sas specific architectural solutions
Bigroof house
best architects 16
single family homes
Place
Lausanne / Switzerland
Studio
Photos
Thomas Jantscher
Description
The house is located on the outskirts of Lausanne, on the forest edge, surrounded on three sides by the Rovéréaz woods and enclosing a forest clearing to the south. The plot lies on an incline running from north-west to south-east, with a partial encroachment on the 10-metre limit to the forest. In contextual terms, the project involves a variety of proposals. First, in response to the woodland setting, it provides a formal embodiment of the 10-metre limit of construction through its physical plotting on this natural green borderline. The design favours continuity over fragmentation (with no recessing of the attic storey), to deliver a single roof line rather than a building in three sections. The volumetric design is strongly defined, but favours investigation over fixed orientation, in order to interact with both the garden to the rear (forest clearing) and the sun to the south. Outlooks have been arranged to interact with the various specific features of the site: the Zen garden to the rear, a tributary of the La Vuachère River to the side, and the Alps to the south, together with the existing roof line. In terms of material context, the design interacts with the site through the use of timber shingles, in accordance with a local craft culture for using the surrounding forest as a source of raw materials.