Gottshalden Horgen

The House Gottshalden is situated on a plateau above Lake Zurich. The surroundings are shaped by agriculture, a green space of high quality. The building volume is fully articulated, wooden, sharp-edged, reduced. Its furniture-like timber envelope defines façades and roofs alike. The materiality is consistently maintained throughout. Varied geometries lend the volume to its plasticity, while the flush-mounted windows are accentuated by their bright internal reveals. The L-shaped floor plan is organized vertically through split-level arrangements of staggered planes.

Massive, exposed oak planks span the rooms in composite construction. The structural imprint of ceilings and floors conveys the warmth of the material into space. The orientation of rooms alternates from floor to floor. Light and shadow, narrowness and breadth, a cascade-like stair: the interiors breathe, laid out with variety, precisely fitted within the enclosing shell. Windows frame images of the landscape. Ventilation is provided through closed window doors, leaving the viewer’s gaze undisturbed. At dusk, the warm life within begins to glow. The house reduces itself to an almost graphic figure, where the minimal distances to eaves and corners seem on the verge of disappearing.

Client: Private

Planning: Rossetti+Wyss Architekten, Classen Haustechnik GmbH, Geiger AG, Zürcher Elektroplanungen AG, BWS Bauphysik GmbH

Photos: © Jürg Zimmermann