MAISON SWISS SLEEK

Heard of Michael Meier?  Chances are, you haven’t.  It’s not a brand name and outside of the CH, you won’t place a face to the name.  So why bother with a blog?  Because this young Basel-based architect fresh from ETH Zurich, has a flat just soooo darned sleek, it belongs in the pages of apartamento or Dwell.

The austerity and initial impression of blankness commands the charming appeal.  Only a second pass reveals a series of small photographs giving texture to the spaces.  Meier’s studio (guest room) hosts a glass table complimented by a floor lamp and Eames fiberglass chairs.  In bright orange no less!  The bedroom is functional in nature; a bed and a lineup of books stacked against the wall.  The apartment floors of worn wood creak beneath your feet but the kitchen floor is the money: one seamless finish of red and brown terrazzo.  A grin spreads across Meier’s face as he concedes its inherent beauty.

“There is nothing here that is NOT needed.”  The french doors in the kitchen open to a balcony and the morning music of the courtyard birds accompany the shrill whistle of an Italian Bialetti.  It’s served black in Swiss made English teacups and the gold rims catching the sunlight is the only glint of flattery in this world of Swiss minimalism.  This flat may not be Villa Savoye with a guided audio tour but definitely a revaluation of our notions of “comfort.”  We take our coffees in the fresh air with cigarette smoke lazily disappearing away.