Two houses and a courtyard
| Location | Klosterneuburg, Austria |
| Principal use | Single family house |
| Total floor area | 410m2 |
| Year | 2018-2020 |
| Status | Completed |
| Design team | Mark Neuner, Nikolaus Kastinger, Zarina Belousova |
| Carpenter | Tischlerei Prödl |
| Construction company | Dasch |
| Plumber | Doppler |
| Electrician | Douglas Elektrotechnik |
| Facade | Unfried |
| Locksmith | Riegler Metallbau |
| Tinsmith | L.O.B |
| Concrete floor | Pachler |
| Windows and doors | Josko |
| Structural engineer | Katzkow & Partner |
| Building physics | Bauklimatik |
| Prices | Vorbildliches Bauen in Niederösterreich |
On an elongated plot in Klosterneuburg, a small town north of Vienna, we designed a new house as an addition to an existing, small house. The new house resembles a proportionally scaled volume of the existing house. However, it differs in materiality and atmosphere. Through the addition emerges an intimate courtyard which forms a connecting link between the existing building and the addition.
The entrance to the new building leads past the existing house and is staged by wooden slats.
©SaraSera
The intimate courtyard forms a connection between the existing and the new building. The courtyard is framed by revolving doors filled with wooden slats. By rotating them, the atmosphere of the courtyard could be altered between open and intimate.
Big shutters with wooden slats are installed in front of the windows. According to the same principle of the courtyard, the intimacy of the spaces can be changed by the position of the shutters.
Following the slight slope of the plot, the stepped ground floor of the new building can be accessed from both sides, thus suggesting a horizontal permeability and strong link between the garden and the open plan living area.
floor plan 
Section 
entrance area ©SaraSera
©SaraSera 
©SaraSera 
©SaraSera Big openings in the ceiling allow diverse views and help to strengthen the vertical connection between the three floors. The result are diverse spaces and fluent passages throughout the house and garden – from bottom to top and inside to outside.
©SaraSera 
first floor 
©SaraSera 
Children's bathroom that is accessible individually from both sides ©SaraSera 
©SaraSera 
second floor 
Staircase leading to the second floor ©SaraSera 
©SaraSera
the intimate courtyard between the old and new house
A stretched pergola construction is tying the old and the new parts together, creating sensitive transitions from semi-public to very intimate spaces, and then resulting in a protected, stoned courtyard between the two houses that can serve as a space to gather, dine or play.
the inner courtyard
axonometry 
