Larch veils: an ordinary commercial building is given great urban presence by an external skin of slatted larch screens.Whether conscious or not, timber's associations with folksy folk·sy adj. folk·si·er, folk·si·est Informal 1. Simple and unpretentious in behavior. 2. Characterized by informality and affability: a friendly, folksy town. 3. domesticity tends to inhibit its use in commercial contexts. Baumschlager & Eberle were asked to design a small commercial building in the Vorarlberg village of Wolfurt and responded by employing timber as a precisely detailed external screen that does the usual jobs of filtering light and providing privacy, but also imparts a subtle, organic warmth and texture to a basic box. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Vorarlberg, on the western edge of Austria, is the country's smallest region, and after Vienna, the most densely populated. Historically, the area has a distinct rural identity, evident in its landscape, its vernacular architecture and a strong (and continuing) tradition of building in wood. Characteristic of an emerging generation of German-speaking Swiss and Austrian architects, Baumschlager & Eberle's work is distinguished by a sober tectonic spirit that also to reinterpret re·in·ter·pret tr.v. re·in·ter·pret·ed, re·in·ter·pret·ing, re·in·ter·prets To interpret again or anew. re regional traditions and archetypes. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The client wanted a building that could accommodate the local bank at ground level, with three upper floors that could be used either as flats or as offices. The architects responded to this unedifying Adj. 1. unedifying - not edifying unenlightening edifying, enlightening - enlightening or uplifting so as to encourage intellectual or moral improvement; "the paintings in the church served an edifying purpose even for those who could not read" inexactitude in·ex·act·i·tude n. Lack of exactitude; inexactness. Noun 1. inexactitude - the quality of being inaccurate and having errors inexactness inaccuracy - the quality of being inaccurate and having errors by designing an utterly simple glazed rectangular box, with a stair tower pulled clear of the main volume on the north side. So far, so conventional, but the inspired move was to enclose the building in a timber screen, elevating a plain box into a tactile, mutable mu·ta·ble adj. 1. a. Capable of or subject to change or alteration. b. Prone to frequent change; inconstant: mutable weather patterns. 2. , sensual object. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Fabricated from square sections of indigenous Austrian larch larch, any tree of the genus Larix, conifers of the family Pinaceae (pine family), which are unusual in that they are not evergreen. The various species are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. , the external skin is made up of a series of horizontally slatted sliding screens mounted on a timber sub-frame. The larch lattice filters and diffuses the light, casting shimmering shim·mer intr.v. shim·mered, shim·mer·ing, shim·mers 1. To shine with a subdued flickering light. See Synonyms at flash. 2. shadows through the interior. It also combats glare and heat build-up, provides privacy when required and gives the facades a degree of pleasing rather than dreary homogeneity, for the timber screen encloses the entire building, apart from the bank frontage at street level. Within the apparently uniform facade, however, the random movements of the screens generate changing, unpredictable geometries that dignify dig·ni·fy tr.v. dig·ni·fied, dig·ni·fy·ing, dig·ni·fies 1. To confer dignity or honor on; give distinction to: dignified him with a title. 2. and enliven the public realm. C.K. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Architect Baumschlager & Eberle, Lochau, Austria Photographs Edward Huebner [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] BANK, WOLFURT, AUSTRIA |
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