CHANCE OF ARCHITECTURE AWARD

Recently, the architects of the Kravogl project – Aicher Architekten from Dornbirn – failed by a small margin to win the Austrian Brick and Roof Award 13/14 (ABARA) with another building, “Campus Dornbirn”, which was also clad in STRÖHER clinker brick slips. This meant that “Campus Dornbirn” just missed out on being nominated for the international “Brick Award 14” architectural prize – but did at least achieve recognition for second place. This gives reason to hope that another building by Aicher could snatch the trophy in 2015. This is because Aicher Architekten already long ago recognised the design potential and application advantages of this type of cladding. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

An anodised aluminium facade, exposed concrete, glass and brick slips: if you could not see the mountains in the background, you would not believe you were in the Tyrol. The architects also come from the Alps – but they are architects first and foremost. Similarly, in the case of this private construction project, the building owners were primarily building owners who wanted to create something special for themselves. There was no cost optimisation in terms of cubature or facade design in the short term. However, the timeless modern outer shell, built for “eternity” using STRÖHER clinker brick slips in a metallic black colour, will pay off in the long term..

Just as once, namesake Johann Kravogl received the Golden Cross of Merit personally from Emperor Franz for his invention of the electric motorcycle – the forerunner of the electric motor – the sight of this residential complex also brings to mind the idea of distinction.

Considering that the building owners had planned to sell three of the four floors at the outset, and therefore the apartment building on Kravoglstrasse was built with a high level of attention to detail. We usually imagine apartment buildings as being quite different. The penthouse, which is home to the building owners, is perched like a bird’s nest, clad in bronze-coloured, anodised aluminium plates above the floors covered with „Keravette^® metallic black“. And somehow, it seems that only the oldest cladding material in architectural history could be trusted to provide the optically required stability: clinker brick slips.