RESTAURANT THALERSEE 2020

The new restaurant and cafe building in an attractive natural surrounding on lake Thaler in the greater vicinity of Graz, AT is designed to become a popular all year long destination easily reachable by bike and on foot.

The proposed scheme is initiated by the re-design of the lake’s shoreline and its dam in order to establish a new public plateau. This new panorama level is integrated with the existing biking and footpath network and the natural topography. Generous terraces and cascading decks allow for various outdoor activities and access to the waterbody.

The building itself is designed as a refuge within the landscape and as a vessel for the enjoyment of the natural surroundings. Its architecture is direct, contemporary and responsive to the rural context devoid of nostalgic rhetoric. The building presents itself as a delicately folded cantilevering roof in the landscape. The rectilinear 58m long pitched roof volume bridges the northern bay of the lake and shelters below the shadow of the low-lying eave a programmatic recluse. In plan, in-between three offset solid enclosures, two voids -the entrance and the café’s sitting area- allow for the seamless connection to the outside. A narrow 13m long bar fronting the kitchen enclosure, connects the entrance and the café sitting area opening fully, through its retractable glazing, onto the cascading plateau and the spectacular views towards the lake. The double height sitting area is easily divisible with a movable curtain while the open fireplace accentuates the sense of refuge. Through the entrance, a main staircase connects the upper and lower levels of the building. The upper level functions as an independent hostel offering 8 double bedroom units while the lower level accommodates all required by the brief facilities for biking, hiking, boating, ice skating, as well as storage and mechanical areas.

The proposal’s material expression responds to clear environmental considerations. The external base as well as the ground floor volumes are prescribed in exposed concrete, in contrast to the protected timber surfaces of the first-floor slab and the exposed roof structure. For the roofing, the anodized aluminium panels above, in combination with the expressed structural rhythm of the timber rafters below will reflect the ever changing colour nuances of the surrounding landscape.