Hasta La Ideas

Austrian studio Bernardo Bader Architects sourced pine and spruce from the surrounding slopes to build this picturesque chalet in a village of western Austria (+ slideshow).

Named Haus Fontanella, the house is built between the Glatthorn and Zafernhorn mountains in Fontanella – a village with historical ties to the nomadic Walser people that settled throughout the Alpine regions in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Bernardo Bader combined traditional and modern building techniques to build a house that resonates with the typical Walser buildings. A concrete base burrows down into the hillside, while the upper section comprises a pine frame clad with roughly-hewn spruce panels of random sizes.

“Our use of the wood was similar to how it would have been years ago – simple, first-hand and rough,” said Bader, explaining how the spruce was delivered from the sawmill and then installed on the walls in exactly the same condition.

Square windows also come in a variety of sizes and are dotted around the walls in a way that gives no clues about the internal layout.

“The intentional rough planking together with the randomness of smaller and bigger windows generate an exciting facade game and an intimate atmosphere inside, with selected framed views to the exterior,” said the architect.

There are three storeys inside the house, as well as an attic tucked beneath the sloping roof. Silver fir lines walls, floors and ceilings throughout the building, plus most of the fixtures are also made from wood.

The main living and dining areas can be found on the middle floor, opening out to a sheltered terrace, while three bedrooms and a study are located upstairs, and a sauna and storage area occupy the partially submerged basement floor.

A geothermal pump offers a sustainable heating source and extra warmth can be provided by a wood-burning stove.

Photography is by Archive Architects.

Here’s a project description from Bernardo Bader:

Haus Fontanella

Aim of the project: Not far away from the town centre of Fontanella – an old village of Walserpeople – the house is situated on a inclined south-terrace-plane. Not just to benefit from the great view but also to optimise the property’s borders, the building is placed on the upper part of the property and the volume is kept as compact as possible.

The whole facade of the building is a made of differently size sliced spruce boards, exactly how they are delivered from the sawmill.

The intentional rough planking together with the randomness of smaller and bigger windows generate an exciting facade game and an intimate atmosphere inside with selected framed views to the exterior.

The basement is made of concrete, the rest of the house is a whole wood construction. The interior work of the ground floor is also a silver-fir wood construction, the one in the upper floor is drywall.

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a chalet built from pine and spruce appeared first on Dezeen.

Prayer rooms with walls of red concrete lead out to a staggered sequence of graveyards at this Islamic cemetery in western Austria by local studio Bernardo Bader Architects (+ slideshow).

Located within the Alpine countryside, the cemetery serves the eight-percent Muslim population in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg and comprises a simple rectilinear building with five burial enclosures.

Bernardo Bader Architects used red-tinted concrete for the construction of the building and its surrounding walls. The surfaces remain exposed both inside and outside the complex, revealing the rectangular imprints of wooden formwork.

A long rectangular window stretches across the facade, screened by a latticed oak framework that displays one of the traditional patterns of Islamic mashrabiya screens.

The building accommodates both prayer rooms and assembly halls. The largest room opens out to a private courtyard and features lighting fixtures set into circular ceiling recesses.

The five rectangular graveyards are lined up at the back of the building. Each one contains several trees, benches and small patches of grass.

Completed in 2011, the Islamic Cemetery is one of 20 projects on the shortlist for the Aga Khan Award 2013. Five or six finalists will be revealed later this year and will compete to win the $1 million prize.

Other architect-designed cemeteries completed in recent years include a seaside graveyard in Italy and a pair of wooden pavilions in Belgium. See more stories about cemeteries, funeral chapels and memorials.

Here’s a short project description from the Aga Khan Award organisers:

The cemetery serves Vorarlberg, the industrialised westernmost state of Austria, where over eight percent of the population is Muslim. It finds inspiration in the primordial garden, and is delineated by roseate concrete walls in an alpine setting, and consists of five staggered, rectangular grave-site enclosures, and a structure housing assembly and prayer rooms.

The principal materials used were exposed reinforced concrete for the walls and oak wood for the ornamentation of the entrance facade and the interior of the prayer space. The visitor is greeted by and must pass through the congregation space with its wooden latticework in geometric Islamic patterns. The space includes ablution rooms and assembly rooms in a subdued palette that give onto a courtyard. The prayer room on the far side of the courtyard reprises the lattice-work theme with Kufic calligraphy in metal mesh on the ‘qibla’ wall.

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Bernardo Bader Architects appeared first on Dezeen.