Private Circles of Light

architect Valerio Olgiati
project Residental building Zug Schleife, Zug, Switzerland
written by Peter Sealy

 

Valerio Olgiati’s Zug Schleife Residential Building has the aura of an alien object in its suburban surroundings. This extraterrestrial character is the result of the building’s robust form and of the reddish-brown concrete used in all of its public areas, an effect echoed by the red-tinted glazing on its façades. Through its colour, the building evokes the post-industrial presence of rusting iron along with the massiveness of adobe construction.