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Architects: Camponovo Baumgartner Architekten
- Area: 638 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Peter Tillessen, Camponovo Baumgartner
Text description provided by the architects. Oberhusrain in Kriens winds its way in serpentines up the steep Sonnenberg. Within the development, a green gap is visible where sheep graze around a walnut tree. This plot was the first in Oberhusrain to be sold but never developed. Now the owner's family is having a two-family house built there on the sloping site.
The road to Oberhusrain reveals the complex challenges posed by the plot and its surroundings. At the same time, this starting point creates moments in the project in response to the hillside location. The building divides the plot, creating two contrasting sides. On the front side, the southern slope offers a breathtaking view of Mount Pilatus and Lake Lucerne. A sunny and spacious terrace invites you to linger. Behind the house, a sheltered, secluded garden seating area looks out over the steep slope.
The generous entrance area makes the topography of Oberhusrain spatially tangible: access is via a story-high exterior staircase, and the foyer pokes up through the building, providing a clear view of the garden on the mountainside. These vistas also bring the interior to life.
Above the entrance, the two homes share a small exit that brings classic images to life: People waving hello or goodbye. Both houses extend over three floors, with their individual characteristics emphasizing the qualities of each floor. There are moments of distance and intimacy in each one.
The lowest floor is classically laid out with a spacious entrance, two rooms, and a bathroom. The entrance, along with the cloakroom, is lined with wood, making it a piece of built-in furniture, an element that is repeated throughout the house.
The rooms on the living floor are arranged around another central piece of built-in furniture and can be flexibly divided with wall-sized sliding elements. The living area forms a spatial continuum with surprising moments. Alcoves invite you to linger, such as the window with a seat and a panoramic view. The two-story dining room offers a wide view up the slope. Through a fixed glass window, the dining niche adjoining the kitchen overlooks the hillside, as well as the entrance corridor below. The study provides access to the shared egress above the entrance.
The attic floor crowns the house. It is mainly south-facing via a terrace with views and an outdoor shower. A wall opening into the extra-high dining room connects with the floor below and with the garden side. The arrangement of double-height rooms enhances the perception of topographical conditions. They create generous moments in a dense spatial structure, where, on closer inspection, unexpected lines of sight surprise us. Clinker bricks, lime-cement plaster, wood, and subtle colors ensure the coherence of the stories.
The clear, strict structure of the interior is also visible in the façade design. Vertical pilaster strips are arranged regularly around the house. The lintel and parapet elements protrude slightly, creating a lively expression in the façade. The clinker bricks are laid in vertical and horizontal courses. The cross joints give the facade a graphic texture. Curtain-type exposed concrete elements accentuate the axis of the house.
On the slope side, from the outside the house looks more modest, though the same materials and the same vocabulary are used. The two-story layout changes its appearance.
