Marchal Furstenberger

Marchal Furstenberger

Switzerland

View more work

Back to group shot

 
PROFILE

Sacha Marchal and Philippe Furstenberger met at the Basel offices of Herzog & de Meuron, where they racked up 20 years of service between them before setting up on their own in 2006. Both in their early 40s, the Franco-Swiss studio has an ethos of providing quality of life, not just to their clients, but to everyone who has to engage and interact with their architecture. Without wishing to pigeonhole themselves as purveyors of flowing inside/outside space or tightly controlled interiors, Marchal Furstenberger's projects frequently bring together both approaches, influenced by the broad spectrum of modern media and culture, eg the recent Arlesheim House that appears to float above its site with a fully glazed ground floor and rendered first floor.

CITYHOUSE

Designed for a plot in the heart of their home city, the Cityhouse is an attempt to tackle a site with 'extreme geometry', just five metres wide but 30m long, stretching between two streets, one with a commercial focus, the other residential. Marchal and Furstenberger began by posing the question, 'What does living in the city mean?', rapidly concluding that the modern city dweller considers the urban realm as an extension of their house .'The time we used to spend in our living room is nowadays shared with the cinema, the theater or a museum of art. We share our lunch with some friend in the restaurant or we just go to the park to enjoy our free time. What is the role of the house in the city?' The solution is this cave-like form, a throwback to the house as fundamental shelter.


http://www.mfarchitekten.ch

Google Earth

Tour all of our featured buildings in 3D using Google Earth

Download all files for our 2010 Architect directory

Get Google Earth