Rammed earth house, Rauch family home de Boltshauser Architekten

Photographe : Beat Bühler

The design of this trend-setting building is the result of an intense cooperation of Martin Rauch (Lehm Ton Erde GmbH, Schlins, AT) and Roger Boltshauser.

The materiality and form of the residential house are direct reactions to the steep south-sloping scarp situation of the slender plot in its landscape context – as if a monolithic block, similar to a piece of abstract and artificial nature, had been pressed out of the earth. Two clefts articulate the building of rammed earth, wedging it backwards with the scarp and establishing a frontal prelude or welcoming gesture towards the valley. The inside of the house is developed in the form of sequences of individualizable spaces that respond storey-wise to the variable conditions. As opposed to more organic, archaic clay architecture, the morphology of the building aims towards a certain clarity and sharp-edgedness. The strips of clay bricks that are inserted between the typical clay layers optically stabilise the building structure by emphasising the horizontality and heightening the light and shadow effects.

Photographe : Beat Bühler