32 Housing units for borders guards

Vernier, Switzerland

Facade

Photo © Stefan Zürrer

Apartment

Photo © Stefan Zürrer

Entrance

Photo © Stefan Zürrer

Core

Photo © Stefan Zürrer

View from the loggia

Photo © Stefan Zürrer

East Facade

Photo © Stefan Zürrer

Apartment Buildings

Architects: ahaa

Location: Chemin des Tattes, 1023 Vernier, Switzerland
Year: 2020

The new building with 32 apartments is situated on the outskirts of Geneva on a gentle south-facing slope. It is inhabited by customs officers with an irregular daily routine and the noise pollution due to its proximity to the motorway and airport entails high user-specific soundproofing requirements. The new building’s special floor plan emerges in the wake of this issue, based on an individual apartment whose living space faces two or three sides. Thus giving the residents the advantage that they always have a choice of which direction they want to face.

The polygonal building volume avoids turning the back on the existing buildings and integrates them into the new logic of the communal outdoor spaces. The floor plan’s efficient organisation, grouping always three apartments around a central circulation area, allows to compensate for the relatively large façade and create economical apartments. The organic floor plan that looks wild at first glance is structured in an extremely rational and only uses two angles. Each room in the building has at least three easily furnis- hable right angles while any remaining difficult to use areas are reduced to an absolute minimum.