House SCH, Bregenz (AT)
New building, Timber construction

Client: Private
Location: A-6900 Bregenz
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Design: Helmut Dietrich
Construction: 2014 – 2015
Area: 169 m²
Programme: Four-storey detached house made of reinforced concrete and timber on an extremely steep, 450 m² small hillside plot

Photos: Bruno Klomfar

Team
Susanne Gaudl, Felix Kruck (Project management), Martina Simoncini

Text: Gerlinde Jüttner

Partners
Statics concrete: Mader & Flatz, Bregenz
Statics timber: Merz Kley Partner, Dornbirn
Building services: B. Langer, Wolfurt
Electrics: Kremmel & Schneider, Lustenau
Building physics: B. Weithas, Lauterach

Camera obscura on a steep slope

In the north-east of Bregenz, a black-painted, wooden prism juts out of a steep southern slope towards the Vorarlberg Rhine Valley. What at first glance appears to be a free-form building sculpture is actually the result of an economic calculation. In order to maximise the cubature of the extremely steep plot with a buildable area of only 450 m², we designed a maximum volume with a wide cantilevered soffit.

The development of the slope requires four levels. The two middle levels house the living spaces, with the garage above and the garden tool room below. The rooms on the two living levels are layered according to their privacy: The kitchen, dining and living areas are located on the upper floor, while the more intimate rooms such as the study, guest room and bedroom are located on the lower floor.

Cantilevered timber construction on a concrete core

The four-storey, reinforced concrete core on the mountain side was topped with a two-storey timber construction cantilevered on the valley side. The service rooms are located in the concrete core, the common areas in the wooden overhang.

The interior surfaces follow the structural division into two parts - exposed concrete walls and polished screed in the concrete part, panelling and floorboards made of brushed silver fir in the timber body.

Association with a bellows camera

At its highest point, the living area has a room height of almost five metres and tapers conically towards the view. Similar to a bellows camera, the view is directed through the fully glazed south wall over the loggia to the valley floor. The metaphorical association with a camera housing is revealed in several ways: in the precision of configuration, materialisation and execution as well as in the focus on the qualities of the location, the surrounding nature and the view into the expansive landscape