Marte.Marte Architekten
House of Chambers
best architects 23
single family homes
Place
Feldkirch, Austria
Studio
Photos
Paul Ott
Description
Developed from a square
floor plan that is itself divided into four segments of equal size, the
building presents itself as an ingenious precision design in both the vertical
and horizontal directions on several levels. In front is a small courtyard
through which the house is accessed. The entrance to the underground car park
and to various side rooms as well as the sauna and wellness area are completely
dug into the slope. Steep staircases at right angles flank the northern and eastern
façades, starting from the spiral staircase coming from below, and open up onto
the top floor, which is designed as a private retreat. Built entirely of
exposed concrete, the house is clad with solid oak on the inside, except for
the ceilings. As closed-off as it appears from the outside, the house feels
open inside, as a quarter of the square floor plan on each of the two
above-ground floors has been transformed into a terrace. The negative volumes that
form these two terraces virtually touch at the centre of this house, which is logically
conceived yet perfused with an archaic sculptural monumentality. Inside and
out, each side is completely different, giving the house the look of a bunker,
then again a grandstand or a comfortably lined wooden box. What appears to be a
monumental solitary structure then takes on a minimal air from a different
perspective.