Nestled on the Alpine slopes north of Lugano, this house is characterised by a volumetric architecture that emerges from the terrain and follows the natural contour of the land. Its constructed volumes embrace the land in an organic and fluent sequence of spaces, each relating to each other and to the surrounding landscape. In order to communicate an identity and a language to the inhabitants, the project has a strong and precise form, its clearly identifiable geometric structure delimits an organised development of spaces. Carved in a clear square geometry, the spaces meet the slope and extend in a spiral, fluent movement that continuously changes the perception of the space and its relationship to the exterior, offering striking panoramic views across the hinterland and to Lake Lugano.
The house, sited on a 30 degree south facing slope, is the last plot of buildable land before meeting the limits of the encroaching adjacent woodland. The strong angular forms of the house mean that it becomes a marker, announcing the end of the urbanised zone and the beginning of the adjacent wood. The three main storeys of the house have been set on the plot at shifted levels in order to meet the correspondent level of the existing site. This offers a direct relation to the outside from all parts of the house at all levels. The aim of the project is to ensure a visual continuity between the internal and external spaces but moreover, to extend the space beyond its physical boundaries and into the surrounding landscape, ‘borrowing’ the landscape and projecting the idea of space beyond its material limits.
The succession of spaces and play of perception in the house are ideas derived from those principles of the Japanese garden. By their design and their nature, Japanese gardens offer varying levels of awareness of and responsiveness to space by offering an experiential sequence of different sceneries. As in the gardens, the organisation of the spaces in the house is condensed yet continuous and is intended to take the experience of being in the house beyond the rooted and enclosed domestic scale. In addition, the house also works on both an intimate and vast scale. The clients desire for a shell-like home has been met; the house is very private, protected and not overlooked, however the generated form and volume of the house also creates an open, generous outlook, embracing it setting and taking quiet ownership of its prospect .
