LOOPING ARCHITECTURE: Forum Limbach

Buildings tell stories — particularly with old farmhouses, one may read what, under which conditions, and at which period the structure was build. In LOOPING ARCHITECTURE's Forum Limbach single family house and exhibition space, in Burgenland, Austria, the starting point was an uncommon group of farmhouses planned as a large ensemble.

Accompanied by a step by step renovation and adaptation of existing building volumes to become exhibition spaces and artist´s workshops, a living space for the owner — a gallery owner and screen printer — was built, under the concept of the open forum.

The architects chose for the new building the place where an old barn was situated. The new house assumes two functions that seem to be contradictory when first considered. The house encloses anew the Vierkanthof (the group of buildings that enclose a courtyard), and simultaneously opens the former enclosed courtyard. The subtle horizontal splitting of the volume alows this spacial openness. The groundfloor is totally glazed along three sides — and thus the architects provide horizontal permeability despite of the dimensions of the enormous space.

The ground floor serves as the basement on which the "house" inside the house is built, containing the owner's the private quarters. One is guided upstairs by a cantileverd staircase, which can be interpreted as a citation of all the ladders and stairs that belong to a farm. The spacial volume of the red house is a physical response to the wine press volume that stands next to it.

The house perched on top of the building is oriented east-west, according to the owner's wishes. The necessary rotation in relation to the existing building's grid makes the small house appear to be an accidental building block — definitely a new kid in town. The red house aggravates the impression of a milestone on the path, celebrating the surrounding farmhouses and smiling towards coming visitors.

Even the materiality of the "double house" differs above and below. The red house is a lightweight wooden construction enveloped by a skin of PUR (polyurethane). The basement is a conctrete building. The raw and rough concrete surfaces create a border between the plastered walls of the existing buildings, the red house and the basement itself.

The building integrates itself in the biography of the farm, completes without excluding, adds without great gestures and marks a visionary new departure without overwhelming unsophisticated occurrences. Manuela Hötzl

LOOPING ARCHITECTURE: Forum Limbaugh
Architects: LOOPING ARCHITECTURE
Construction: concrete (ground floor), wood (upper floor), hidden steel frame (upper floor)
Façade: concrete (ground floor), triple glazing (ground floor), PUR / polyurethane (upper floor)
Area: 150 square metres
Typology: patio-house
Photos: Hertha Hurnaus