EMI Architekt*innen Edelaar Mosayebi Inderbitzin

Description

The building is set back from the street on a spacious green lawn. Its footprint measures forty by eighteen metres, is four stories high and is crowned by an upper penthouse level. On the open southern side, the branches of the mature trees are reflected in the glazed façade of the winter garden. The building is something between a commercial building and a palazzo. First, we asked ourselves how one might live far away from the centre, in the so-called countryside. What emerged were apartments with simple, large spaces, identical rooms, high doors and a timber-framed winter garden. The materials are somewhat rustic and the construction is handcrafted and robust. We made a few discoveries in the process: For example, the potential of sheet-metal work for architectural expression, or the importance of ancillary structures in anchoring such a large building within its surroundings – with the bicycle shed on the neighbouring party wall, the circular pavilion on the lawn, or the pergolas and wall fragments between the apartment building and the street. The house on Schulstrasse is our most economical project: we were able to build almost forty apartments here for less than ten million Swiss francs.