House for four Generations, Dorf Rieden
At the foot of the Riedenburg, on the edge of Bregenz, lies the village of Rieden. Embedded in its village structure, a modest-looking volume sits precisely on the street line, leaving an old beehouse and a shed intact at its back. Between them, a shared garden room opens up, while the outbuildings are revived with new uses.
The compact house accommodates four generations: two sisters with their families, their father and his wife, and their grandmother share a common home. The interiors, not unlike the work of a sculptor, are carved out of a massive block. A screen of slender wooden slats wraps around the volume like a second skin, filtering the light and giving the house a fine, rhythmic surface towards both street and garden.
On the ground floor, a garden apartment and a street apartment were created for the father, his wife and the grandmother. Above them lie the two maisonettes of the sisters, interlocked in a spiral and oriented in all directions. The spaces where the families gather – playing, cooking, eating, living – are strung together like pearls on a string. Each is precisely proportioned for its function. Interlocked concrete bodies create clear boundaries and at the same time gentle transitions. Large openings draw the outside deep into the interior: from outside to inside, and back outside again.
Within these bodies lie small chambers for individual retreat. Clad in white fir and lit through small openings, they form warm, inward-looking rooms. Spaces for being together, and spaces for being with oneself.
The garden plays an equally important role. With spatial elements such as perennials and shrubs, it forms layered outdoor rooms with a shared center. It is used and cared for by all residents.
The decision to build a house together embraces life in a large family as a quality – spatially, socially, and economically. From this understanding arises an honest, affordable home that makes both community and intimacy equally possible.
