In the northern Rhine valley, on the outskirts of Lauterach, the property is embedded in a small-scale structure of detached houses. The building is positioned independently in the dense development and fits harmoniously into the surroundings with its three-part cubature. The building is set back from the street in the south and is oriented in a north-south direction.
Theurl, the East Tyrolean manufacturer of timber products, has built a new facility for the production of cross-laminated timber (CLT) elements on a site covering around 12.5 hectares in Carinthia. Theurl’s third plant is designed to be able to produce around 100,000 m³ of cross-laminated timber for the trans-regional market every year. The integrated design of both phases – high-tech production plant and office building – was the work of ATP architects engineers, Innsbruck. A special feature of the project was that the buildings built in Phase 1 produced the timber elements used in the buildings built in Phase 2. This creates a true sense of identity for the employees working in the office building, because they are surrounded every day by the materials that they produce in-house.
In the spatial field between jetty and new mouth of the Kugelbeerbach brook in the Austrian municipality of Lochau at the Lake of Constance sits the flat, one-storey building, right between lake and landscape. Rest and activity zones are kept close to the building, leaving generous areas for bathers. Long boundary walls along the cycle path give structure to the surrounding space, defining a safe, identifiable area for parking bikes and guiding visitors to the widely roofed entrance area.
Imagining a villa, one pictures a sprawling complex of buildings and land, echoing dynastic opulence. For this villa commission in a quiet village outside of Vienna, Austria, I was challenged with maximizing the volume of a difficult and narrow plot of land in order to create a modern living space for a two-generation family. The first impression of the construction is of a container as a living space. However, the eye is soon drawn to the discrepancies between the use of ninety degree angles and a slightly deviating complementary angle. The friction between the two angles, used both in the wall structure and the floor plan, can be felt as movement throughout the entire structure. From the intimate entrance to the large open plan living space, this interaction between the perpendicular and the oblique defines a certain perception that pervades the experience of the structure. The outlines and the façade of the new house are reminiscent of the unique and traditional craftwork of Viennese houses. In the last decades, this craftsman work has largely been given over in favor of the standardized use of polystyrene and external plaster.
As the competition winners, BWM Architekten developed an open concept for a versatile, forward-looking visitor centre in the opera house. A 20m-long table along the central axis of the hall provides structure for the various functions: during the day, the main focus is on ticket sales, service and information; as the evening closes in, the space transforms like a stage and becomes a meeting spot where the local culture and music scene can socialise. Whether day or night, it is a welcoming place for all visitors.
Seven renowned architectural firms have designed ten individual buildings according to architectural guiding principles by BEHF Architects. Thanks to the well though-out concept, THE ENSEMBLE presents itself as a lively, varied and modern residential area; privately financed, but based on the qualities of the Vienna housing model. Directly on the Danube Canal, opposite the recreational and leisure area of the Prater, about 800 high-quality apartments that blend seamlessly with an expansive surrounding park space are available.
The kindergarten, built in solid wood construction, expresses itself as a quiet, single-storey building in a heterogeneous environment. The forecourt to the east connects to the public space and leads to the entrance area, which forms a clear closure to the playground and gardens and thus serves as a privacy screen and noise protection.
A small property located on a hill close to Dornbirn lies in a core of Rheintalhouses. The building is oriented towards three main views: the Säntis, the Bodensee and to the First. The house has a massive foundation made out of concrete on which a timber contruction arises. In the rooms, as well as on the façade silver fir was used. Around a central core with the staircase, the kitchen and the chimney an open space was planned. The different rooms can be separated by sliding doors.
The new building of the EBS Center on the Graz University of Technology’s Inffeld grounds marks a kind of starting and end point. As a figurative punctuation mark, the built volume was articulated as a free-standing complex. The Center’s distinctive six-story east-side façade provides the urban front facing the campus. Gradated building heights descending toward plinth level make for a gentle transition to the surrounding green areas and the small-scale built neighborhood. The complex is structured into lab and research facilities, and above them, a block building used for offices. Its compact internal core with a stairwell and adjacent side rooms makes for short distances. Informal meeting booths offer privacy and add to the circulation areas. While the office spaces on the upper floors are organized in a U-shape around the building core, the communication zones are conceived as an expansion of the internal circulation areas and oriented toward the green vegetation outside.
The residential building from the 1960s no longer met contemporary requirements, neither visually, ecologically, nor in terms of the room layout. A conversion would not have been profitable, so we decided to demolish the house down to the basement and build a new two-storey wooden construction on top.
The new building is based on the previous volume and floor space. Even the small recess of the south facade follows the trace of the old house. The preserved basement serves as a plinth and offers space for bicycle, storage and technical rooms.
email
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
