A luxury penthouse in Vienna: welcome back to town!

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A penthouse apartment with pool, sun loungers, shaded pergola, dining table, barbeque and anything you could imagine even in your happiest dreams, was recently built on the top floor of a period building in Mariahilf, one of the coolest neighborhoods in Vienna, Austria. Very close to one of the most popular thoroughfares of the city with art and interior design galleries, cafés, pubs and eateries of every sort and especially the Naschmarkt, the famous market, certainly a must.

Sunset over Vienna. The panoramic view from the pergola stretches across the entire city. Grid sofa and coffee table by Gloster.

Especially before and after hot stormy summers, Vienna is a great location for a roof terrace, and even if obtaining a building permit is always an extremely complex procedure, the number of loft-conversions is on the rise. Here, developers bought the entire building and after having received the go-ahead from the relevant body, they raised the building by two stories. This resulted in three luxury apartments, each of them impeccably decorated with designer furniture, currently still on the market for mind-boggling figures. We are talking about splendid luxury yet not ostentatious with great attention paid to materials and colours, creating a space with a natural and welcoming elegance. We will take a look at the largest of the three, the top-floor apartment, built so high no one else can see you, and with breath-taking views over the entire city. 

An outdoor home built on the rooftop: there’s a pool and beside it, a living room under a pergola, a dining table and a barbeque. Grid outdoor collection by Gloster. Planters by Belgian brand Atelier Vierkant.

The rooftop is reached from a lower terrace with large glass sliding doors, which lead to kitchen and dining room.

Interior design and furniture sourcing was overseen by Neapolitan studio Fadd Architects, they went for brands like Varenna Poliform for the kitchen and Roda for the outdoor furniture; this gave a distinct Italian flavor to the whole scheme. Appointing Fadd Architects is something that makes us extremely happy, first of all because their design team includes three young architects, and secondly for their cosmopolitan experience: the oldest, Marco Acri, trained and worked for two years in Vienna, having previously studied design in Milan and architecture in Naples, gaining in this way the trust of the Austrian construction industry.

The large open-plan living is zoned into separate areas: living room, dining room and kitchen. Kitchen and dining room lead to the terrace, which in turn leads to the rooftop with pool. The lift brings you to the entrance, which is at the far end of the apartment, behind the kitchen wall. Sofas by Ligne Roset.

The glazing on the street front makes the most of the complex building regulations on additional volumes. The roof slopes from 45 to 60 degrees; this offers an extraordinary view over the street below.

This apartment takes up a portion of the two additional copper-clad floors. The interiors are decorated in a tried and tested combo: oak flooring and white walls, timber paneling and furniture in harmonious colours, impossible to go wrong. Here, devil is in the detail. Walls aren’t just backdrops for furniture, but an integral part of the décor. The floor-to-ceiling bookcase is a bespoke piece, just like fireplace and kitchen, uniformly clad in dark timber panels, they neatly conceal what is kept within, from the flue pipe to the door. 

Fireplace designed by Fadd Architects and manufactured by a Viennese joiner, building-in panels by Varenna Poliform which also clad the kitchen fronts.

Kitchen cabinets are clad in timber panels, which run along the entire length of the wall, as well as hiding the door which leads to the floor below. The French herringbone oak floor is another extremely beautiful detail. Kitchen by Varenna Poliform, mixer tap by Nobili Rubinetti

How the furniture was sourced is also entirely unique to this project. Generally, to most construction projects, juggling the budget was a challenge. So, Fadd Architects suggested to the furniture firms involved that they should treat the apartment like a proper showroom, until its final sale. The buyer will then decide if he wants to keep the pieces and finally buy them. The same goes for the paintings given by the artists themselves: they are on loan waiting to be chosen by the new owner.

No real walls between master bedroom and bathroom, so that light travels through the space. Same flooring and a white and grey colour scheme, only shower and WC are separated by a large sliding door in bronzed glass. Bathroom fixtures and fittings by Inbani.

We like it the way it is and we would want keep everything exactly the same, pity we won’t be able to buy it, but we would really like to know how this story ends. So, we invite the future owner to get in touch. Furthermore, the three young architects who designed it are even more curious than we are and can’t wait the day when one of their first projects will be filled with life.

Design project

Penthouse apartment, attic conversion and roof raising. 

Location: Vienna, Austria
Client: Developer
Floors: two + rooft terrace 
Sizes: 190 smq on two floors + two terraces of 28 smq and 80 smq

Interior design project and furniture sourcing:
FADD Architects, c.so Meridionale 7, Naples, Italy
Tel: 00 39 081 048 65 25
Email: info@faddarchitects.com

www.faddarchitects.com
FB: Fadd Architects 
Instagram: Fadd Architects 

Structure: Glück Arkitecture
Partner: Lisa Idziorek
Construction Company: Kaswurm Immobilien & Wohnbau GMBH

Photos:
Credits: Andreas Wallner
Courtesy Fadd Architects