This project is located in the commune of Cologny, belonging to the canton of Geneva. With a view of the lake and the Jura mountains, the plot benefits from a magnificent panorama of the surrounding landscape.
The architectural project, very daring and original, is made up of a set of cantilevered parallelepiped volumes. The building and the garden are integrated into the slope to emphasize the topography which becomes a strength of the project.
The owner, an art and architecture aficionado, is very involved in the decision-making process. For the exterior designs, he gave us carte blanche to experiment with ideas, materials and new technologies. Resulting from creative emulation between the different agents, this project is indisputably unique.
An exclusive private garden, a field of experimentation
The garden offers organic shapes on the periphery, then more structured as it approaches the building. The plant species planted blur the plot boundaries and fulfill aesthetic functions as a privacy screen. More in the center of the composition, the glacis of grass provides access to the isolated “folies” punctuating the garden.
Around the central foot of the building, exterior living spaces with contemporary shapes are articulated: lounge, swimming pool with movable floor, pool with water features. More remote, relaxing atmospheres dotted the rest of the garden with the use of old-fashioned materials and textures. This improbable marriage of shapes creates a playful and experimental contrast.
Inside the house, a patio provides light to the lower floors. It is covered with an 8 meter high green wall accompanied by a waterfall. A real interior garden bringing light and freshness to the heart of the house.
The tree palette combines ornamental trees such as niwakis, real plant sculptures, with native trees such as Scots pines. These have a magnificent tortuous orange bark and a perched crown which, judiciously placed, allows privacy from certain rooms of the villa.
At the foot of these trees, the very eclectic palette of perennial plants offers a diversity of colors, flowers and foliage to celebrate each season. Our role, as a landscape architect, is to coordinate all these dimensions to guarantee harmony.
Take advantage of the slope to enjoy the landscape
The plot has the particularity of having access to the bottom of the property and to the top, with a drop of more than 10 meters. The challenge is to organize, structure and prioritize uses. The idea of the project is to create a stroll around the house where you can sometimes observe the landscape, stop on a plot or continue on your way. A walk to see and feel.
We played with the slope to transform the garden into a lodge on the landscape. Throughout the route, the topography is highlighted with the evocation of contour lines by supports. Metal corten steel battens and porcelain stoneware scales sculpt the embankment and constitute platforms to accommodate the different uses of the garden. These plots have been designed as modular spaces that can be used according to desires and needs.
Focus on: water amenities
The swimming pool with a movable floor is raised to the same level as the rest of the paving to enlarge the porcelain stoneware checkerboard making up the terrace. At the other end, the glass pool features nine jets of water springing from a submerged cubic composition. A digital water printer, controlled via an application, animates this pool using interactive images formed by water droplets.
The design for the installation of water features on the main terrace is the result of a six-handed collaboration between the client, the architects and us, the landscape architect. The execution and meticulous work around the sound of water were then entrusted to specialists.
This area is representative of the project: a work of balance between the different plans with the distant landscape, the garden and the architecture. And collaborative work between the owner and his agents.
