This three-party house in Bern is the first residential building in Switzerland to gain Minergie-P-Eco rating. Architect Peter Schürch of Halle 58, who now lives in the building, has successfully blended eco-friendly architecture and high aesthetic standards with energy and cost efficiency. The narrow, wedge-shaped plot is on a site with eight 1960s apartment blocks which set the scale for the new build. A broad ramp leads straight off the road up to the main door, behind which is the external staircase, enclosed behind a screen of horizontal battens. The apartments, one per floor, have virtually identical floor plans: on the north side a trapezoid-shaped, compact core for sanitation and mechanical services, with three bedrooms opposite, and on the south a loft-like living space, leading onto a large south-facing terrace and side balcony.