Form and use

Baumschlager Eberle Architekten were commissioned to build a small residential block comprising six apartments in the Swiss village of Engelburg, close to St. Gallen. What makes the building stand out is the marriage between its architectural form and its response to the challenge of providing high-quality living space. Essentially a rectangular box, the volumes required for private open space and windows are – figuratively speaking – borrowed from the building’s gross volume. The walls and openings create a powerful interplay of plasticity and openness set against the backdrop of an intentionally closed box.
The primary structure of load-bearing walls and service core permits a carefully judged association of façade order and use. As a result, the architecture offers residents many of the spatial qualities of the single-family home without its land consumption requirements.