In the hillside village of Brissago in Switzerland’s canton of Ticino, Transformation House ME by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects undertakes a quiet yet deliberate act of architectural redemption. The project is not a reconstruction in the conventional sense but a spatial and material unveiling of an effort to restore clarity to a historic structure that had lost much of its architectural identity through successive, unsympathetic modifications.
House ME Transformation Technical Information
- Architects1-8: WDMRA | Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti
- Location: Nucleo Piodina 18, 6614 Brissago, Ticino, Switzerland
- Area: 185 m2 | 1,990 Sq. Ft.
- Completion Year: 2023
- Photographs: © Giacomo Albo
This project is intended as a gentle conversion, with the aim of revealing and strengthening the existing architectural qualities, which are now mostly hidden.
– Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
House ME Photographs
Revealing Architecture Through Spatial Reconfiguration
Set on a sloped site with sweeping views of Lake Maggiore, the house is embedded within a vernacular landscape of stone walls, compact volumes, and terraced vineyards. While the structure’s origins are rooted in this traditional context, the past decades had layered it with ill-fitting interventions: an oversized exterior terrace supported by intrusive columns, heavy-handed plastering that obscured the original stonework, and interior transformations that diluted the spatial hierarchy. Wespi de Meuron Romeo’s approach is less about invention and more about a thoughtful subtraction, reconnection, and recalibration process.
Central to the project’s spatial logic is the reversal of the typical domestic programmatic order. The architects strategically relocated the primary living areas from the upper levels to the lowest floor. This inversion establishes a direct physical and visual relationship with the garden, which had previously been relegated to a peripheral position due to the awkward elevation of the main social spaces. In turn, the removal of the out-of-scale terrace at the upper level restores both the proportion and integrity of the façade.
This act of spatial inversion is complemented by a sectional strategy that introduces a double-height void in the new living area. This vertical gesture not only enriches the interior’s spatial dynamics but also produces moments of inter-level dialogue, drawing light deep into the plan and generating visual connections between the social and private zones of the house. It is a precise and calculated disruption that transforms the formerly compressed interior into a porous, light-filled environment that remains grounded in the scale and language of its setting.
Architectural Memory in Material Tectonics
Wespi de Meuron Romeo’s material approach is grounded in a philosophy of architectural archaeology. The team removed the non-historic plaster coatings, revealing the original stone masonry beneath. In place of comprehensive restoration, they chose a partial re-plastering technique, guided by traditional construction logic still observable in neighboring village homes. The resultant aesthetic is neither romanticized nor raw. It is calibrated and filtered through a contemporary lens without severing ties to the past.
New architectural insertions, windows, interior finishes, and furniture are executed with restraint and tactility. The architects designed many of the fixtures themselves, including the kitchen, dining table, and various built-ins, lending the project a coherent material vocabulary. Their use of robust, tactile materials, stone, concrete, wood, and metal, reinforces the continuity between old and new while ensuring compliance with current energy and thermal standards.
Notably, the roof truss, a key remnant of the original structure, is treated as both a structural necessity and an architectural protagonist. By removing sections of the ceiling and replacing them with horizontal glazing, the truss is visually integrated into the upper-floor bathroom and circulation zones. These are not mere aesthetic gestures but spatial decisions that reassert the legibility of the original building logic.
House ME: Recontextualization Without Erasure
The project’s broader significance lies in its capacity to negotiate between historical authenticity and contemporary living. Rather than treating the building as a static object of preservation, the architects engage with it as a living entity whose identity can be rearticulated through design. The choice to preserve all intermediate floor levels and expose the original wooden beams while simultaneously reinforcing the structure to accommodate modern systems (such as the new elevator) exemplifies this layered approach.
From the insertion of modest new window openings at the garden level to replacing the basement’s vaulted ceiling with a structural concrete slab, each intervention is technically necessary and architecturally expressive. The result is a house that speaks multiple temporal dialects, a convergence of vernacular memory and contemporary function.
House ME Transformation Plans
House ME Transformation Video
House ME Transformation Image Gallery
About Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects
Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects is a Swiss architecture studio based in Caviano, Ticino, known for its refined and contextually sensitive residential projects that blend contemporary spatial strategies with vernacular forms and materials. The firm, led by Markus Wespi, Jérôme de Meuron, and Luca Romeo, emphasizes architectural restraint, clarity, and craftsmanship, often working with traditional stone, wood, and concrete to create atmospheric spaces deeply rooted in their surroundings. Their work is characterized by a subtle dialogue between the old and the new, making them a significant voice in modern Alpine and Mediterranean architecture discourse.
Credits and Additional Notes
- Engineering: De Giorgi & Partners Ing. SA
- Building Physics: IFEC Consulenze SA
- Master Builder: Walzer costruzioni SA
- Windows: Morotti Sagl
- Joinery: Zehnder AG
- Surface Coating: Liner SA
- Metalwork: Arte e Ferro di Novarina Stefan
- Furniture & Curtains: Bonetti arredamenti interni
