This contemporary house on the outskirts of Vienna relishes in the stunning panorama of vineyards and mountains to the Danube river. A collaboration between Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten and Alexander Janowsky, the aptly-named House in the Vineyards can’t be missed — its second floor juts out over the hill, a 36-meter cantilevered glass-encased steel structure balanced on its ground floor and the basement/garage below it.
The cantilevered volume creates a covered outdoor patio over the home’s entrance. Stepping inside, a large hall branches towards the children’s bedrooms, guest rooms and utility spaces before introducing a single flight of stairs to the second floor. In contrast to the much more private and conventional oak-clad look of the first level, this volume is practically one with the landscape, a glass box reinforced by graphite-grey steel. The social areas occupy the cantilevered space in an open-plan layout, with the kitchen, living and dining areas spoiled with views from three sides. The private rooms — the master suite and bath, the library, a sauna — unveil themselves as we move inwards, sandwiched between two corridors running down the length of the house, culminating in a terraced garden with a swimming pool.
A home that manages to guard its dwellers’ privacy despite the transparency of its design, House in the Vineyards is a modern building that celebrates its connection to the nature that surrounds it.
Photography © Mark Lins for Dietrich | Untertrifaller Architekten and Alexander Janowsky