In this sun-lit villa by oow, sustainability and elegance meet with conviction. The house received the Green Good Design Award and was selected by CNN as one of the ten most sustainable buildings in the world.
On the edge of Solduno, moments from Locarno, this 200-square-metre family home opens to a sweeping view across Ascona and Lake Maggiore. Designed for a couple with three children, it lets everyday life and landscape drift together as naturally as light across a floor. The site is beautiful — and notoriously hard to reach. Walls and ceilings were therefore prefabricated in timber and flown in by helicopter: a small feat of choreography that kept the build precise, swift, and gentle on its surroundings.
The brief was simple and demanding: a truly sustainable house that feels nature on every side. At ground level, living spaces with an open kitchen connect directly to the garden; generous, frameless corner glazing dissolves boundaries so the rooms borrow light and view from the valley beyond. A sculptural sky frame crowns this level and tapers towards the landscape. Clad in wild vine, it shades the façade in summer and forms the first-storey balconies — a green sleeve that is both ornament and performance.
The roof follows the sky frame’s pitch, giving the upstairs rooms dual aspects and long, cinematic vistas. An external stair rises to the planted roof — a quiet belvedere where the panorama feels close enough to touch. Comfort is as carefully drawn as the silhouette. Underfloor heating is powered by solar-thermal collectors; only on the coldest, overcast winter days does the fireplace lend a hand. A heat exchanger above the fire then produces domestic hot water — an elegant, efficient loop that lets you keep warm with a clear conscience.
