The apartment near Lake Z\u00fcrich that shows how even a concrete new-build can be warm and cosy.<\/p>\n
Solid Swiss architecture, a canny floor plan and an enviable location (a nip away from Seebad Utoquai bathing club on Lake Z\u00fcrich) drew a pair of new tenants to this brand-new apartment late last year. The smart concrete block in the upscale Z\u00fcrich quarter of Seefeld may have lacked the weathered charm of its older, modernist neighbours, but its young, well-proportioned features would become the canvas for a masterclass in cosy interior design. For the residents, keen to explore both the practicalities and limitations of modern apartment living (with minds cast to upcoming property development projects in Asia), the question was: \u201cCan we bring real warmth to a new-build and do it in less than year?\u201d<\/p>\n
Today, a wander round these light oak floors (cooled underfoot in summer by water from the lake) is confirmation that they could. Art and design pieces collected over a quick series of buying trips and boot-loads of vintage furniture from shopping sprees across Mitteleuropa have formed a space rich in texture, warm in materials and, most importantly, lit up in the cosiest manner. \u201cThe illegal lightbulb market is booming here in Z\u00fcrich,\u201d quips one of the residents, whose first step was to replace all the LED bulbs here with incandescent alternatives from Switzerland\u2019s Righi Licht (banned in the EU). \u201cThey really make a difference, the light is so much warmer, so much more golden.\u201d Dimmer switches came next and then the acquisition of an arsenal of well-shaded lamps produced by Canada\u2019s Lotte Lamps, Spain\u2019s Santa & Cole and Austria\u2019s Kalmar. All this has set the perfect tone for both cocktail parties and evenings spent reading long into the night.<\/p>\n
A good bulk of the furniture was sourced on a buying \u201cblitz\u201d one chilly winter weekend dashing from Geneva\u2019s Le Salon du Design trade fair to a Brockenhaus (second-hand shop) in St Moritz. At the latter, just a few Swiss Francs were enough to secure 1970s design classics from Italy\u2019s Cassina \u2013 stackable timber side tables with reversible tops. Closer to home the wooden wonders that warm up the place and soften the acoustics (Swiss neighbours are known to be sensitive) were secured with a little help from Shiran Steiner, the buyer behind Z\u00fcrich\u2019s excellent vintage gallery Stadtstube. A Florence Knoll sideboard in a rich Rio rosewood and Carrara marble was bought to stand as a centrepiece in the lounge, while guests COO over the mid-century Aino Aalto cocktail cart that sits in the kitchen. Here, shelving units from Swedish firm String \u2013 one vintage, one new \u2013 add softness to the room.<\/p>\n
The well-travelled lives of our residents are revealed across more personal additions to the apartment. Works from British artist David Shrigley border photographs taken in Berlin and Beirut. A prominent picture of a Swiss cow being airlifted across a valley, by Urs Fl\u00fceler for newspaper NZZ, points to a sense of humour and a passion for media (reinforced by a publication collection spanning vintage Life annuals to stacks of new interiors magazines).<\/p>\n
To make it all fit, the residents can thank the space-saving smarts of Galli Rudolf, the Swiss architects behind this building. The apartment\u2019s floor plan operates around an axis from a welcoming central entrance hall. Sturdy timber room-dividers slide into the walls, creating a deceptively large open-plan space for parties. The guest bedroom doubles up as a second lounge. With a fine 1960s wooden timber bench from Sweden\u2019s Nordiska Kompaniet and a wall rack custom built by South Tyrolean carpenter Gufler, it\u2019s the spot to escape for a moment of quiet during a buzzing party as well as a comfortable over-nighter for friends.<\/p>\n
Our kind hosts bid us goodbye from the plant-laden balcony, decked out with furniture from Swiss specialist Milo M\u00f6bel and moodily lit with oil burners from Sweden\u2019s Karlskrona Lampfabrik. The cool lake breeze rustles the leafy interior courtyard it faces. \u201cWhat\u2019s not to like?\u201d asks the resident. \u201cIn terms of life-improvement you just feel like the edge is taken off here.\u201d Looking back into this cosiest of residences, it\u2019s impossible to disagree.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The apartment near Lake Z\u00fcrich that shows how even a concrete new-build can be warm and cosy. Solid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":107903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[6],"tags":[52658,38017,52659,7307,4573,52660,50174,52661,51],"class_list":["post-107902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-zurich","tag-apartment-living","tag-apartments","tag-florence-knoll","tag-interior-design","tag-lake-zurich","tag-mid-century-design","tag-swiss-architecture","tag-vintage-furniture","tag-zurich"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116977820495455351","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}