Andreas Fuhrimann and Gabrielle Hächler Architects was designed modernist contemporary holiday house located in the middle of the village of Vnà in the Lower Engadine.
The aim was to develop a formal language which had a certain proximity to traditional Engadine architecture and yet remained immediately recognisable as contemporary without being conservatively romanticised. In urban planning terms, the building closed a permanent gap in the village structure whilst the dimensions correspond to those of the adjacent houses. The use of concrete as the main building material pays justice to this stone appearance. Only the inner walls and ceilings of the living and bedrooms are lined in plywood panelling to give the rooms a warmth and comfort and as an approximation of the traditional sheltered feeling of a mountain dwelling. The solidness of the ground storey is likewise a common regional feature. The archaic is also reflected in the construction with the use of gas concrete, allowing the walls to be erected homogenously without layering. The resulting massiveness of the walls has a great similarity with traditional means of building and enabled the typical corbels of the window reveals. The windows are arranged according to interior criteria, giving the façade an informal appearance typical of old Engadine houses. The depth of the reveals creates an attractive play of shadows and roots the building firmly in the region.
Finally, the traditional and modernist elements of the sculptural volume blend into a unified whole. The interplay between simplicity, rural straightforwardness and contemporary comfort and architectural sophistication lend the house a very specific character, which pays respect to the village without being obsequious.
Visit the Andreas Fuhrimann and Gabrielle Hächler Architects website – here.
