Hurst House Switzerland by Richard Powers


Hurst House Switzerland

Pictures Richard Powers

Words Dominic Bradbury

Sitting on a steep hillside on the edge of the small and scenic mountain village of Lumbrein, this contemporary home was designed by architect Alex Hurst for his own mother, Christina Hurst. Christina was looking for a country retreat and something that would be very different to her apartment in Zurich. The family found a plot of land on the edge of a small village in an Italian speaking part of Switzerland, not far from the Italian border. In winter, the area is blanketed with snow but for the rest of the year the house is surrounded by pasture and farmland.

Hurst pushed the new house into the sloping site, with garaging on a lower ground level and then the main entrance level above, with a large bedroom to one side with bespoke folding beds for Christina’s grandchildren. The floor above is devoted to a generous sitting room to one side of the stairs, with a large picture window making the most of the panoramic views across the mountains, while a kitchen and dining area sits on the other side of the stairwell. Two further bedrooms are contained on the upper level.

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