We were commissioned to develop designs for a pair of houses on a steep site overlooking Lake Zurich. Taking its form from the neighbouring detached villas, the building sits on a shared basement which also provides street level entry. The two houses do not reveal themselves as semi-detached, rather, by virtue of their distinct entrances each part appears to be the whole, with each villa having a triple aspect.
Internally, the entrance hall of each house is generous and lit from above Placing the stairs of each house in a cranked form allows the living and dining rooms to have private outlook, looking out onto terraces, into which the garden flows. A gallery over the entrance hall looks down into the double height living rooms.
On the upper floor a private terrace surrounds the master suite on three sides. Here there is an additional room that can be a private living room or a small gym.
In the 'attic' there is a sky room, surrounded by a terrace on three sides as large in plan as the living room, with views of the lake, where guests can be entertained.
A pair of houses on a site overlookng Zurich Lake, conceived as a singular detached villa with sheltered exterior space at each level.