OFFICE 75

Urban Villa was part of a masterplan by Christ & Gantenbein Architects for a sloping site overlooking Lake Geneva. The practice invited a number of colleagues to design housing projects in a dense field framework, while respecting the features of the landscape. The villa is a single block with a diamond-shaped plan and an inner courtyard, which expands its volume, giving it the prominence it requires in the overpowering setting. The two obtusely angled wings contain twelve units, while the double wall, which accommodates a communal circulation zone, encloses a paved patio. All apartments are organised in parallel fashion, and have individual access from the common patio, as well as a view towards the lake from the triangular terraces. An expressed column and beam structure, frames terraces on the building’s open side and accommodates brick infill of its opaque side, maintaining a regular rhythm around the whole perimeter.