Set against the dramatic landscape of Brissago, a small town perched above Lake Maggiore in Switzerland, the Concrete House by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti is conceived as a quiet intervention that respects and reinterprets its topographic context. Anchored directly to the roadside, the building emerges from the terrain as a restrained monolith of washed concrete, simultaneously asserting presence and embedding itself within the natural slope. This duality, between solidity and sensitivity, becomes a guiding principle throughout the project.
Concrete House Technical Information
- Architects1-13: WDMRA | Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti
- Location: 6614 Brissago, Switzerland
- Area: 190 m2 | 2,045 Sq. Ft.
- Completion Year: 2013
- Photographs: © Hannes Henz
This house can be experienced like a historic village.
– Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
Concrete House Photographs
Spatial Organization and Circulation
Rather than turning away from the infrastructural condition of street adjacency, the architects embrace it: the roof doubles as a parking platform, seamlessly integrating vehicular access into the architectural form. The entry sequence, an elongated descent along a narrow alley, reorients the visitor’s experience, framing the landscape in increasingly intimate vignettes and shifting the perception of scale and spatial depth.
The house departs from the idea of a singular dwelling in favor of a typological abstraction reminiscent of a miniature village. Paths, thresholds, and courts unfold in a layered narrative, emphasizing movement, encounter, and discovery. These gestures speak to the architects’ ongoing interest in drawing from vernacular architectures and transforming them through contemporary material and spatial strategies.
Internally, the house is structured as a vertical sequence of spatial episodes. Upon entry, one is received not in a foyer or antechamber but directly into the house’s social core, a kitchen and dining area that open generously to the landscape. The glass wall facing the entrance courtyard can be fully recessed, dissolving boundaries between inside and outside and allowing the domestic program to spill outward in warmer months. This deliberate permeability is not a superficial gesture of openness but a carefully modulated transition between architectural enclosure and environmental immersion.
Descending to the next level, the program continues with a secondary living room, fireplace, and library spaces of retreat that nonetheless maintain a strong visual and spatial connection to the outside. The central courtyard, paved in natural stone and populated with olive trees and a fountain, serves as the project’s physical and conceptual heart. It mediates between spaces, allowing visual overlaps and multiple circulatory paths. Much like a village square, it is a site of confluence and pause, gathering movement from across the house and redirecting it outward toward the terraced garden, pool, and outdoor kitchen.
The lowest levels contain private zones, including bedrooms, baths, and wellness areas. These rooms remain tethered to the exterior through curated openings and connections to the landscape. Rather than a hierarchy of isolated functions, the house offers a gradient of spatial intimacy and exposure, negotiating the demands of privacy and openness through sectional manipulation and courtyard logic.
Material Expression and Constructive Clarity
Materially, the house is defined by its restrained palette and precision in execution. The washed concrete structure is not merely a façade strategy but the tectonic essence of the building load-bearing, textural, and atmospheric. Its coloration harmonizes with the surrounding stone and vegetation, reinforcing the sense that the house has grown from the hillside rather than been imposed upon it.
Interiors follow a similarly measured approach. Oak veneers, chrome steel, and natural stone are deployed with discipline, forming a tactile counterpoint to the rawness of the concrete. Most of the fixed furniture, such as kitchen cabinetry, beds, desks, and dining tables, were custom-designed by the architects, reinforcing a coherent material and formal language throughout the building. Notably, the absence of ornament and decorative excess does not result in sterile minimalism; instead, spatial richness is achieved through proportion, light, and the subtle interplay of surfaces.
Constructively, the house reflects a collaboration between local artisans and specialist consultants. Attention to building physics ensures comfort and environmental performance. At the same time, details such as operable gates, recessed glass panels, and integrated drainage systems speak to the precision with which the house negotiates its programmatic and environmental challenges.
Atmosphere, Memory, and Typological Resonance
Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the Concrete House in Brissago is its ability to evoke memory and place through spatial configuration rather than iconography. The courtyard becomes a mnemonic device, recalling the spatial logic of Mediterranean hill towns and enclosed patios. It serves not just as an organizing element but as an experiential anchor, grounding the inhabitants’ domestic routines within a broader cultural and environmental context.
The house resists the impulse for singularity. It is not a ‘house as object’ but a ‘house as experience’ fragmented, layered, and subtly orchestrated. Each movement through the space reveals a new axis, material contrast, or a changing light condition. In this way, the project aligns more closely with phenomenological traditions in architecture, where atmosphere and sensory experience are primary concerns.
Concrete House Plans
Concrete House Image Gallery
About Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti
Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti is a Swiss architecture studio based in Caviano, known for its minimalist, context-sensitive designs that emphasize materiality, spatial clarity, and a strong dialogue with the landscape. Their work often integrates traditional typologies with contemporary forms, resulting in architecture that is both timeless and rooted in place.
Credits and Additional Notes
Construction Supervision: Roberto La Rocca Architekt
Structural Engineer: Pedrazzini Guidotti Sagl
Building Physics: IFEC Consulenze SA
Master Builder: Verzeroli Elia e Figli SA
Carpenter: Steiner Schreinerei GmbH
Windows: Lurati & Frei SA
Site Area: 631 m²
Living Floor Area: 190 m²
Secondary Rooms: 60 m²
Covered Terraces: 20 m²
Courtyards: 45 m²
Terrace / Lounge: 50 m²
Swimming Pool: 22 m²
