Innauer-Matt Architekten

Austrian architects Markus Innauer and Sven Matt discuss regional influences and the quest for restraint without reinvention.

Dakro Todorovic Sven Matt and Markus Innauer

In this edition of the Progressive Questionnaire, Innauer-Matt Architekten principals Markus Innauer and Sven Matt talk about their commitment to creating spaces with long-lasting validity.

Firm: Innauer-Matt Architekten
Location: Bezau, Austria
Year founded: 2012
Leadership: Markus Innauer, Sven Matt (principals)
Education: Innauer: M.Arch., University for Applied Arts, Vienna; University of California, Los Angeles; Matt: Master of Engineering, Technical University Innsbruck; Technical University Vienna
Experience: Innauer: Oskar Leo Kaufmann, Dornbirn, Austria; Matt: Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes, Paris; Bernardo Bader Architekten, Dornbirn
Total staff: 4–5 employees
How founders met: In high school

Mission:
We are heavily influenced by the landscape and buildings of our home region, the Bregenzerwald, in Austria. Our commitment is to create spaces that live through their atmosphere and have a long-lasting formal and social validity. In our work we try to be accurate and restrained without the need to reinvent architecture every Monday.

Courtesy Innauer-Matt Architekten The clean minimalism of Mellau, Austria, residence Haus für Gudrun is reinforced by thin-plank paneling on its interior and exterior.

First commission:
Restaurant Innauer (Dornbirn) was Markus’ first commission, in 2009, while Sven built Haus für Gudrun (Mellau, Austria) in 2010. Our first commission as Innauer-Matt was a 2014 residential development called Seedomaine Lochau (Lochau, Austria), in collaboration with Gohm-Hiessberger Architekten.

Courtesy Innauer-Matt Architekten Bergrestaurant, sited atop one of Bezau’s many mountain peaks, offers a 360-degree view from its wood-finished dining room. An external stair leading to the rooftop bifurcates the restaurant volume.

Courtesy Innauer-Matt Architekten Haus für Gudrun interior

Design hero:
Markus likes the sexiness of John Lautner’s projects.

Modern-day design hero:
Our modern day hero might be Peter Zumthor, Hon. FAIA, as he is a master in creating spaces with dense atmospheres, and he is a maniac in regards to detailing and use of materials.

Design tool of choice:
Sketching and physical models.

Special item in your studio space:
We have a ceramic dog that keeps watch over our studio and our work.

Dakro Todorovic Commissioned by Bezau, Austria–based timber home builder Kaspar Greber, Pavilion KG showcases the potential and craft of the company’s products in a demonstration hut that allows visitors—namely, prospective clients—to experience the touch, smell, and ambience of wood construction firsthand.

Favorite project:
Our favorite project is always changing. Most of the time, it’s the one we are currently working on, as with every new commission there is the chance to further develop our principal idea about architecture.

Second favorite project:
Our second favorite project is the Wirmboden Chapel in Schnepfau in 2016. It is by far our smallest built commission but it took three years until completion—that’s about six months per square meter. We learned a lot with this project. We saw that the effect a building has on the community is much more important than the formal idea that we, as architects, developed for it.

When we’re not working in architecture:
We spend time with our families and friends without thinking about architecture every five minutes or so.

Skills to master:
Staying calm.

Morning person or night owl:
We’re both morning people.

Any superstitions?
We believe in the magic of numbers: They have to be even.

Courtesy Innauer-Matt Architekten Bergrestaurant interior

Deane Madsen, Assoc. AIA, LEED Green Associate, is the former associate design editor for ARCHITECT, and still covers architecture and design in Washington, D.C. He earned his M.Arch. at UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design. Follow Deane on Twitter at @deane_madsen.