Made in Sàrl: Single-family house, Chardonne Exploring the tight opportunities of the site, the house is an

extravert glass object entirely suspended above the ground, freeing up the total width of the plot as gar-
den or terrace and raising the living space to enjoy maximum views to the Lake Leman.

Unconditional Architecture

30     archithese 1.2009

Text: Fenna Haakma Wagenaar ized immediately the predicament of having to argue for qual-
I have yet to meet someone who aspires to be anything like ity in the face of domestic and personal issues. His parents
his/her parents. So when you think about it, isn’t it a bit just wanted a home and to help their son kick-start his office.
reckless of parents to ask their child to design them a house? Made-in wanted to do Architecture.
Aren’t they in fact inviting their fiercest critic to transform Heiz and Charbonnet accepted the parents’ commission
their life? Perhaps parents are somehow still expecting that on one condition: That they committed themselves “to do
their child, after all its pubescent rebellions, has finally turned Architecture”.
in to a new improved copy of themselves and can be trusted A small plot of land was found in Chardonne (Vaud). Slop-
to mind-read his way to designing their perfect house. Or ing towards Lake Leman, with a wide view to the Alps and
maybe they are being just typical altruistic parents, helping close enough to their friends and family, the site ticked all
their budding Architect child to kick-start its career. their boxes – affordable, beautiful, exciting – a place they
Either way, they must have momentarily disregarded the could imagine themselves forever happy.
fact that their critical child has developed its own sense of But the site proved a challenging one. The seller of the land
self on the basis of everything that is wrong with their life. So lived next door and before any handover was made he out-
whilst parents might think their talented child has a first-hand lined his own set of planning restrictions that would come on
understanding of their habits and needs, and are therefore top of the local regulations, allowing a future building to cover
best suited to design them their ideal home, they might be in just about 10 to 15 percent of the already narrow plot of land.
for a shock: Here comes a complete life-style make-over. They could also not build higher than the level of the abutting
After retiring and with their three children out of the house, road; effectively the house had to be almost invisible.
Swiss Air pilot Samuel Heiz and his wife, a former stewardess, Without a real brief and with only the old bulky family barn
Heidi Heiz, decided to pack up their belongings and sell their as main lifestyle reference, the Architects focussed on explor-
big and cosy rural farm house in Montherod to buy a barge ing the tight opportunities of the site. The initial scheme of
to set sail through Europe. For two years the couple travelled February 2006 was Made-in’s first step in defining the future
and visited many of Europe’s connected River Cities. home of their clients. Due to the significant constraints and
Then they missed having a garden and a fireplace and de- the sloping of the land, Made-in proposed a largely intro-
cided to settle again. First they looked for a ready-made house verted subterranean structure with an internal courtyard. But
and asked their Architect son to help them with their search the parents weren’t ready to go underground just yet. They
but none of the houses they visited or considered, inspired wanted to live and they wanted to be outside.
their activated sense for adventure enough to make it their Thus, as a reverse experiment, Made-in proposed another
home, so after half a year of looking they turned to their son extreme, an extravert glass object entirely suspended above
Patrick Heiz who had recently co-founded the Architecture the ground, freeing up the total width of the plot as garden or
office Made-in, together with his friends François Charbon- terrace and raising the living space to enjoy maximum views
net and Adrien Verschuere (Adrien left the office in 2006). to the lake and beyond. This was the house they would even-
It’s difficult to find more determined, genuine and ambi- tually build. Made-in’s floating house is radically straightfor-
tious Architects than Patrick Heiz and Francois Charbonnet. ward. The steel-and-glass box protrudes from the hill freeing
They had met at the Basel office of Herzog de Meuron where up the sloping garden hill to create a spectacular landscape.
they both worked for over three years and had developed Two slim struts angle sideways to support the object, leaving
their talents. They knew that only by having a robust, clear the space below column-free. Under and around the house
and contextual Architectural concept that covers all aspects there is the sloping grass land with a terrace where you can
of a project, you can win competitions, challenge clients, ma- entertain outside, sheltered by the building and with steps
nipulate the outcome of important meetings and aspire to do down to a cellar underground. A retractable staircase folds
Architecture. Now faced with his parents’ quest, Heiz real- out from the entrance to the East side of the house, where

1 General view
(Photos: Made in Sàrl)

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2+ 3 Sections

4 Floor plan

A Bedroom

B Bathroom

C Office

D Vestibule

E Guest Room

F Dining Room and

kitchen

G Living Room

2 1 .5 0

A D F G

C E

32     archithese 1.2009

5 View towards you descend to the garden like an alien disembarking its When the building begins to emerge, the seller-neighbour
Lake Leman
spaceship. complains. He realises the house is not going to be invisible
Inside the effortless simplicity manifests itself further. but in fact a radical abstract statement. He blames the par-
The house is made of four steel-frame modules measuring ents for “serving the ego of their son”. Another neighbour
5.3 x 6.8 metres, containing respectively the living room, the loves this new “piece of art”, that has enriched his view.
kitchen / dining, the entrance hall and guest room, the main Two months ago, Samuel and Heidi Heiz moved in. Their
bedroom and office. The latter two are separated by a wall old stuff, the sofas, the chunky wood coffee table, the rugs,
containing a shower and toilet. The very minimalist enfilade the t.v., the cabinets, the chairs all, bit by bit, turned the
plan ingeniously connects all spaces without corridor. No completely modern box into their new home.
space is left over. There are no external or bearing walls. All Slightly apprehensive, the young Architects watched their
internal walls are used for services, closets, fireplace or bath- minimalist creation turn into something less abstract and
rooms. There are no corridors or corners or door handles or more homely but they witnessed that the building sustained
frames. Made-in created a small but very spacious house by it’s essential quality.
editing out all Architectural clutter. Heidi Heiz quickly realized that this could be a wonder-
Faced with two young professionals with unshakable ful new home. A home that would give her more with less
belief in their intuitions, and with an almost airtight con- space. When Samuel Heiz sits in his living room, he has a 320
cept, the Heiz couple were forced to evaluate their expecta- degrees view around him, like in a cockpit, surrounded by
tions. Would this abstract space-ship be liveable? Would it sky and with the nose in the air. But there is one thing that
be warm enough? Would there be enough space to make he misses. The building is so perfect, that there is not much
the beds? Where would the washing go? Where would they opportunity for his favourite hobby: DIY.
hang the paintings? The house retro-actively generated their
Author: Fenna Haakma Wagenaar worked as an Architect for different
program of requirements. They made a list of all the things offices, Crimson (Rotterdam), SANAA (Tokyo), OMA (Rotterdam). She
currently lives and works in London and is part of Design for London, the
they wanted and made their own model of the house. Then
Architecture and Urban Design team of the LDA, The Mayor of London’s
they tested the space to see if they could envisage living in it. agency responsible for driving London’s sustainable economic growth.
Surprisingly it was their own test-model, not Made-in’s ab-
stract conceptual model that convinced them. They decided
Architecture: Made in Sàrl, Geneva – Patrick Heiz, François
to go ahead. Charbonnet; construction: Babel & Cie

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