A person planning a house on a meadow above a subterranean lake from the former glacial period has either nerves of steel or not the faintest idea. This is what happened to the Berlin architect Carlos Zwick when he wanted to construct a summer residence for his family of 8 in his Allgäu homeland. Photography by Tomek Kwiatosz.

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When in 2011, during the construction works, the ground started staggering under the excavator it soon became clear that something was wrong here.

A team of geologists brought certainty: a lake from the ice age extending to 18 meters of depth is located under the planned house, 15 meters long and with a consistency of liquid rock sludge. It was a real challenge that caused the architect quite a headache and a building freeze. Today the house which is made of a wooden panel construction is standing well grounded on 24 ductile cast piles. It was not his true intention to build a house of such size here in his old homeland. To begin with, a project with friends was envisaged who meant to rebuild and occupy the former house from the 40s. Zwick liked the idea of constructing a kind of summer cottage next to it, in order to use as lodging during skiing or summer vacations.

The friends pulled out, and the concept changed. Today, in the midst of green clover meadows a modern and urbanized architectural house can be seen which wondrously embeds into the nature by means of the autumnal colors of the constantly tran...