Gable House in Roßleithen, Austria by mia2 Architektur

Built on a slope, on the site of a small settlement, in the alpine region of Roßleithen, Austria, sits a very simple, perfectly articulated home. It was designed to blend harmoniously with its surroundings, bringing as it were, the outside vista, in.

There is a wonderful interplay of levels in this house designed by mia2/Architektur. Built using precise elements and strong geometric shapes, the house is made ostensibly from just three materials – concrete, timber and glass. The building, with its different levels, takes you on a journey, much like a topographic map moving you gently through the rooms and functions of the house. The kitchen and dining room sit at ground level, with a double height void above. This layers the spaces vertically whilst the oversized glass doors opens them horizontally.

Dropping down half a meter is the living room, snuggly ensconced below terrain level. In winter there is a build-up of snow around the wide windows and in spring the living room is surrounded by grassland.

But it’s that big, black, oversized roof that grabs you, jauntily balancing on the pale pine cube below. Housing the bedrooms and bathrooms, the massive gabled roof takes the house to the uppermost topographic level, affording mountain views of the Pyhrn-Priel-Region. A simple circle punctuates the denseness of the black roof. At night, the circle glows like a moon in the night sky, whilst downstairs the cube is illuminated like a lightbox, surrounded by oversized glass doors.

The house was designed to be ecologically sound whilst working to a strict budget. The architects used volume and scale to create interest in what is essentially a very simple construction. They have used a clean, minimalist palette both in material selection and colour. Pale timber clad walls, polished concrete floors and acres of glass partitioning are the simple ingredients that have created this truly beautiful home.

“Since the beginning, the focus has been on a highly ecological and biological quality. Volume and land usage is limited – the house is built from wood and isolated with cellulose. Although there were modest funds, with the help of a simple construction and a minimalistic range of materials and forms, maximum quality and comfort have been achieved,” explain the architects.

There is a calmness to this architecture. A simple beauty. A lightness. It stands as testimony to what can be achieved through restraint of material selection and the application of simplest forms.