House on the Hill in Weidling
Location
The house is situated in a village near Vienna, the capital of Austria. The surrounding area of Vienna is predominantly hilly with woods and vineyards to the north and west. This family home with a studio, a wine cellar and a garage has been planned on one of the steep slopes of a south-facing hillside.
Concept
A narrow, steep south-facing site conflicted with the request to have sunlight and views from every room and terrace. We decided to make an incision into the building to create more south-facing façade, a void, which becomes the airy and light filled heart of the building. The other measure was to allow views from the wine cellar and the terrace through the house by means of big openings, yet to create a contained space by allowing windows on the other facades only where necessary.
The building is designed to accommodate a family of five, to provide space for working at home and to entertain guests. A special request of the clients was to maintain and enhance the vistas to the wooded hills on the opposite side of the valley. These requests result in a very individually tailored cut of the building, which is organized on two levels. The entrance, which is located at the incision, leads into the two storey high hall. It divides the building into an east wing and a west wing, thus securing the demand for openness and privacy and accommodating the various needs, such as sleeping, living, working, storage and M&E support. The hall, with its stair leading to the upper level, functions as the distributing centre of the house. Light comes from the glazed section above the entrance door and a roof light illuminates the wall at the back. It’s white walls offer space for the clients contemporary art collection. The lower level contains the bedrooms, which have direct access to the garden. A bridge links the living room and the library/work room on the upper level. The living room with the kitchen in the centre opens up to the south with the beautiful views. The only containment is the fireplace, which can be used from inside the room and outside on the balcony. The room also has an opening to the north, where the wine cellar and a contained terrace are located. The library/workroom has openings to the north and to the south but is mainly lit by roof lights to maintain wall space for the books. The resulting volumes provide for optimum division of the rooms and give the building the appearance of being a solitaire. To enhance this impression the exterior of the building has been clad with a homogeneous timber facade. The house was designed to meet the Austrian standards for low energy consumption.
Construction
The special task of this project was the extreme steepness of the site together with a limited budget and a high expectation towards quality and natural resources. It seemed therefore the best option to work with prefabricated timber elements. To meet the requests for practicability and cost, the interior walls and ceilings are made from solid cross-laminated timber boards (KLH) and the exterior walls are a timber frame construction with cellulose insulation. Logistically the first step was to build the wine cellar on the top of the hill, followed by the concrete bottom floor slab for the house and for the garage. Then the house was erected within three days with the biggest mobile crane that was allowed on the hilly village streets. Facade and window frames are made of untreated larch wood. Inside the building, clay rendered walls provide for a balanced room condition. Natural and untreated surfaces, wood, slate and white walls result in a comfortable yet abstract sense of space, which is enhanced by vistas, views and perspectives. The construction of the garage and the landscaping were the last steps. The time to erect the building, the wine cellar and the garage for occupation and use was 6 months total.
