Baden’s Kappelerhof quarter, the townhouses complement the anonymous fabric of a residential neighbourhood consisting of linear buildings, detached houses and apartment buildings. Many families live here. The cooperative townhouses are just 3.75 meters wide and extend over three stories – a height requirement of the local development plan. The interior space develops in section, with living spaces and bedrooms lined up with a half-story vertical offset on both sides of a central staircase. Rooms with abundant height compensate for the buildings’ narrowness. Each house has five rooms, a garden and a roof terrace. Due to their internal spatial configuration, the townhouses are built differently than conventional houses. The floors are borne not by walls but by brackets projecting from vertically continuous demising walls made of concrete. The floor assemblies are built of wood, as are the façades and the roof. The façade cladding takes its inspiration from Japan and is at once serious and cheerful. The steep metal roofs transform the tall building into a two-storey house.