First impressions can be deceptive
 
Luxurious houses in historical park
 
 
In the middle of Zurich, situated in a picturesque park, these elegant, luxurious housing pavilions with a supple stainless steel skin will make you stand and stare. Your first impression of the apparently floating buildings may be of an Andy Warhol creation: Hohenbühl, ‘the place to think silver’. In direct sunlight, the steel skin of the slanted glass cube glistens like silver tissue. Then a cloud covers the sun and the appearance changes: the 40 kg/m2 façade now looks like a knight’s suit of armour. Behind the façade is a second skin in thick glass around the 3-floor pavilions. Inside, a third shell can be put up manually: bronze and pearl coloured; bright yellow and silver coloured wooden panels.
 
The kitchen, situated in the middle of the rectangular floor plan, has a direct view through a large window onto the terrace, which is also closed off from the park by a double skin. This way, the façade provides sunscreening in the summer, while in the winter the double glazed aluminium lift & slide elements provide insulation. In other words, in the summer the terrace is a balcony with sunscreening; in the winter it’s a conservatory.