The village of Morcote is situated on the banks of Lake Lugano in Switzerland. This new house is located a short walk west of the village centre, just above the lake shore in an unprepossessing villa district. Through its use of materials and language of forms, the house seeks to reinstate the lost connections with its environment and the old village centre. Fired clay bricks were chosen for the walls, a simple but versatile material also favoured by the Romans when they built Morcote fortress. In form, too, the linear construction even resembles a brick stood on end, rising out of the steep south-facing slope. Slightly angled in relation to the gradient, the house looks out towards Porto Ceresio on the Italian side. The external walls were completed in one single operation. The bricks visible on the inside and outside enclose a core of standard vertically perforated bricks, a combination that provides adequate thermal insulation.