A housing estate that spreads into the forest, surrounded on two sides by trees and close to another housing estate. This was the environment in which we were to design a residential building complex. It invited us to open up the architecture to nature and keep the landscape harmonious. To build connections between the buildings and the forest, we introduced balconies running around the entire circumference of the building. Since we didn’t want the size of the buildings to dominate the landscape, we made them optically smaller, visually cutting off the top storey using a different colour. For the same reason, the rows of balconies on the east and west sides were pushed out in front of the elevation. The underground level was placed over the surface of the terrain and covered with earth to create a slope overgrown with greenery. We used materials and colours that resonate with nature and the neighbouring housing estate, so mostly light colours: off-white, greys, natural wood. The building shape is modern, with a repetitive rhythm. The architecture is not just pleasant to look at – each element is accessible to people with disabilities.
