References

BACKING THE RIGHT HORSE

Or rather a pony? A hot-blooded racehorse? Or a calm nag? Desires and needs change with the situation of life. At first, Mr and Mrs P. were entirely satisfied with their city apartment. It wasn't until son Viktor avidly explored the surroundings that their desire for a house in the countryside grew. And as luck would have it, a suitable plot of land was already available. A large, beautiful spot in the Lower Austrian community of St. Peter in der Au, long ago acquired by the owner's grandmother with wise foresight. In former times the vicarage stood here, then all around – at a suitable distance – this new part of the settlement was raised from the ground up. Here stand family homes, both traditional and modern. But the owners wanted something different, something very special.

REINS IN THE HAND

The house was to be a timber construction and also intended to win an architecture prize for this discipline. The P. family approached the Linz Architekturbüro Bogenfeld with these ambitious aspirations. "We take on such challenges with pleasure," smiles architect Birgit Kornmüller from Bogenfeld. The owners had already got to grips with the topic intensively and had concrete ideas. They were inspired by Vorarlberg's wooden architecture and the knowledge of the correct position of a building structure for optimum energy efficiency by means of solar radiation. At the same time, it was important for the property not to be overbuilt. And finally, the house itself had to be flexible and divisible, so that perhaps one day there would be room for the little children's own family. All under one roof.

READY TO START

It was precisely this roof that became the decisive design element: Bogenfeld architects placed a large saddle roof on an elongated, bright building. The roof provides shade, offers weather-protected open spaces and lies like a protective screen over the generous glass fronts. On the north side, a spacious niche was created as an entrance area. The bright three-layer panels in larch wood treated with colourless Pullex Holzöl von ADLER give it a friendly and inviting look. Also an oil, namely ADLER Aquawood Lärchenöl, was used for the windows of the Firma Böhler which were installed by the installation experts from Palisa and characterise the south and west side. The rough sawn spruce façade, on the other hand, takes its inspiration from an old wooden shed on the property: the owner himself, together with family and friends, painted every single board with Pullex 3in1-Lasur in the colour shade Wenge. The dark brown coating gives the wood grain a particularly beautiful shimmer and evokes connotations of a horse's coat. Apart from the floor slab, the sanitary core and the staircase – which makes the subsequent division possible – the building consists entirely of wood. For the price aimed at this is probably an ideal starting point!