House, Linz

The tight budget required some hands-on work by the clients themselves, who spent days roughening the surfaces of a giant 'hanging cubic rock' which forms the heart of the house. The rock is actually not natural stone, but set (poured) concrete. It refers to a typical local rock with a brownish hue, which can be found in this part of the Alps. The architects and clients decided to integrate this element architecturally into the design; the concrete cube occurs in almost every part of the house, for example as the subtle back wall of the kitchen, which was also designed by destilat, and half a floor below in the main living room, where it lowers the ceiling to only 2.2 metres. All elements of the house seem to be organised around this cubic concrete core; glimpses of the rocky material are visible in almost every room. In addition, the remainder of the interior is a treat for those who enjoy textures: rough is combined with soft, concrete with fabric, shiny with matte, gold with white.