Detached home

As the subtle and intelligent conversion of a Swiss chalet by architects W2H shows: a confined chalet beyond the age of 80 can be more than big enough for a young family of three.

When the owner family took over the residential chalet-style house that dates back to 1928, it was largely still in the original condition and did not fulfill modern requirements with regard to energy consumption and spatial demands. Nonetheless, even after a complete restoration of the facade skin and a loft extension, the building's exterior and structure remain largely the same. The outer skin, now clad in larch wood with a colorless glaze, bears a subtle reference to the neighboring chalets. The small veranda on the ground floor was replaced by a projection that adds to the living space. A generously dimensioned dormer was added to the roof to create a visual balance.

W2H architects broke down the original ground floor layout of small, self-contained rooms to create an open-plan, light and generous living and dining area. The rooms are now grouped around a central room unit containing the kitchen, toilet, shelving, storage space and mains installations. The central core also houses the room-high sliding door that slides on HAWA Junior 120 B hardware to separate the kitchen from the living area. Moving the door in front of the entrance to the kitchen reveals the built-in shelving behind it. In this way the sliding door also serves the additional function of a partition wall.