The stone house in Steindorf

Just around the corner from Lake Wörthersee, in Steindorf on Lake Ossiacher See, is one of the most architecturally significant buildings in Carinthia: the stone house of Günther Domenig.

With the realisation of a footbridge on a narrow riverside property in Steindorf on Lake Ossiacher See, the construction of a manifesto began in 1982. Using the precise language of architecture, Günther Domenig articulated messages there that are spread and continually quoted in the world's metropolises. The landscape forms and their characteristics shaped the architect and thus became the design basis for the "Steinhaus" project.

The jagged polyhedra of steel, glass and concrete, spectacular pathways and crystalline - only comprehensible after comprehensive examination - geometric spatial structures bear witness to this. From the ground "hills" grow, from which in turn "rocks" break out. These are penetrated by rooms and paths that reach down to below the groundwater table.

Since 2012, the building has been a listed building. In 2016 it was included in the international platform Iconic Houses as the world's youngest house museum. The innovative power in Günther Domenig's projects reaches a climax in the Steinhaus, internationally seen it is probably the most famous work of contemporary Carinthian architecture. The transformation of regional landscape elements led to an architectural sculpture with a perceptible spatial intensity. The inspiring density of the place is now to be used for symposia, workshops and presentations through a multi-layered programme.

Since 2014, Architektur Haus Kärnten has been working together with the Günther Domenig Steinhaus Private Foundation to create a living future in the stone house. The architecture connects both houses, which are regionally and internationally active.

For years the building has remained in its determination as an architectural workshop and think tank between the disciplines. Its amorphous outer skin and its complex spatial concept create a partly spiritual, but above all inspiring environment, which is now to become a meeting place for architects and visual artists from the Alps Adriatic region and beyond. The Architekturwerkstätte Steinhaus will initially be open to all schools of architecture and design in Austria and will also serve as a meeting place for selected artists in residence. In the long term, the location should be able to mutate into the Steinhaus international residence.

The stone house will thus become a place of encounter between architecture, art, business and the public, which in the end will not only preserve the house itself by revitalising it, but also stimulate the building culture of the region and the architecture itself in a future-oriented way.

Source: architektur-kaernten.at