The year is 2050. Switzerland’s population has grown to 11 million. The city of Zurich as we know it has transformed. As a bustling metropolis, it struggles to provide enough housing for its residents. In the scenario where the state takes responsibility for the housing crisis, this project explores how ETHZ real estate, in particular the individual villas at Zürichberg, could accommodate a large number of people by rethinking our ideas of comfort and the way we live.

The design of the VOB building at ETHZ emerges from two fundamental observations: the inherent inefficiency of traditional bedrooms, occupied merely 8 hours a day, and the evolving nature of urban chronotypes in a perpetually active metropolis. Rather than assign fixed private bedrooms, this project explores the possibility of a fluid system of sleep spaces, conceived not as rooms but as moments - each with distinct spatial and luminous properties. These spaces emerge through the addition of extra floors within the house, resulting in rooms of varying and unusual heights that allude to specific functions and introduce a sense of playfulness in spatial relations.

The 35 residents of the VOB building can then choose where and when they want to sleep. When they are done using a room, they leave it for another resident.

This approach not only optimizes space over time but also challenges our cultural attachment to personal sleeping rooms while offering a more nuanced understanding of domestic comfort. Thehouse becomes a sanctuary away from the hustle and over-productivity of public life, a place where sleep and rest are valued, celebrated, and shared among the community.