Architecture

Kalmann House

A House is to a Landscape as a Glove is to a Hand….“it respects the form of the landscape as the glove respects the form of your hand.”

Suzanne writes, Luigi Snozzi, the Swiss architect famous for his original research into modernist architecture, was all about the flow of the landscape and how the insertion of a house respected the land. When studying architecture during a summer semester abroad, I had the opportunity to visit and experience the Kalmann House, c. 1976 on Lake Maggiore in Ticino, Switzerland created by Snozzi.  What I found moving was two fold; the Swiss architect’s process brought the outside directly inside through materials and sight lines, and there was a strong intent to consider ease of function for the plan of the home environment.  Both of these principles inspired me to consider residential architecture early on in my career. Kalmann House is the epitome of site specific, this is Modernism, elegant in its simplicity. It is consistent, symmetrical, and marks an important shift from the International Style to a tempered Modernism.

Luigi Snozzi – Kalmann House in Brione Sopra Minusio, 1975-1976

Image Courtesy of Wikipedia.

 Luigi Snozzi – Casa Grossi in Monte Carasso Switzerland 2004.

Image Courtesy of Archilovers.com

Luigi Snozzi – Casa Grossi in Monte Carasso Switzerland 2004

Image Courtesy of Archilovers.com