House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture

House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Exterior Photography, Fence, GardenHouse Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Exterior Photography, Windows, FacadeHouse Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Chair, WindowsHouse Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Windows, HandrailHouse Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - More Images+ 23

Vienna, Austria
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House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Windows, Door, Facade
© Florian Holzherr

Text description provided by the architects. Barn red? Burnt umber? Redwood? Indian red? Smoked salmon? Windsor tan? Chestnut? Marron? It’s technically RAL 3016, and when applied on wooden boards it turns this family chalet in Zell am See into a kinky incarnation of Alpine timber cladding, a cheeky expression of folk. 

House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Dining room, Table, Chair, Windows
© Florian Holzherr
House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Image 23 of 28

But from the old hotel to which the chalet attaches like an appendix, the architecture draws no more. Other than the wooded exterior, the new annex is a compositional non sequitur – see the modified Diocletian window in the back that points to foreign styles. It is a surprise in a country where merely submitting a flat roof means looking for trouble.

House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Sofa, Table
© Florian Holzherr
House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Living Room
© Florian Holzherr

Its double height speaks of the vertical dimension, which is usually abandoned in local architecture in favor of the much esteemed horizontal. From the inside, all wants for views of mountains are supplied profusely by outsize glass sheets on three of its sides, just short of being full curtain walls. On their wooden frames, RAL 3016 has been applied with different levels of saturation to lend variety - an exercise in subtlety in spite of the audacity of their redness.

House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Door, Chair
© Florian Holzherr
House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Image 24 of 28

The ground floor houses the family’s living room and dining room, where massive polished concrete walls act as a counterpoint to the much diaphanous façade. Roller shades can be drawn over the entire height of the glass panes should further privacy be required, resulting in a distinctly different appearance from the outside.

House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Stairs, Handrail, Beam
© Florian Holzherr
House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Handrail
© Florian Holzherr
House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Windows, Handrail
© Florian Holzherr

Above, a curve in the mezzanine permits a small home office and converses with the half-moon of the inverted Diocletian window. There’s another half-circle in the section of the staircase’s pillar, white and thin. Bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchen remain on the body of the hotel, now rendered the primary host, and which this very family runs.

House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture - Interior Photography, Windows, Handrail
© Florian Holzherr

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Cite: "House Schmitten / Steiner Architecture" 10 Oct 2023. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1007996/house-schmitten-steiner-architecture> ISSN 0719-8884

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