*맛지오레호수를 내려다 보는 콘크리트 하우스 [ Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects ] Lakeside home _archaic stone block

스위스 울창한 살림지대가 내려다 보이는 언덕 아래, 노출콘크리트의 거친 모습이 그래도 재현된 하우스를 만나 봅니다.

지면(도로)으로 부터 아래에 위치한 하우스는 두개의 블록, 3개층으로 이루어 지며 그 사이에 작은 중정을 확보합니다. 건축가가 의도한 건축환경; 오래시간 동안 풍화작용을 거치면서 자연의 일부분이되어 버린 거대한 암석을 그래도 표현한 외형적 특징은 고스란히 내부 거주환경에도 반영, 주변 자연환경과 밀착된 거주환경을 조성합니다. 절제된 내부공간, 모던한 인테리어는 이러한 미학적 특징만을 고수하지 않고, 안락한 거주성을 제공함으로써 하우스 본연의 자세를 충실히 수행합니다. 분명한 점은 우리나라에서는 구현하기 힘든, 건축환경을 보여줍니다. 단열에 대한 고려가 빠진 노출콘크리트와 창호계획은 아마도 혹독한 겨울철을 지내야 하는 우리에게는 선택이 아닌 필수로 생각해야할 문제이기 때문입니다.

Coarse concrete walls encase this house by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti, which overlooks Switzerland's Lake Maggiore from a wooded site sunken down below street level.

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Architects: Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
Engineer: de Giorgi & Partners
Building physics: IFEC Ingegneria
Master builder: Canonica
Windows: Morotti
Plasterer: Paolucci
Joiner: Romeo Buss
Furniture design: Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
Fittings: Superplan Kaldewei, Pro, Architec, Emporio Via Manzoni, Arwa Twin, Sanitär Tröesch

Photography is by Hannes Henz.

The firm designed Casa Dem for one of its three directors, Jérôme de Meuron, his wife Paola and their seven-year-old child.

It is set into a steep slope beside the architects' studio in Caviano – a region on the eastern shoreline of Lake Maggiore.

Two of the building's three storeys sit below street level. When approached from the road, the house appears to be just one storey tall, but from the valley below its tall narrow form is revealed.

Deep square windows cut in the building's craggy concrete walls let light into the internal courtyards that bracket the two upper floors.

"The polygonal exterior shape and the steep topography of the site let the building appear as an archaic stone block in middle of the forest," said the studio.

"This is reinforced by the rough washed concrete surfaces becoming darker by the weathering," said Wespi, de Meuron and Romeo.

"To the mountain-sided street, the construction presents itself as a closed, simple one-storey volume," they added. "To the valley side, the house appears as a narrow three-storey tower."

The building has an irregular pentagonal form that was dictated by planning restrictions, which stated minimum distances from a nearby forest, road and neighbouring property.

"The building laws determined the outer form of the building, what often happens when leftover plots are developed," explained the architects.

Living areas are largely arranged within a rectangular portion of the plan, while courtyards and loggias are dotted around the perimeter.

The top floor of the house is used as the primary living area. The rough concrete walls of the room are decorated with paintings and sculptures by Jérôme de Meuron and Hanspeter Wespi.

The living space connects directly with the street via a flagstone courtyard, which features a small seating area built into the wall. Cutaways in the outer wall offer residents views of the surrounding vegetation.

A second courtyard on the other side of the living space faces onto the back of the property.

"The inner courtyard on the seaside releases the view to the lake and the mountains through a big roofed opening; while its closed wall surfaces reflect the sunlight to the inside," said the architects.

"Both courtyards, each with a wisteria, let the living room become a garden room and let the inhabitants experience the varying atmospheres of the weather and the light in an unusual intense way."

A skylight is situated above the chunky concrete staircase that connects the three floors, allowing light to penetrate to the lower level.

The first floor, entirely hidden from the street, faces out towards the forest and lake. Here, two bedrooms are ventilated by angular loggias, while a cellar and workshop are located in the base of the structure.

from  dezeen