House in Riedikon

To allow the neighbours an unimpeded view of the Greifensee, a nearby lake, and to create a parking space on the tight site, the northern part of the house is asymmetrically cut away on both sides. Depending on the viewpoint, the irregular geometry conjures the impression of a building with a single-pitched roof or of an expressive wedge-shaped form. The loft-like spaces on the first floor are daylighted via a window strip that follows the angular line of the eaves. Local building by-laws specify vertical rectilinear openings, however, so that the architects opted to conceal the windows behind an external screen of spaced pine fins. This open form of cladding was omitted in the area of the sliding door to the terrace to allow an unimpeded visual link with the outdoors. In a file-to-factory process, an individual, gently curved profile was created at the planning stage for each of the fins, so that their lines suggest organic forms. These profiles were applied to them in the workshop with a CNC milling machine. One outcome of this is that the fins are more slender in front of the fenestration, thereby increasing the transparency of the outer skin in these areas. By splay-cutting the strips on their front and/or back edges, it was also possible to open up or restrict sight lines in certain directions. The computer-aided manufacturing process had its counterpart on site in the traditional form of assembly: the 315 wooden strips were individually numbered and screw fixed by hand.