Tour a Brutalist Home in Zurich That Embodies Tranquility | Architectural Digest
When Victoria-Maria Geyer was offered with an prospect to structure a dwelling in Zurich, it felt like a dream come legitimate. That the property was a Brutalist masterpiece by renowned Swiss architect Ernst Gisel was—for the Hamburg-born, Brussels-primarily based inside designer—a vocation-defining second. “When the house owners asked me to appear on board, I had to do this,” Geyer says, pinching her very own hand. “They despatched me shots of the home, and promptly I was seduced.” The gravitational pull of the dwelling lured Geyer from Brussels to Zurich with the process of incorporating heat and texture to concrete and metal.
Located in Küsnacht, a rich enclave some 15 minutes by automobile from Zurich’s metropolis center, the residence was purchased by the purchasers in 2021. While the shell of the framework was a Brutalist marvel, the interiors still left a good deal to be preferred. “The former proprietors lived in the household as it was constructed,” explains Geyer. “There’s a time period in French, dans son propre jus, which means to soak in types juice. That was the problem with the interiors. So I experienced to go in and actually change the ambiance.”
What tends to make inside renovations challenging is performing inside of a predefined room. What would make it even more challenging is when that predefined place is solid in concrete from the hand of an iconic architect. “Because Gisel’s design was so one of a kind, I couldn’t just go in with the materials I like performing with silk, velvet. I had to conjure what the house authorized me to use.” This meant Geyer implemented a palate of blues, grays, whites. “I made use of metal, but then contrasted it with tough textures these types of as materials, stones. It was a problem to not use the supplies I generally gravitate toward, but what a gratifying working experience it proved to be.”
While the end outcome was one the designer and house owners arrived to appreciate, having to that issue was a logistical nightmare. “It was my to start with project in Switzerland,” Geyer describes, “and I did not know the hoops I would have to jump by means of in declaring each individual minor point that I brought in from distinctive pieces of the planet.” The inside designer is now doing the job on other various a lot more homes in the course of Switzerland, and has vowed to not make the identical administrative blunders.
But for Geyer, the head aches made the finish final results all the additional meaningful. “My favorite component of the household starts and ends with the kitchen,” she claims with a smile. “I appreciate the curtains, mainly because it provides these types of a textured splash of coloration to the home. I had to be measured with these moments, to not cannibalize the artwork on the walls. But seriously, for me it is seriously the inexperienced desk that anchors the house.” Geyer created the table, along with an assortment of other items of household furniture all through the residence. “The reality that I was equipped to convey my very own types into the home manufactured it all the extra meaningful.”
The clientele are major art collectors with two young children functioning around a recipe, some may well muse, for disaster. “The property owners are quite down-to-earth and have a good feeling of humor,” Geyer claims. “They have a whole lot of attractive art on their walls, but they want to are living in a residence, not a museum. I necessarily mean, glimpse, their philosophy is: Never quit your lifetime mainly because you have little ones. They have white carpet in their home. If that doesn’t sum up how comfortable they are with children operating close to, I don’t know what will.”