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This neighborhood, the allotment "Liebhartstal" in the 16th urban district of Vienna, imposes a limit of 540 square feet (50 square meters) on any construction, with an extra allowance of 890 square feet (83 square meters) for a basement.

To overcome this limit and produce the desired 2700-square-foot (250-square-meter) house for a family of four, the architects did two unusual things. They built across three adjacent lots, effectively tripling the building's size limit. And they designed the larger, lower floor to be cut deep into the sloping site, thus qualifying it as a basement.

The smaller, upper floor represents the official building volume, and only that counts when computing the size limit. Because of the house's low profile, it interferes little with the views of the neighbors, thus satisfying the intent of the official size limitations.

Form Follows Function

Giving the lower floors ample access to daylight and stretching the plan over the three lots results in the very long, narrow floor plan. The northwest side is recessed into the slope completely, and the other side opens along its entire length to the southeast.

But this form is not a stylistic signature. As the architects say, "our 'handwriting' cannot be read at a glance from the outer form; the form is the expression of the program." They describe the pedestal as an intentionally incomplete cuboid.

Their design is consistent with the philosophy of Austrian architect Helmut Richter, who states: "There is no aesthetic argument, just an aesthetic postulate." By this he means that because beauty lies in the eye of the observer, aesthetics is no basis for his design and should be no basis for a critical reflection on architecture.

Jakob Dunkl and Gert Erhartt, who worked in Richter's office for years before co-founding querkraft architekten, have adopted his argument. They do without a "lovely" form in favor of supporting the programmatic task.

The spatial organization is defined in three parallel functional zones — an open garden terrace, a covered pergola as a transition zone, and the interior of the lower floor. This interior space is also divided into separate zones.

"Serving spaces" alternate with "spaces served." There is no separation between useable floor space and circulation space. The living room becomes a gateway. On the opposite side of the entrance there is a separate self-contained apartment.

The stacked "boxes" contain the bedrooms, a bathroom, and a walk-in closet. The studio between them serves as a "working cockpit." Round-cut "submarine doors" and a wood roof terrace evoke maritime images.

Construction

The lower story of the house is of steel-reinforced concrete construction. The glazed edge of the structure is borne by slender steel supports. The rear "underground" concrete wall benefits thermally from an integrated wall heater, a layer of clay, and an open fireplace.

The upper-floor rooms are of a lightweight, polyurethane-coated wood construction making them resemble a wooden ship's hull, shining with varnish. Their outer skin consists of insulated and synthetic resin-coated oriented strand board.

The materials and details are simple and minimal. The large panoramic windows with double glazing appear to be merely glued to the "boxes," and a black prefabricated net covering serves as balusters. No frills, no waste of space. The base of a stool in the upper-story bathroom also serves as a laundry chute.

Nevertheless, the effect in the interior is luxurious and subdued. The living room floor is of tropical cherry. The walls are painted earth tones, and the aluminum of the glass facade shimmers.

The floor, walls, and ceiling of the upper story are completely lined with a light beige sheep's wool carpet, which also rises to cover the window seat of the large panoramic windows. The house suggests interpretations beyond the usual definitions of "floor," "wall," and "ceiling." This blurring of distinctions between conventional surfaces is repeated in the raised floor of the wooden deck, which is the roof of most of the lower story.

Interpretation

The house is a game of ambiguities and contrasts. Its interior finishes blend boundaries between horizontal and vertical surfaces. The same color on the inside and outside might look different depending on angle of view or degree of lighting.

Will that be the main feature remembered about this house? Or its luxurious size in the context of an allotment? Or its low budget and high energy?

Perhaps the house most memorably embodies what Austrian writer Friedrich Achleitner referred to in describing typical issues in Viennese architecture: "a painless synthesis of apparent contrasts."

querkraft architekten, founded in 1998, is the shared office of Jakob Dunkl, Gerd Erhartt, Peter Sapp, and Michael Zinner. They see themselves and their 12 employees as a creative think tank, a platform of flexible, project-related teams. They currently concentrate on houses but also take on retail design and larger municipal projects.

Wolfgang Höhl studied architecture at the University of Technology in Vienna and the University of Hanover, Germany. His doctoral thesis on the influence of media use on city development has recently been published as a book, Boundary Cities: City Planning and Communication Theory by Passagen Editors in Vienna. He now works at the University of Technology in Munich and as an architectural journalist.

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Because the lower floor of the SPS house cuts into the hillside, only the small upper floor counts toward the building size limit. Photo: Hertha Hurnause The wood terraced roof of the lower floor evokes maritime images. Photo: Hertha Hurnause Carpet covered window seats and panoramic windows face southeast. Photo: Hertha Hurnause The living room floor is of tropical cherry. Photo: Hertha Hurnause The green of the upper-floor "boxes" on both inside and outside appears to vary greatly with time of day and changing light conditions. Photo: Hertha Hurnause The lower floor of the SPS house is cut into the hillside on the long northwest edge. Image: querkraft architekten The upper floor is also known as "two boxes and a studio." Image: querkraft architekten Section looking southwest. Image: querkraft architekten   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.