Mixed use residential development Location : Lausanne, CH | 11.000m2 | status : competition design | in collaboration with studio Ricatti

Which spatial relation should be established with the terrain? How to strike a balance between public and private spaces? In a condition where high density buildings negotiate their presence with nature at the skirt of the city, we have answered these questions with two intentions. First, to guarantee the view through the site and therefore allowing a view to the lake from the top of the hill and to the hill from street level. Second, activating the ground floor giving a collective yet intimate meaning to the spaces in between the buildings. Following these intentions, a sequence of three parallel and equidistant buildings is proposed. The three volumes differ in length but they all adopt the same composition principle: a system of three concentric “functional rings”. The inner ring hosts stairs and common hallways while the middle one hosts all technical functions (bathrooms, kitchens, elevators) and the most external contains the spaces to dwell (living areas, bedrooms, terraces). Also the structure, with a structural line along the façade and around the hallways, follows this rings system which offers a maximized flexibility in plan allowing the overlapping of different typologies or even a functional reprogramming in the far future. Composed by a solid concrete porch expressing the ground floor and a series of horizontal slabs filled by aluminum fixed or openable panels, the elevation ultimately conveys an idea of dynamism and interaction which, in a certain sense, reflects the unfolding of life within the buildings.

From the album

EVERYONE'S HILL