Designed by: @ leopoldbanchini

Captured by: @arorygardiner

Ferdinand Hodler spent much of his life painting the Swiss Alps mirrored in the country's lakes, returning to the same motif as the shifting sky and wind continuously transformed the landscape. He painted his first lake scenes at the age of 14, selling them to passing tourists, and fifty years later left behind unfinished sketches of Mont Blanc reflected in Lake Geneva, drawn from the balcony of his Geneva apartment.

Set on the shores of Lake Geneva with views across the Alps, Villa Montasser draws directly from this landscape while responding with restraint. Rather than competing with its surroundings, the house adopts a quiet architectural language. Its long, understated façade extends towards a water basin of equal length, where the building is reflected, while a single horizontal window opens onto a floating terrace of similar proportions.

The composition continues through a series of mirrored gestures. The reflection of the chimney aligns with the staircase leading to the pool, while an erratic boulder, deposited on the lakeshore by ancient glaciers, rests on the surface of the water. The symmetrical main façade pays tribute to the horizontal line that separates mountains from lake in Hodler's paintings.

Organised across three levels within the limits imposed by local planning regulations, the house balances openness and enclosure. The ground floor living spaces extend towards the landscape, while the underground bedrooms face a secluded courtyard containing a shallow basin fed by rainwater collected from the roof. Light reflects across both pools before entering the interiors, casting shifting patterns across the timber walls and ceilings.