CABINET Fanny Noël Diogo Lopes Architectes . photos: © Sven Högger
The project is conceived in dialogue with the forest of “Belle Idee,” which is partially present to the north of the site and has gradually been cleared to make way for agricultural fields and collective housing. The initial gesture was to propose a “Clearing” surrounded by a series of trees. It extends the presence of the forest while enhancing the wildlife and flora of the place. The volume primarily serves as a complement to the vegetation circle with its curved facade, which incorporates a fountain evoking a Nympheum. It provides a new shaded leisure space open to the residents.
This gesture is reinforced by the presence of a lantern on the roof, which appeals to the passers-by and ac- centuates the figurative quality of the volume. The scale and the composition of the façades suggest that it is the last house in the residential neighbourhood. Its uniqueness lies in the inversion of the conventional con- struction order. A delicate folded wooden facade, coated in blue stain, extends the sky down to the base of the clearing and dresses a more robust series of terracotta brick walls on the inside. A beam structure, resembling a pergola, filters the zenithal light that illuminates the workshop spaces.
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Project name: Gardeners House
Address: Allée Belle-Terre, Thônex, Geneva
Coordinates: 46.205818, 6.217768
Clients: Commune de Thônex
Services Industriels de Genève (SIG)
Etat de Genève – Département des Infrastructures Transports Publics de Genève (TPG)
Architects: CABINET Fanny Noël Diogo Lopes Architectes
Civil Engineers: ZS Ingénieurs civils
M&E Engineers: Amstein + Walthert Genève Thermal Engineers: Perreten et Milleret Surveyor: Haller Wasser + Partner
Fire engineer: Zanetti Ingénieurs Conseils Landscape Architects: Oxalis Architectes Paysagistes
Program: Workshops, refectory, locker rooms, office
Project: October 2019 – June 2021
Construction: October 2021- December 2022
