Haus am Stürcherwald | Laterns, Austria | 2017

[Bernardo Bader Architekten]

1000 meters above sea level in the Vorarlberger village Laterns is the solitarily Haus am Stürcherwald situated. The plot of land was considered as unsuitable land since it is a remaining area in between a street section. To profit from the fantastic view and reduce the impact to the land to a minimum the building is positioned at the very edge of the site and drafted in a compact, elongated form.

The design of the house is based on the traditional archetype agricultural houses and the typical Walserhouse. The gabled roof and the strict structured wooden facade are representing elements of the present.

The space allocation plan is organized by two floors. At the entrance level there is an open kitchen – living area. The tight layout and the strict organisation of the floor plan enable to get a maximum of natural light at the main floor. The movement of the sun from the east loggia to the one in the west makes living in the mountains to a true experience. The private rooms like bedrooms and bathrooms are situated at the top floor. These rooms are defined by white coated walls with a fine grained loam rendering.

Interesting in spite of the easy cubing is the spatial sculptural linking between both floors. Some parts of the living area reach out to the rooftop where open galleries correlate the main floor with the top floor. The outer skin of the building is made of rough sawn larch slats in different widths. The inner construction is built out of the same wood but in a planed and sanded implementation.

On first sight Haus am Stürcherwald seems to be unspectacular but it is a convincing proof of reactivating the traditional building types without using any clichés of a classical Land- and Forest houses. It is a cultural achievement that also shows the context of the present time. On a closer inspection it disclose the subtly intervention. Text description by the architects.