The White House of Freistadt
In the idyllic town of Freistadt, a gleaming white house catches the eye from afar: One Shade of White, the programmatic title of the project for the extravagant detached house designed by Upper Austrian architects Schneider Lengauer Pühringer. A name that serves as a manifesto for an award-winning idea, in which functional everyday practicality and aesthetic appeal enter into a perfect symbiosis.
Culture of architecture
‘Architecture should not be interchangeable. Even everyday objects can have a high architectural standard,’ said the architects, explaining their guiding principle for the unconventional residential building on the edge of a new housing development. One Shade of White should be understood as an expression of a discourse on how architecture can enrich building culture in single-family home construction.
Purism in pure white
With its monolithic form and monochrome white façade, this striking corner building conveys purism in geometric perfection. Two structures – one with a flat roof, the other with a pitched roof – are joined together in an L-shape, creating a sheltered inner courtyard with a covered terrace. There are no classic roof overhangs, but instead accentuated edges on the gables, eaves and parapet. Internal rooms open up to the roof, allowing the view to wander into the distance through strategically placed windows. The large dormer window illuminates the depth of the rooms. Polished concrete floors, light silver fir wood surfaces and white glazes on wood lend the interior an elemental clarity and create a haven of tranquillity.
Monochrome permanence
‘Less is more,’ as Mies van der Rohe knew. But behind apparent simplicity there is usually structural complexity. Colour stability with consistent monochrome is therefore a basic requirement for the visual consistency of the building. That is why the architects decided early on to use a rear-ventilated standing seam façade PREFALZ in pure white – cleverly folded in a zigzag pattern to give the building its modern elegance.
Eye-catching sheet metal façade
An all-over metal cladding from the pointed roof to the dormer and façade requires special expertise. Schneider Lengauer Pühringer therefore entrusted the implementation to the experienced plumbing and roofing company Kapl Bau GmbH. ‘The jagged PREFALZ standing seam façade was a challenge in places,’ says tinsmith David Thumfart. But outstanding results are often based on unconventional solutions. And so, in just one machine pass, double-swivel strip metal was canted several times in opposite directions without damaging the resistant P.10 coating. The roof edges also broke with conventional thinking: standard parapet covers did not fit into the concept. ‘That's what makes projects like this so exciting – you don't just follow a set formula, you have to think for yourself,’ said Thumfart happily.