Kutscherhaus

Vienna, Austria – smartvoll

Area: 35.0 m2
Year Built: 2017
Photographs: Dimitar Gamizov

Kutscherhaus is the result of a renovation project done to a space that once belonged to a coachman. It’s a small house located at the back of Vienna’s museumquartier and has existed for at least 100 years. The 35-square meter apartment has one room where living, sleeping, and eating happens. Storage, kitchen, and bathroom are hidden in a double-function wall.

Kutscherhaus is an old coachman's home, tucked away at the back of a museum's accommodation. — Kutscherhaus is an old coachman’s home, tucked away at the back of a museum’s accommodation.

There’s a rooftop terrace that has stunning views of old and new museums. To keep prying eyes away, the structure is enclosed by rotating “fins,” making up the home’s façade. This rotating mechanism also transforms Kutscherhaus – from an open space to a private hideaway.

The interior is made up of a single space where different areas occupy one continuous unit.

Notes from the Architect:

In a single enchanted courtyard right behind the Museumsquartier (English: museum´s accommodation) we have resuscitated a small, romantic house of a coachman. Back then the coachman had to divide his small living area with the animal’s food chamber and his own space was also split up corresponding to the different functions of eating, sleeping, washing and living, so it was divided into smaller rooms again. One hundred years later we combine eating, sleeping and living in one central island of living. The bathroom, the kitchen and the storage are placed in a double function wall and are kept to a minimum.

The result is: A small surface can get a huge room! Outside we put a small terrace on the top of the house and keep this in an elegant dress of fins. The resulting room outside doubles the 35m2 one-room-apartment and let the flat be an introverted refugium. The lamellae keep away snoopy looks from outside and tries to orientate the outside-room to the inside, they nuzzle and hug the spiral stairs that are also the beginning of the rooftop terrace. There you can enjoy an unforgettable view to the unmatched museums – old ones and new ones.

Click on any image to start lightbox display. Use your Esc key to close the lightbox. You can also view the images as a slideshow if you prefer.