Casa Eva
Location Ascona (CH)
Dates Construction 1938 - Renovation 2020/22
Surface 76m2
Status Project completed
Photo credits Salomé Wackernagel
Project team Mathilde Gudefin & Salomé Wackernagel · M S Studio
La Casa Eva has been built at the end of the 1930s by Baron von der Heydt in Ascona, at that time a small fishing village on Lake Maggiore in the Ticino region. Ascona had been revolutionized at the beginning of the century by the Monte Verità community, located on a hill just above the village, which was bought in 1928 by the same Baron who built at the same time the Casa Eva, the Casa Cinese, its neighbour, as well as the Bauhaus Hotel Monte Verità on the hill. From 1900 onwards, the founders of Monte Verità lived in “huts of air and light”, where they encouraged the free movement of
bodies in spaces bathed in sunlight. Casa Eva, which urgently needed a complete renovation of the sanitary facilities, as well as the thermal and electrical systems, has been refurbished in accordance with its context, following our philosophy, which allowed us to transform this small single-storey module into a minimalist space where the spirit of the Bauhaus period is reflected. Indeed, the contemporary materials and components blend in with the original elements we tried to keep everywhere it has been possible, as in our other renovation projects. The fluidity of the spaces, as they are recomposed, allows air and light to shine through, making the outside space an integral part of the house, as it used to be at the Monte Verità.