Patio House

Geneva, Switzerland
2018 – 2022

The house is designed around a central open patio as a natural element generating the project.
Each room faces both the central patio and the surrounding garden creating closeness to green spaces at all times, particularly important in this project.

The building’s ground floor, which sits on one side of the site to allow enough space for a large and beautiful cedar tree, is slightly raised off the ground, creating a small interstitial space under the house that allows a small other-then-human ecosystem to thrive in the shadow under the house.
We limited the use of green lawns as much as possible to allow a variety of plants and flowers in the garden and patio to increase the biodiversity of the place, some plants are edible to humans, some others to insects and butterflies.

Equally, the double roof eaves offer a protected space for birds to eventually nest and inhabit the house as well as create a transition space between inside and outside (the engawa) for ALL residents to enjoy. The green roof covering the engawa also creates a pleasant view from the bedroom window on the first floor and yet more opportunities for tiny lives to inhabit the house.
By creating in-between spaces that expand the inside/outside boundary concept, we are able to meet the needs of the family as well as the other living beings.

Using natural materials was an important aspect of the project for our client, so the house has a full timber structure frame, wood fibre insulation, clay render on the exterior and lime plaster on the interior walls helping control moisture and the interior environmental conditions, all flooring internally and externally as well as the staircase are made of bamboo, limiting the carbon footprint of the building.
Part of the previously existing single-story concrete house has been retained (mostly the basement floor) with part of the basement being infilled with soil from the site to create the central patio.

The clients sold their cars before moving in and requested that no garage should be part of the project. This allowed us to use the existing basement for the services helping the house to reduce its energy impact such as the water harvesting tank, the GSHP etc in addition to storage and the “cave” which we kept intact avoiding introducing additional concrete in the basement.

The architecture aims to create an intimate connection with Nature for all its residents.
Acknowledging that we should build not only for our human clients but for the more-than-human residents of the place.

TEAM
Maurizio Mucciola, Maria-Chiara Piccinelli, Sheenwar Siti, Daria Moussavi, Filippo Tognocchi
Executive Architect: atba architecture + energie, Geneva
Structural Engineer: esm-ingegnerie sa, Geneva