- Area: 350 m²
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Photographs:Christof Weber Photograph
This detached house located in Bridel is built on a plot of land which slopes sharply towards the forest bordering the land at the North. Established along the eastern edge of the land, the house maximizes the facade and clearance in the southwestern part. From the street at the south, the house is reachable by a light footbridge, detaching the living spaces from the natural ground, like a nest in a tree.
In order to preserve the natural character of the land and its continuity with the forest, the house is reduced to two components: a massive volume stuck like a trunk in the slope of the land and the ground floor hanging upon the trunk like a nest and contrasts holding as a overhanging glazed volume extended by a terrace. A light slop down of the face of the glazed volume is enough to interact with the terrace and creates a cup-shaped outside space, contained by the house.
From the footbridge reaching the street, the living room is on the ground level to lead to the garden at the level of the garland of trees of the forest! This layout allows benefiting from the situation between sky and earth, like a hut in the trees... especially for the living spaces that take advantage of large bay-windows opening on the panorama. The walls of these areas appear free and without any sharpness, which confers a great flexibility to the space and makes the movements easy. The daylight is diffused deeply by clear soil and ceiling.
The furniture of the cloakroom, kitchen and fireplace are integrated as an extension of architecture.
The supporting structure and the building elements, although complex by the set of successive cantilevers, is treated with discretion at the ground floor to clear large bay-windows, lighten the frames, enlarge panoramic views and give visual lightness to the salient glazed volume.
Two uninterrupted and stacked staircases distribute the 4 levels of the house: a staircase of service, in raw concrete links up cellars (-2), garage (-1) with the entrance hall (0); a second more noble staircase, with clear-view wooden steps, makes link between the noble rooms of the garden level (guest room, office, library) and the living spaces (0) up to the bedrooms (+1).
The purpose of this plan being symbiosis between needs of a contemporary family house and the emphasizing of the natural features of the site to create a place giving experiments of outstanding daily life.
