Project
Concrete Residence
Basel, Switzerland
Residential
Overview
A city villa in a single material, where the concrete is structure, envelope and interior surface at once.
The building code left us a tight envelope and a height limit that ruled out the section we wanted. The answer was to go down: a full lower level cut into the ground, lit by a sunken courtyard that runs the length of the house. Above ground, the villa reads as a single dense volume in pigmented concrete, its surface left exactly as it came out of the formwork.
Overview
A city villa in a single material, where the concrete is structure, envelope and interior surface at once.
The building code left us a tight envelope and a height limit that ruled out the section we wanted. The answer was to go down: a full lower level cut into the ground, lit by a sunken courtyard that runs the length of the house. Above ground, the villa reads as a single dense volume in pigmented concrete, its surface left exactly as it came out of the formwork.
Facts
Location
Location
Basel, Switzerland
Year
Year
2023
Type
Type
Residential
Area
Area
520 m2
Materials
Materials
Pigmented concrete, travertine, bronze
Facts
Location
Basel, Switzerland
Year
2023
Type
Residential
Area
520 m2
Materials
Pigmented concrete, travertine, bronze
Architecture concept
Structure, surface and light, decided once.
Concrete here is not a finish applied to a structure. It is the structure, the insulation envelope and the interior surface in one four-hundred-millimetre wall. Windows are set deep into the reveal so the wall keeps its mass at every opening. The house stays cool through the summer without mechanical cooling, and will look essentially the same in fifty years as it does today.
Architecture concept
Structure, surface and light, decided once.
Concrete here is not a finish applied to a structure. It is the structure, the insulation envelope and the interior surface in one four-hundred-millimetre wall. Windows are set deep into the reveal so the wall keeps its mass at every opening. The house stays cool through the summer without mechanical cooling, and will look essentially the same in fifty years as it does today.
Gallery
Gallery
Plan
Ground floor
A single room deep for most of its length. The stair sits at the centre of the plan, lit from above, with circulation wrapping it. Every room holds daylight from two directions.
Plan
Ground floor
A single room deep for most of its length. The stair sits at the centre of the plan, lit from above, with circulation wrapping it. Every room holds daylight from two directions.
Related projects
Related projects
MONOLITH
An architecture practice working between Merano and Copenhagen. Founded in 2011.
Practice
Via Cavour 14
39012 Merano (BZ)
Italy