In Scharans, a rural village in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, Valerio Olgiati’s Atelier Bardill reframes the idea of a studio as a walled world composed of three elements: a continuous red-pigmented concrete perimeter, an open court with a single tree, and a solitary, top-lit room. The project treats the site boundary as a building, turning the plot itself into the principal architectural volume while setting a concentrated workspace within the enclosure.
Atelier Bardill Technical Information
- ArchitectsValerio Olgiati
- LocationScharans, Switzerland
- Gross Area95 m2 | 1,023 Sq. Ft.
- Project Years2005 – 2007
- Photographs© Trevor Patt, © Archive Olgiati
Architecture gains presence when it builds an inner world of its own, independent of reference, where form, light, and material define the atmosphere.
– Valerio Olgiati
The Perimeter Wall as a Building
The project begins by accepting the cadastral boundary as an architectural outline. A continuous, high wall in red-pigmented concrete runs along the property limits, reading as an object-like mass in the village streetscape. Toward the public realm, it remains mostly mute, save for a single, overscaled opening that compresses and frames entry. The move converts the entire plot into a figure of enclosure while withholding information about its interior life.
Rather than build out the allowable volume, the scheme withholds mass to define a void. The courtyard becomes the primary space, with a lone enclosed studio placed within it as a free-standing figure. This inversion shifts emphasis from facade to perimeter, producing an introverted place that absorbs the mixed scales of Scharans. The wall’s measured height and uniform surface negotiate between the fine grain of nearby houses and the larger silhouettes of agrarian buildings, establishing presence through mass and silence.
Courtyard Typology and Spatial Sequence
Access unfolds in three steps: street to deep gate, gate to court, and court to studio. The gate’s depth registers the wall’s thickness and autonomy before releasing the visitor into the court’s calm. The courtyard acts as an antechamber that tempers wind and temperature, a spatial threshold that allows a reset of pace and attention. In daily use, it extends the program, supporting outdoor making, assembly, or quiet pause under controlled conditions.
The studio itself is conceived as a single, concentrated room that stands clear of the perimeter. This separation sharpens the distinction between city-like enclosure and interior work world, allowing the studio to operate acoustically and psychologically independent of the village. A solitary tree anchors the open court and calibrates proportion. Its canopy mediates between the broad sky and the compact studio volume, providing shade, seasonal time, and a vertical counterpoint to the wall’s horizontality.
Material, Structure, and Light
Cast in place and pigmented through the mix, the red concrete consolidates structure, surface, and character into one material act. The wall performs as a boundary, facade, and urban figure without joints or applied layers. Its mass stabilizes the court’s microclimate, stores heat, and absorbs street noise. The restrained tectonic vocabulary avoids secondary elements, thereby clarifying the relationship between figure and void.
Inside the studio, the roof thickens and funnels upward to a circular oculus that admits controlled zenithal light. This geometry diffuses illumination evenly across working surfaces, minimizes glare, and maintains a continuous perimeter for hanging, storage, and movement. With openings reduced to the street gate and the roof light, the project intensifies control over view, climate, and acoustics. The contrast between the mute enclosure and the animated light above defines the room’s atmosphere throughout the day.
Contextual Resonance and Deliberate Abstraction
The walled court recalls regional farmyards and village edges yet is reduced to a contemporary triad of wall, court, and room. Abstraction here does not erase context; it reframes it. Color and massing echo the area’s mineral tones and sturdy construction while avoiding mimicry of rooflines, windows, or ornamentation. The project engages the village through silhouette and scale, allowing the street elevation to function less as a facade and more as a measured territorial boundary.
Programmatic economy becomes an ethic. By concentrating the brief into one highly calibrated room and one protected exterior, the architecture gains legibility and flexibility. The court accommodates spillover tasks or gatherings without additional built volume, while the studio remains focused and acoustically insulated. This disciplined reduction clarifies the relationships among work, weather, and village life, offering a precise framework that can accommodate varied modes of use over time.
About Valerio Olgiati
Valerio Olgiati is based in Flims, Switzerland, and was founded in 2000. The studio is known for its reductive, introspective approach to architecture, blending modern abstraction with contextual references to craft spaces that emphasize form, material, and light.
Olgiati at the height of his powers. Does the client still own the building? What is on the brow of the studio, overlooking the courtyard? I didn’t recall a skylight and the interior photos confirmed there was none; are they solar panels or PVs?