Strips of local spruce clad Haus Feurstein by Innauer‐Matt Architekten

A wooden staircase located near the entrance leads to three bedrooms. Vertical strips of spruce give a stripy facade to this semi-detached house, completed by Innauer‐Matt Architekten in a hamlet within the forested landscape of Vorarlberg, Austria (+ slideshow). Thanks to the gabled profile of the building, all three bedrooms feature sloping ceilings that follow the incline of the roof overhead. «These two rooms not only distinguish themselves by their completely different room layouts but also by their different ceiling heights,» said   Innauer. Wooden materials continue inside the building. Named House Feurstein, the two-storey building has a gabled profile and is covered externally with locally sourced spruce cladding – a material the architects describe as «refined but traditional». The ground floor of the house is largely taken up by a wide living room and an adjoining kitchen and dining space, which are separated by a change in floor level. Built-in kitchen fittings integrate with a grid of bookshelves that extend up to the ceiling, creating a partition between the two rooms. Site plan – click for larger imageGround floor plan – click for larger imageFirst floor plan – click for larger imageSection – click for larger image «Having given up farming half a century ago, [it] was used partially as a flat but was now not sufficient any more,» explained architect Sven Matt, who founded the studio with partner Markus Innauer. Simple plywood has been used to line the walls and ceilings, while knotty lengths of spruce provide flooring, contrasting with the raw blockwork of the existing party wall. Photography is by Adolf Bereuter.