Döbling in the north-western outskirts of Vienna is a quiet, rather wealthy residential area characterised by single-family homes and one house that simply demands it individual presence. According to the architects, the inspiration behind the Solar Tube House is the tubular skylight – a device that channels sunlight to the internal space through a rooftop collector, a reflective pipe and a diffuser. In this instance, the entire house acts like one large light and heat collector.
The narrow site covers an area of 1,300 sq. metres, slopes up from the street and heads north. The house is strategically located so that the lowest point of the site ensuring living areas is elevated about the street level. Moreover, positioning the building here relative to the plot allowed the designers to take full advantage of the natural ventilation such as the shade offered by the surrounding trees.
The house itself occupies 300 sq. metres and is organised around a fully glazed atrium accommodating the vertical circulation. It is reached via a bridge from the street that directly leads into the living area while the entrance to the rear is located 10 metres below street level. Floors of the building wrapping around the central atrium are partly transparent while the bedrooms in the uppermost level are reached via a gallery.
The spirit of open living is also captured in the interior spaces. All of the integrated furniture is designed by the architects and is thus in keeping with the original design ethos, including the kitchen, library, integrated cupboards, bathrooms, two story sliding bookshelves where the owners can browse while standing on a floor of wood slats that filters overhead light to the main level, etc.
The high density of trees on the site (preserved throughout the construction process) permits expansive glazing; curved (sloping in some locations) glazed elevations, a partly glazed roof and floors coupled with the glass ‘tube’ forming the uppermost level results in a building whose core acts like an integrated atrium.
Apart from its energy-saving virtues, the use of glass also offers intimacy with the surrounding nature. As the façade is nearly entirely glazed, the boundaries between indoors and outdoors almost fade away – an especially enjoyable experience during summer similar to the feeling of living in a tree house. The house is a true symbiosis between nature and architecture, based on the concepts of openness and transparency.
Text: Georg Driendl, Driendl* Architects; images: James Morris (Axiom photo agency), Bruno Klomfar
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