Houses such as concrete sculptures

"city, image" no. 006 grey and rough. So Zurich Client likes it for some years. Concrete everywhere, walls, Ceilings and facades. Cold Uniformity. To be new construction from the low of village fountains to showers to a winter coat. But there are exceptions.

In the case of houses, it is like people: There are those who draw in the first encounter in the spell. Fascinate you, without trying to hard to be different, but have that certain Something. In this category the buildings of the Zurich-based architects Andreas Fuhrimann and Gabriella Hächler belong. Meanwhile, three of their residential houses characterize the inner city of Zurich.

Fuhrimanns and Hächlers raw concrete facades stand out by their unconventional, irritating shape. Your buildings seem as if they had sculptors of the same shape, a concrete block to a sculpture. Corners milled off, symmetries change, edge stresses, experimenting, until the building meets the aesthetic requirements and a certain sensuality exudes. Maybe this is the reason why the architects were initially commissioned by art-savvy builders.

Because certain elements appear again and again, is the signature of Andreas Fuhrimann and Gabriella Hächler always unmistakable. The reason is kinked where it goes, only is crack. The ground floor façade back jumps irregularly. This takes the construction the Severity of the imbalance it dynamic and at the same time elegant. In a single family house Alder on the rut road in Wipkingen one gets the impression, as the balance of construction – in the Mediterranean area, for once, with baking stones on the foot.

Projecting facade elements and not equal to high Bay Windows characterize the buildings of Fuhrimann Hächler. Image: Sabina Bobst

The facades in the top shot the collar about several, but not all, of sticks. Different high Bay feature about the multi-family house on the corner Luisen - /x-road. Windows are planned, where possible, across the corner like the one at Waffenplatzstrasse. to use

Raw materials, was planned by Andreas Fuhrimann and Gabriella Hächler, but born out of necessity – for higher quality, the money was missing. They were already convinced long been assumed that this alone still makes any room better. So they began to work in the laboratory and with the imperfect surface and the variety of architectural forms to be aware of.

Long this Flair of the architect is also beyond the country's boundaries. The British "Wallpaper"magazine reported on the Haus Presenhuber, which have implemented the planner in Vnà for the Zurich gallery owner. The BBC devoted a part of their TV-series "The World's Most Extraordinary Homes" to the "House on the Rigi".

Although it is a little more of this naughty Playful in the monotonous Zurich city wish sometimes, it is good that not more architects to copy this sculptural approach. Otherwise, the buildings of Fuhrimann Hächler would not sting in the eye.

The new column "city" is dedicated to all of the many things that have made it in Zurich in a public space is cozy and our image of this city to shape – for Good or for Bad. She always appears in the middle of the week.

Created: 06.11.2019, 17:16 PM