House Erlenbach

Erlenbach, Switzerland

Photo © Roger Frei

Single Houses

Architects: spillmann echsle architekten

Year: 2010

The tapered 500 square-metre property is situated on a ridge on the right bank of Lake Zurich. The structure’s dimensions result from the contracting shape of the plot. The detached house comprises two full storeys with an attic and a basement including an underground car park. The projecting and receding levels of the single-shell concrete construction appear deliberately stacked on top of each other and create balconies with different orientations. The window openings are positioned precisely in the individual rooms to ensure views of the lake and into the distance. A staircase core runs through the structure like a backbone and holds the compact interior layout together.

The structure’s heaviness offers presence as a response to the anonymous newer architecture of the area. At the same time, it stands in dialogue with a mighty pine tree adjacent to the building on the slope.
A purist garden space encloses the structure, transforms the interior into an exterior space and, in combination with a hedge, creates a high degree of residential intimacy.