SWITZERLAND HOUSING AND ARCHITECTURE

“Switzerland is a small, steep country, much more up and down than sideways, and is all stuck over with large brown hotels built on the cuckoo clock style of architecture.”

– Ernest Hemingway

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND Courtesy: Jack Ward

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ALLIED DISCIPLINE EASTERN VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

Editor in Chief

Irah Kenth Owenson V. Obera

Editorial Assistant

Jushua D. Salvatierra

Production Coordinator

Kenneth C. Silvano

Production Team

Allana Marie L. Servano

Jushua D. Salvatierra Dianne G. Rodriguez

Issue Editors

Irah Kenth Owenson V. Obera Dianne Rodriguez

Jushua D. Salvatierra

Allana Marie L. Servano Kenneth C. Silvano

Instructor

Arch. Joseph T. Macario, UAP

the

of the

THE TEAM

Contributors of Socialized Housing Projects in Switzerland for the Partial Fulfillment of the Course Requirement ARCH 512

ARCHITECTURE 5-B

ARCHITECTURE 5-B

IRAH KENTH OWENSON V. OBERA DIANNE G. RODRIGUEZ

Visual Artist and Designer Cosplay Artist and Draftsman

STUDENT INFORMATION (+63) 921 604 5598

Brgy. Bairan, Nutri Bee Food Products, San Miguel, Leyte irahkenthowenson.obera@evsu. edu.ph

College of Architecture and Allied Discipline Eastern Visayas State University

STUDENT INFORMATION

(+63) 975 575 4118

Brgy. Daganas, Catarman, Northern Samar

dianne.rodriguez@evsu.edu.ph

College of Architecture and Allied Discipline Eastern Visayas State University

SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE

Extending Boundaries

Design in Context of Housing

The architecture of Switzerland was influenced by its location and astride major trade routes with diverse architectural traditions of the four national languages. Romans and later Italians brought their monumental and vernacular architecture north over the Alps, meeting the Germanic and German styles coming south and French influences coming east.

LAKE ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Courtesy: Henrique Ferreira

01INTRODUCTION

Citizens of Switzerland have sufficient access to good quality housing, where basic infrastructure is important. However, the housing policy of Switzerland faces a substantial number of challenges including high living costs, levels of access to the housing market for specific groups of the population, lack of social interaction and the quality of the people’s residential vicinity. Switzerland does not have a national or cantonal policy for the provision of affordable social housing, as exists in many other European countries. Instead, finding appropriate housing is left to the people themselves; depending on local programs, and options in cities and communes where the housing market is tight. The housing provision in Switzerland is market based. Population growth, shrinking size of households, low interest rates and the generally positive economy contributed to the rise of housing demand in recent years, and supply has responded to this increase in demand. Between 2016 and 2020, the number of homes grew from 4.4 million to 4.6 million.

Housing Situation in Switzerland

Switzerland is one of the countries that has the lowest homeownership rates in Europe. According to the 2018 data, only around 42% of Swiss residents have their own homes compared to around 70% in the European Union. There are a variety of property types to buy or rent in Switzerland; apartments in tenement blocks, detached houses, farmhouses and even a few chateaus, where prices tend to be more expensive in the populous cities such as Geneva and Zurich.

Swiss house prices are rising steadily; recording a yearly increase of 4.4% in 2020. Switzerland is the third most expensive country in Europe to buy and rent property per square meter, only behind Monaco and the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the average prices are: CHF 6,356 per square meter to buy an apartment, CHF 5,941 per square meter to buy a house, CHF 258 per square meter to rent an apartment, and CHF 231 per square meter to rent a house. Prices vary significantly between cantons; Geneva is the most expensive, Basel higher than average, and Jura the cheapest.

Between 2016 and 2020, home buildings in Switzerland outstripped population growth. The population grew roughly 3% (270,000) from 8.38 to 8.65 million, while the number of homes grew nearly 5% (200,00) from 4.4 to 4.6 million. During this period the number of vacant homes increased from 56,518 to 78, 832. However, on June 2022, the number has fallen 22% to 61,496, representing the 1.31% of the total housing stock.

Housing Solutions & Programs

BASEL, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Abi Hinchley

Fiscal Package (tax system)

The fiscal package includes the local income tax rate (a lower tax rate, all else being equal, will attract more and higher income taxpayers) as well as the kind and amount of local public services supplied. Households will gravitate toward the towns that supply their preferred local public goods package; greater local public services are more desirable, everything else being equal. This autonomy is crucial to the concept of “fiscal competitiveness,” in which cantons and municipalities compete to recruit residents.

Land-use controls (e.g. Ausnützungsziffer, sectorial plan for cropland protection)

Municipalities may impose lenient or strict land-use rules in order to attract households with certain housing demands. One tool is the “Ausnützungsziffer,” which is a utilization intensity factor that indicates how much land on a particular plot may be physically developed. It is a form of exclusionary zoning, akin to the “minimum lot size requirement” in the United States. Municipalities may attract better-off taxpayers who can afford a less-intensive use of land by establishing a low Ausnützungsziffer.

Municipalities must also follow federally mandated land-use rules, such as the sectorial plan for agricultural protection. The plan intends to provide an adequate supply of food for the country during times of crisis and conflict, as well as to maintain the soil and retain good agricultural land throughout time. Because of the diverse physical features of the Swiss country, about 77% of the land protected by the plan is located in only seven cantons with major agricultural regions, making the plan more obligatory for some towns than others. With the probable exception of Geneva, the impact of the strategy on local house prices appears to be minimal in the majority of cantons.)

WITTIGKOFEN, BERN, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Michel Rossier

Rent Conctrol

In Switzerland, renters are currently well protected. Landlords must justify the magnitude of rent increases to their tenants under current federal law. Rent levels can be adjusted based on two major economic indicators. The first indicator is the so-called rent reference index, which is based on the national average of mortgage interest rates provided by banks. The index can be used not only by landlords to justify rent increases, but also by tenants to request rent reductions.

The Swiss consumer price index is the second indicator (CPI). Rent increases can account for up to 40% of inflation as measured by the Swiss CPI. Although these rules appear to be onerous, the adjustment of rent levels to economic indices was intended to avoid abusive rent hikes while also providing landlords with appropriate returns on their investments. Aside from these two economic factors, landlords may often change rents in two ways. First, the landlord makes a large renovation of the property and/or endures additional maintenance expenses, resulting in a lower return on investment. Second, when a new tenancy begins, rents are normally changed, if the new rate is in accordance with the prevalent rent level in the same region. Importantly, new tenants may contest a rent even after they have taken possession of the property. This provision essentially forbids landlords from increasing rents unilaterally between leases.

Rent control also protects renters from unfair evictions. Landlords are not permitted to cancel the tenancy contract just to get better contract conditions or to entice renters to purchase the property. Furthermore, a change in a tenant’s family status that does not cause harm to the landlord is not a sufficient ground for eviction.

LAUTERBRUNNEN, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Andreeew Hoang

Ban on Second Homes: The Second Home Initiative (SHI)

Fiscal competitiveness, along with considerable immigrant inflows, heavily influences urban development in Switzerland. According to Jaeger and Schwick (2014), urban sprawl has risen significantly during the previous few decades. The apparent eagerness of Swiss citizens to protect their country’s natural beauty, as well as the widespread perception that second-home investors, particularly foreign real estate investors, were “disfiguring” the countryside by establishing ghost towns (outside of tourist seasons) in mountainous areas and inflating local housing costs, has resulted in a political backlash.

To address these issues, the Second Home Initiative (SHI) was established. The initiative was passed by the Swiss people by the slimmest of margins in March 2012. The resultant regulation, which went into effect on January 1, 2013, restricts the construction of new second houses in towns where the percentage of housing stock devoted to second homes reaches 20%. Importantly, the plan also prohibits the conversion of primary dwellings built after January 2013 into second homes in certain localities. Primary homes built prior to that date can still be converted into second homes in theory. This is a concession made by lawmakers during the legislative process to protect existing homeowners’ property rights in the affected municipalities.

To discourage speculative conduct that exacerbates the sprawl issue, main residences constructed before January 2013 can be converted into second homes only if this does not result in the building of a new primary home in the same or neighboring municipality that is subject to the limitation. As a result, existing homeowners who want to transform their primary residences into second homes must effectively leave their home location. The law is far from minor; according to data from the Federal Office for Spatial Development, nearly one municipality out of every five is subject to it.

The definition of “second home” is determined by the amount of time the property’s owner spends in it. A “main house” is a residence where the owner spends the most of his or her time. All additional properties owned by a person are termed second residences. Although the notion may appear hazy, it is founded on specific and longestablished tax principles with far-reaching repercussions that extend far beyond the initiative’s restrictions. The tax burden faced by households, in particular, is determined by the location of their primary residence. The total number of residences minus the number of main houses is then used to approximate the number of second homes in a specific municipality.

Socialized Housing Projects

Example of Housing in Switzerland

BONNE ESPERANCE - TRIBU ARCHITECTURE

Bonne Espérance

PROJECT DETAIL

Type Social Housing Location Lausanne , Switzerland

Architects TRIBU Architecture Area 5059 m²

Photographs Michel Bonvin

Civil Engineer Monod-Piguet & associés Client FLCL and SILL Year 2014

The location of the project is in the neigborhood of Faverges in Lausanne, just next to a small river. Built on a site owned by the City of Lausanne, for the two organizations FLCL and SILL, the two buildings contain 59 apartments and a community center.

The project is composed of two compact buildings ; The large compact building is a combination of two smaller part area, to integrate the neighborhood’s scale in the public area. In opposition to the northern elevations keeping the orthogonality of the adjacent buildings, the balconies on the southern facades refer to the irregularity of the river and the forest on this side. The two facing facades play from each other to open the view in the direction of this beautiful environment and create a public space.

ARCH DAILY

Ground Floor Plan

The buildings are conceived with a high energy-efficiency level and the objective is to zquire affordable housing with regard to the sustainability of the building. One of the example for the future sustainable district of Les Plaines-du-Loup in Lausanne.

Floor Plan

BONNE ESPERANCE - TRIBU ARCHITECTURE

SENSE OF PLACE

CAROUGE, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Milo Keller

Fontonette

PROJECT DETAIL

Type Social Housing Location Carouge, Switzerland Architects Frundgallina Architecture Area 13500 m²

Photographs Milo Keller Year 2015

According to Frundgallina Architecture, La Fontenette, in Carouge, was hosted since the 1950s ten buildings with 120 apartments. The complex has interesting features especially green areas and surrounded by large trees.

The project interprets the former construction’s planning principles, which described as living in a park. There are seven new compact buildings that are freely disposed in-between or surrounding the existing trees, which are preserved. They define quality outdoor spaces, providing residents great visual relationships with both buildings and landscape.

FAR 135% Floors 9 - Storey Depth 20m Length 25m Height 27m

The project forms homogeneous as a whole. Each building acquires singularity by varying the positions and dimensions of the windows. Developed from three concentric structural rings, each floor have different typologies of apartments, from one to five rooms. The area with latter are distributed by generous entrance halls characterizing the proposed typologies. This principle, eight different floor plans are stacked and then redistributed at different levels in each building. In addition to this housing program, ground floors are hosting extracurricular premises, two multipurpose rooms and shared laundries.

CAROUGE, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Milo Keller

To respond to a shortage of low-rent housing, was organized an architectural competition for the construction of 335 new affordable apartments. The project can be described as living in a park. Seven compact buildings are freely disposed in-between the existing trees, providing residents great visual relationships with both buildings and landscape.

The project, carried out in 3 stages, comprises a total of 335 housing units spread over 7 buildings, 1,000 m² of extracurricular premises and restaurant, an underground car park with 243 spaces, on 2 basements of 3,400 m² each, and a school of music.

Boveresses

PROJECT DETAIL

Type Social Housing, Residential Location Lausanne, Switzerland

Architects Fruehauf, Henry & Viladoms Area 10913 m²

Photographs Olivier Di Giambattista, Simon Menges, Carlos Viladoms Construction Management Pragma Partenaires Viladoms Civil Engineer AIC Engineers Year 2021

The location of the project is in the heart of the Boveresses district in the north of Lausanne. The district is composed of several emblematic housing complexes from the 1970s.

The project aims at an integration in this context with a strong identity. The urban morphology that takes up the clear orientation of the surrounding urbanism by proposing an articulated volume with redents. The building creates a strong link with its environment even though without seeking mimicry. The landscape project is characterized by the organic and fluid geometry of its components. Its design contrasts with the cartesian rigidity of the built architecture.

ARCH DAILY

The lower first floor, there is relation to the school programs, the mineral component ensures the appropriation of the square and the courtyard. The upper first floor, in contrast, the vegetal component prevails. The tree-lined park hosting the playground becomes a place of reference for the entire neighbourhood. The birch and pine trees give the project a calm and restful atmosphere.

There are two reference levels that define the project: the lower first floor level, facing south, hosts the school and after-school programs as well as the main accesses to the dwellings, while the upper first floor entrances, facing north, are connected to a park covered with trees and a playground. The entrances lead to two generous distribution cores. Under the garden slab is a parking lot operating in half levels. A canopy near the amenities provides access to the parking lot for the residents of the building as well as the neighbourhood.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Simon Menges

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Simon Menges

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Simon Menges

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Simon Menges

The orthogonal plan design is composed of rigid system of north-south axes at a distance of 3.6m apart and a more flexible system of east-west walls. The intersection of the two systems generates a plan composed of rooms distributed in enfilade.

LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Simon Menges

BASSERSDORF, SWITZERLAND Courtesy: Sabrina Scheja

BASSERSDORF, SWITZERLAND

Sabrina Scheja

MFH Glattlistrasse

PROJECT DETAIL

Type Social Housing Location Basserdorf, Switzerland Architects L3P Architects Area 980 m²

Photographs Sabrina Scheja Year 2010

There are thirty-two challenged youths that live in the occupational training home in Brüttisellen where they also must spend their leisure time. The range of leisure time activities has been increased through the development of the 5-10-5 metre sport hall annex and the two adjoining fitness studios.

With the double use of existing adjoining rooms, the the new building’s volume has been coupled with the main building. It is one of a flat building with the main body sunk 3 metres into the ground, the extension closes the central garden courtyard off into an access road. The design is contemporary and stands as a symbol for the development, respectively for the accomplishment of the buildings development between 2006 and 2011.

The building shows a circumferential window band to show the functions that underlies the structure. The facade becomes transparent and a view in the courtyard. There are also evening bustle artificial light that supports the meaning of the newly articulated middle point of the home.

The facade is made up of raw concrete, statics, earthquake resistance, moisture proofing and robust. The interior contains moisture barrier, insulation, soundproofing and sturdy surface in wood that is energy-efficient which react quickly to inner core.

The interior wooden panelling is made up of largesized plywood boarding of French Jerusalem or Aleppo pine to acheive optimal acoustic, 85% of the boarding are perforated. Non perforated surfaces are approximately 40 m² were distributed through the room.

BASSERSDORF, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Sabrina Scheja

BASSERSDORF, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Sabrina Scheja

The building is punctured through the circumferential window band with only few precisely-assembled concrete support columns to take over the reduction of the load and the bracing of the roof. As part of an architectural concept, the structural design comprises with a static system, without a fixed grid dimension and with differing gradients of the concrete columns. The outer shell of the building, including roof, are reduced to the materials concrete and glass.

Courtesy: Sabrina Scheja

BASSERSDORF, SWITZERLAND

BASSERSDORF, SWITZERLAND

Sabrina Scheja

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Hélène Binet

PADMANABHAN HOUSING

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Padmanabhan

PROJECT DETAIL

Type Social Housing, Apartment Location Zurich, Switzerland Architect Lütjens Padmanabhan

Photographs Helene Binet and Ralph Hut

Construction Management Year 2018

Above the hedgerows and flanked by trees, the building emerges like an outsized garden shed, a giant order of 2-metre-wide Eternit ‘shingles’, like overlapped timber boards, wrapping around its perimeter.

The facades lean veritably lightly against each other like a house of cards, the edges pulling down slightly from the corners. Like garden fences, each elevation cradles and encloses a small pocket of greenery, or a scrap of road or pathway. A long strip of delicate is for bicycle that shed precisely angled to structure the landscape to the rear. A play of references and quotations is rumored in hushed tones, so as not to scarify the quiet suburban neighbours. The frontal facade is approximately divided by an order of slate- painted timber batten pilaster( for rainwater pipes which, in true Swiss fashion, run internally), to produce contemporaneously a run of 10 row houses and a long columnar Palladian palazzo.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy:

Binet

The elevation isn’t erected from the ground rather a ‘ horizon ’ of slate timber ties around the structure’s midriff like a belt while the ground shifts below, a whole bottom buried at the reverse of the structure. Two storeys hang below and two sit over, the relaxed arrangement of windows squeezing like globules on an abacus. At its base, a ramped ‘ buttress ’ props up the facade, like the protective talus at the bottom of an ancient fort – except then it’s drafted from froth- filled fibrecement board rather than solid stone. And on the top floor, the four apartments – including the two largest four- and fivebedroom apartments – are treated as small cubical pavilions perched on the roof, from lavish extensions of penthouse.

PADMANABHAN HOUSING

In most Swiss casing blocks, the ground bottom is dominated by a perambulator demesne and lavish laundry apartments which move space-empty clutter from individual homes. Padmanabhan describes the roughcast concrete bank of washing machines as both balcony to washing area with perhaps but the jazzy banded bottom, large glasses, and pink doors do advance themselves a noiselessly discotheque sense.

ZURICH HOUSING - GUS WÜSTEMANN ARCHITECTS

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

ZURICH HOUSING - GUS WÜSTEMANN ARCHITECTS

Bruno Helbling

PROJECT DETAIL

Type Social Housing, Apartment Location Zurich, Switzerland Architects Gus Wüstemann Architects Area 1115 m²

Photographs Bruno Helbling Civil Engineer Born Partner AG Builder Corti AG Year 2019

Above the hedgerows and flanked by trees, the building emerges like an outsized garden shed, a giant order of 2-metre-wide Eternit ‘shingles’, like overlapped timber boards, wrapping around its perimeter.

The Baechi Foundation contracted gus wüstemann architects to build a housing block in Zurich with a high living quality on a low budget. This housing design is a structure of nine apartments in the external green belt of Albisrieden in the city of Zurich. The urban structure is characterized by simple linear buildings from the 1950s with sized gardens, which are arranged at right angles to one another. The new structure is inside such a green area as part of the rising density within the city, in between the direct structures. The Baechi Foundation specifically asked for affordable housing with a great quality of living in the center of Zurich. Having Natural light, sequestration and a spatial moment of generosity, were the focus of this design for the project.

ARCH

Low Budget - Architecture for Everybody

The rents had to be affordable and so all the flats were rented out considerably cheap – the rent is amongst the cheapest in the city of Zurich – Architecture for a low Budget – Architecture for Everybody.

In architecture, here in housing construction, The project shows the shift of the focus, away from connotations and standards - to space, momentum and room quality, makes this possible. These are four two-bedroom apartments of 60m2 and five three-bedroom apartments of 95m2 each.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

Morphology

It is built with solid concrete block, organically formed, from which two courtyards were cut out. In these courtyards, the living spaces float like bridges, from the morning sun to the evening sun. A continuous space that topographically creates the feeling that the living space is an exterior space – and not an interior space filled up with the housing program.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

This results in an incredible moment of magnitude in a small space. Hence there is an open living space – which can be enlarged to the periphery of the balconies and sheltered by the famous wooden persianas from Barcelona. Economically optimized interventions by reducing all the technical installations of the building to a minimum – in Swiss standards –we focus on a couple of interventions that add major value to the quality of the living space. These are sliding windows and a built-in bench as the communicative element of the concrete topography.

Concrete Topography and Sensuality. The periphery of the living space is topographically processed and makes the space-limiting elements communicative. Therefore, the building elements and especially the periphery of the space is not a parting wall, but a topographically shaped protagonist – the topography incorporates programmed like wardrobe and living room bench. The bathroom of the 3-bedroom flat is separated from the common area by a sliding door, that does not touch the floor. It keeps the space floating as a common space, what it is and at the same time gives all the intimacy you need.

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND Courtesy: Bruno Helbling

The entrance to each flat is guided by a condensed massive concrete beam, that catches the moment of entry. The concrete bench growing out of the bathroom wall creates a common space just at the entry of the bath sliding door, there is a moment of program intersection. The concrete floor floats in all the bedrooms, letting the common space flow and then inside the room a wooden floor implicates another level of intimacy.

COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ALLIED DISCIPLINE

EASTERN VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY

INTERNATIONAL ARCHITECTURE MAGAZINE

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN ARCHITECTURE SECTION 5B OCTOBER 2022

Instructor: Arch. Joseph T. Macario, UAP

Contributors:

Obera, Irah Kenth Owenson V. Rodriguez, Dianne G. Salvatierra, Jushua D. Servano, Allana Marie L. Silvano, Kenneth C.

References:

• Expatica. (2022, July 11). Housing in Switzerland: a guide to renting and buying | Expatica. Expat Guide to Switzerland | Expatica. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.expatica.com/ch/housing/ housing-basics/housing-in-switzerland-1117795/

• Glaser, M. (2017, June). The Situation of Social Housing in Switzerland. Critical Housing Analysis, 4(1), 72–80. https://doi.org/10.13060/23362839.2017.4.1.326

• Le News. (2022, September 24). Swiss housing market tightens further in 2022. Le News. Retrieved October 18, 2022, from https://lenews.ch/2022/09/17/swiss-housing-market-tightens-further-in-2022/

• Hilber, C. L. A., & Schöni, O. (2016, October). Housing policies in Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from http://eprints.lse. ac.uk/68085/1/Hilber_Housing%20policies%20in%20Switzerlandn.pdf

• Beaumont, E. (2020, July 26). Communal luxury: Social housing, Zürich, Switzerland by Lütjens Padmanabhan. Architectural Review. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.architectural-review. com/buildings/communal-luxury-social-housing-zurich-switzerland-by-lutjens-padmanabhan

• Alarcón, J. (2021, October 7). MFH Glattlistrasse / L3P Architects. ArchDaily. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/299523/mfh-glattlistrasse-l3p-architects?ad_source=search

• Silva, V. (2022, January 19). Housing in Boveresses / Fruehauf, Henry & Viladoms. ArchDaily. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/975123/housing-in-boveresses-fruehauf-henry-andviladoms?ad_source=search

• Aguilar, C. (2021, December 15). Bonne Espérance / TRIBU architecture. ArchDaily. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/781474/bonne-esperance-tribu-architecture?ad_source=search

• Sánchez, D. (2019, October 24). La Fontenette Social Housing / frundgallina. ArchDaily. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/769538/social-housing-frundgallina

• Tapia, D. (2022, September 5). Affordable Housing in Zurich / Gus Wüstemann. ArchDaily. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.archdaily.com/912032/affordable-housing-in-zurich-guswustemann