The plot of land for this project, located on the shores of Lake Geneva in Nyon, is the result of property lines that were redrawn around a 20th-century manor house. The magnificent trees and view of Lake Geneva inspired the site plan, which was imagined together with the office of Bonnard + Woeffray. The three buildings glide between the trees and around the free spaces, clearings in the making. The complex is home to 49 new condominium apartments.
The lakefront building is designed to maximize lake views. The 16 apartments have a direct or partial view of this incredible landscape. Like an open fan or a deck of cards unfolding in your hand, the building’s outer broken line is much longer than the line in the palm of your hand. This unfolding creates a play of crystalline geometries, but with no sharp interior angles in the daytime areas and the majority of nighttime rooms that are still rectangular. Like a kaleidoscope, the floor plan brings the lake into the depths of the apartments.
Inside, two diamond-shaped stairwells lead to six apartments per floor. Designed with attention to symmetry, three main types of apartments form the basis of the current floor plan. In each apartment, a concrete entrance alcove creates a transitional threshold into the private space. In the first type, you enter into the juncture between the night zone, open to the park, and the large day zone in an almost perfect pentagon. In the second type of apartment, one of the bedrooms is behind the kitchen. The day zone forms a kind of hexagonal rotunda that projects onto the lake. The third type, the double aspect apartment in the center of the plan, is built on two X-shaped diagonals that allow for a lake view even from the bedrooms. Every effort was made to free the floor plan from an overly hermetic construction of day and night zones.
On the lake side, concrete slabs jut out from the arcade structure that supports them, creating spacious terrace balconies. Each facet is framed by this strong structure. Green prefabricated concrete elements produce the effect of enlarging these arches and reflect the lush green environment of the area.
