Think Architecture’s fragmented House on a Slope overlooks Lake Zurich

A cluster of interconnected volumes in dark limestone and cedar gradually descend down a narrow and steeply sloping site overlooking Lake Zurich at House on a Slope by Swiss studio Think Architecture.

Drawings and exterior

Previous Next

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Drawings and exterior

Close

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Designed to sit harmoniously within the surrounding terrain, the 1,000-square-metre private home is split into two distinct blocks connected by a “subterranean art corridor”.

“The brief was to bring a very large programme into a narrow, steeply sloping site with as much sensitivity as possible,” Think Architecture creative director Marco Zbinden told Dezeen. 

“We were interested in the quiet rhythm of the neighbouring houses, their individual scale, and the way they sit within the landscape. Breaking the residence into smaller volumes allowed us to respond to that context without losing the generosity of the interior,” he continued.

“From the outside, the house feels less like a single monumental object and more like a group of familiar structures that have always belonged to the hillside.”

Intended to emulate the surrounding landscape, the lakeside home was divided into two blocks, a “family house above, and a more grounded, protective house for children and guests below”.

“They are intimately connected through a corridor – filled with art – and the central garden level, which becomes the social heart of the home,” said Zbinden. “There, the architecture opens up, materials continue from outside to inside, and the different parts of the family’s life naturally meet.”

The larger, upper block, which is entered at street level, contains all the main living spaces including the kitchen, living room and dining room. These spaces are arrange over the first and lower floors, with large cedar-clad-timber windows giving views down the hillside. Several bedrooms are located on the top floor.

The lower level of the home opens up to a garden and large pool with a planted roof terrace sitting on the roof of the lower block. Clad in dark-limestone, this lower block is more enclosed with additional bedrooms for the family.

Carefully positioned openings within both structures allowed for the planting of native trees, ensuring a seamless transition into the mature foliage of the hillside.

Interior photos

Previous Next

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Interior photos

Close

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Think Architecture designed the upper interior spaces to be open and airy, while the spaces in the lower block were more enclosed and calm.

“The interiors were conceived as a direct continuation of the architecture, extending its material language into the most private and lived-in spaces,” said Zbinden.

“We worked with a limited palette of bog oak, cedar, oak, Belgian bluestone, terrazzo, and patinated brass. Materials that are tactile, honest, and become more beautiful as they age,” he continued.

“The aim was to create spaces that felt warm and enveloping rather than decorated: quiet rooms shaped by light, texture, and proportion, where one can truly slow down and feel at home.”

House with a Slope is the most recent addition to a number of homes overlooking Lake Zurich completed by Think Architecture in recent months, including a minimal hilltop home and a home next to a vineyard.

Photography by Nate Cook

Read more

• Architecture