The structural design of the villa had to be within specific height restrictions and a defined overall area as it was erected on the site of a demolished building constructed in the 1960s.
Façades of the villa are constructed in a freer postmodernist style which reflects the client’s tastes, at the same time harmonizing with the local landscape. They are made of plaster with marble highlights in cornices, capitals, balustrades and plinths.
The entrance to the house on the curved axis of the vestibule is uncharacteristically located on the side of the building, alluding to the “compositive and intermedia” construction style. The main façade of the building faces directly on to a side street in a quiet Geneva suburb and is designed as a classical portico.
The excessively heavy marble cornices and triple pilasters of the composite order with a contemporary twist give a slightly exaggerated feel to the whole composition and serve as a metaphor for the client’s nouveau-riche background.
In essence, this villa represents a miniature model of a classical building. This presented particular difficulties familiar to any architect who has tried to reproduce classical models and patterns in a modern-day context and scale. It is why the two main spaces, the lounge and the study, are both in rigorously preserved proportions.
The staircase twining and coiling round the light-well with a helix plaster net highlights and emphasizes the light penetrating into the void and this has become the centre point of the building design and layout as a whole.
All the elements and architectural details made of plaster are manufactured in accordance with the architect’s drawings with further full-scale modelling and moulding undertaken in Switzerland under the strict supervision of the architect. The most complex element to be reproduced was the plaster helix placed in the oval light shaft. In order to manufacture this properly, a full-size model of the wall surface was needed which made it possible to sculpt the plaster profile.