The existing building was designed by the Austrian architect Erich Franz Leischner (1887 – 1970) and erected between 1911 and 1913 to house a turbine. It was part of a water reservoir belonging to the Second Vienna Spring Water Main (II. Wiener Hochquellenwasserleitung) built during the last years of the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy to supply the city with drinking water. For some years this reservoir has not been in use anymore.
We have been engaged to convert the turbine house into a single-family home having regard to the strikt requirements of preservation orders.
While the outer shell of the building is not going to be changed, a new structure will be built inside the walls, respecting the historical structure but at the same time in contrast to it with its modern and elegant design, a maximum of comfort and state of the art sustainable building standards.
Great attention was payed on the monument preservation: Ab initio a team of conservators was included in the design process as well as to document and analyze the historic substance e.g. of plaster, wood panelling, metal decoration and stone.
Team:
Fabian Dembski & Klemens Bichler (architecture & design)
Alexandra Sagmeister (head of restoration, facade), Sabine and Michael Formánek (wood), Simone Donaubauer (stone)
Adolf Daniel Merl (sustainability consultancy & structural engineering)
start of the project: 03/2016 (preliminary draft, design planning, permit design, master details, tender specifications)
completed: 2017
Fabian Dembski 