Ballet Mechanique designed by Manuel Herz Architects, The site is located in one of the residential quarters in the heart of Zurich, close to the lake and just meters away from Le Corbusier?s Heidi Weber Museum. One of the greatest qualities of the site is its garden, which is marked by a wild and primeval quality. Walking through it, we encounter surprises, wild plants, installations, objects that seem like the remains of forgotten cultures, trees with sculptural qualities and footpaths that disappear into nowhere. At the same time, the construction of the house is only possible with the feeling of the most impressive tree. This tree that dominates the center of the garden, with its peculiar twisted trunk and its thick, crooked, knotty branches. The wild garden, but also the loss of the central tree becomes one of the themes of the project design.
Very close to the site sits the Heidi Weber Museum by Le Corbusier. This buildings, with its pavilion-like character, its colorful metal panels and striking geometry becomes the second reference for the new housing project. Its relationship to the ground, as well as the combination of seemingly industrial modules and artistic and hand-crafted building elements, are inspired by Le Corbusier‘s last work.
Photography: Yuri Palmin
On an urban dimension, the new building references the predominant pattern of Zurich?s neighborhood of Seefeld, with its typical villas of a square shape. It has the same orientation, the same size o...