113 Ziegeleipark-Areal Horw

For us, lowlanders, this is a fantastic place. In the middle of the valley, close to the lake and endowed with that typical up and down horizon with, as its highest point, the Pilatusberg.
But if we look closer, around the site, this is an undefined space without anchorages to structurise it. Only a straight railway line that takes you to the centre of Luzern in a few minutes.

On the edge of the old brickworks there are two large lots that were once intended for the construction of industrial buildings. A few hundred houses are to be built here, equally divided over two buildings.
How do we create a place with a feeling of home here?

The new buildings are related. They use each other’s strength to function as an anchorage in the surrounding area. They are strong forms but without being urban. They are connected to the ground on which they stand. Their pedestals are hard and dark and towards the top their facades are lighter, like the trees with which they stand together in the park.

We start from the large scale of the environment and fill the maximum building volume. Narrow lines provide rhythm and division. In this way, within the large scale, the smaller scale that is desirable when making houses, is also applied.