Vertically Landscaped Housing

On a corner plot in Vienna, Geiswinkler & Geiswinkler Architekten built a compact block of 17 apartments. Balancing the high density of the project are the spacious communal amenities on the ground floor (workshop, hobby room, children?s room), the public roof garden and the private ?gardens? in front of every living room. In order to bring coherence to the large façade areas, including the curved soffits of the loggias, the architects opted for a corrugated aluminium sheeting that could be applied without seams. The result is powerful and homogeneous. But it?s an unconventional choice of material for a residential project where brick, wood or concrete tend to be the preferred option. That surprise effect is precisely what the architects were aiming for. In choosing corrugated aluminium they were also setting themselves the challenge of showing that a material they claim usually evokes negative associations can deliver an elegant building with a congenial atmosphere.