Swiss Home Becomes Snaking Marvel
SATORI & SCOUT more than enjoy scouting for the most aspirational of homes, and when we come across gem-designs such as this, the Flexhouse, we are never sure whether our studio would be better served being located in mainland Europe or remaining in the heart of Great Britain. As architectural as the SATORI & SCOUT studio is, we are occasionally blown away by certain designs, and the Flexhouse is just another example of the amazing creativity that anyone can have with a design for their own homes.
A new home recently built on the shores of Lake Zurich, the Flexhouse features an aluminium shingles ribbon-like white facade that winds its way up the building - think of the classic mobile phone game Snake - and being so light and temporary in its appearance, the home really does look more of a boat or ship that should be found on the actual lake than a family home that sits beside the water. Completed this March by Evolution Design, the four storey house makes full benefit of its open plan and panorama views, with mixed-use dining and kitchen areas on its ground floor, two contemporary bedrooms and bathrooms on its first floor, a vast studio with two large bachelor balconies on the second floor and a street-side underground garage and utility space. With the internal spaces comfortable and expansive in size, not to mention their modern aesthetic, it is most definitely the home's external appearance that is most striking on the eye. Design imagination at its pinnacle, SATORI & SCOUT really couldn't think of many better life goals than to have daily access to 180 degree views of Lake Zurich.
Though the home's architecture, you might argue, seems a bit fantastical and a superfluous statement, its form works very efficiently to counter the site's constraints. A site that is super narrow and squeezed between a railway line and road, and bound by the very strict Swiss building laws, features a new home that has been designed as so to comply and make full benefit of the situation; such a rare opportunity. The snaking shape was inspired by the railway, and vast glass walls create a nice contrast in materiality. The fluidity and dynamism of the design continues beyond its external structure to internally via its open-plan living arrangements and seamless transitions between floors, never-mind its gorgeous double height spaces and floor surfaces that ramp up the curves of the snaking form.
As Evolution Design executive director Stefan Camenzin explains, "...a futuristic vessel that has sailed in from the lake and found itself a natural place to dock." Discover more about the designers at Evolution-Design.info.
Photography credit : Evolution-Design.info