Local architects Gregorio S. Lubroth and Chieh-shu Tzou teamed up with three friends to design, build and launch the bar themselves, before adding the spiky ceiling as the first in a series of installations by different artists and designers.

"We want the bar to be a place where a larger conversation about design and art can occur," Lubroth told Dezeen. "As it is, ceilings are generally under-utilised, under-explored surfaces. Periodically changing the ceiling installation not only brings new life to the bar but sparks conversations about space."

The architects gave the ceiling the theme Mensch und Natur, or Man and Nature, which was intended to inspire a "fantasy" view of the natural world. "Our installation is a translation, or rather, geometric simplification of natural forms," added Lubroth.

Above: photograph is by Jochen Fil

Lighting is affixed to the walls and pointed towards the ceiling, while mirrors behind the bar reflect a selection of spirit bottles used for making cocktails.

Above: photograph is by Jochen Fil

"Vienna has a long, rich history of wine, beer, and schnapps drinking, not to mention a vibrant bar scene," said Lubroth. "However, with a few exceptions, cocktail culture is relegated to fancy hotel bars or loud clubs. We wanted to introduce a small cocktail menu with old and classic drinks at affordable prices."

The rest of the bar has a simple layout with steel and oak furniture, plastered walls and an asphalt floor.

See more bars on Dezeen, including one with tables made of drawers and a bar made of doors.

Photography is by Stefan Zenzmaier, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's some more information from the architects:

If dogs run free is a bar on the Gumpendorfer Straße in Vienna's 6th district co-owned by an actress, a restaurateur, a graphic designer, and two architects. The bar was conceived as a neighborhood watering hole; a place where students, neighbors, and the after-work crowd get together to enjoy a good drink.

The name, like the space itself, is meant to invite fantasy. The generously proportioned 82m2 space is modelled after a black box theater with the main focus on the ceiling plane rather than on an actual stage.

In addition to its function as a bar, the owners wanted to provide a space where people have access to new ideas in art and design outside the traditional context of a gallery or the academy. The ceiling plane is reserved for artists and designers to create site specific installations intended as annual fixtures revolving around the theme Mensch und Natur.

The first installation was designed and built by the owners. It describes an inverted mountain landscape through the manipulation of a single geometric tile. The patchwork of tiles shift in tone creating two interwoven color gradients. The landscape is multiplied by mirrors attached to the wall behind the bar counter.

Below the ceiling, dark, unadorned surfaces are used to emphasize the presence of the ceiling installation. The walls are spackled with a blend of plaster and black house paint. The floor is poured asphalt. All furnishings are a mixture of steel, black MDF boards, and dark, stained oak. The lighting is a flexible system of stage spots and construction strobes.

Project Name: If dogs run free
Project Type: Bar
Location: Vienna, Austria
Architects: Tzou Lubroth Architekten
Design Team: Gregorio S. Lubroth, Chieh-shu Tzou
Graphic Design: Maria Prieto Barea
Total Floor Area: 82 m2

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Tzou Lubroth Architekten appeared first on Dezeen.

Austrian architects BWM Architekten und Partner and Michael Manzenreiter have completed a hotel in central Vienna with big oval windows all over its brown mosaic facade.

Above: photograph is by Anna Blau, Lenikus GmbH

Behind the glass, the windows are lined with cushions so that they can be used as sofas by guests.

Named Hotel Topazz, the skinny 10-storey building butts up against a neighbouring building and is located just a few streets away from St. Stephens Cathedral.

Other hotels we've featured include one that looks like children’s game Connect Four and one behind the facade of a derelict pub.

See more stories about hotels »

Above: photograph is by Anna Blau, Lenikus GmbH

Photography is by BWM Architekten und Partner, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here's some more information from BWM Architekten und Partner:

Hotel Topazz by BWM Architekten und Partner, Vienna

The new Topazz design hotel by BWM Architekten und Partner in Vienna’s city centre can be likened to a glistening, dark-coloured gemstone. Its brown mosaic façade, which absorbs and reflects the natural light, ensures that this building – on one of Vienna’s smallest building sites – is a real eye-catcher. The design, created by BWM Architekten und Partner, is characterised by striking elliptical window openings that jut out slightly.

This unconventional, distinctive treatment of the façade gives this round-cornered building a sense of weightlessness and elegance as well as an unusually physical presence within the fabric of Vienna’s historical architecture. Inside, the curved window recesses serve as comfortably rounded spots for sitting or lounging while you watch the hustle and bustle of the city below. In this way, the exterior and interior spaces engage in close dialogue and complement each other. The idea with the portholes was born partly out of a lack of space – with the aim of making the best possible use of the 153 square metres of site area. After relaxing and daydreaming in one of the niches, you will open your eyes and say: Good morning, Vienna!

Architecture: BWM Architekten und Partner, DI Michael Manzenreiter
Building concept, Facade: BWM Architekten und Partner
Floor plans, Interior designr: DI Michael Manzenreiter

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und Partner and Michael Manzenreiter appeared first on Dezeen.

Microsoft has joined Google and Lego in the trend for offices like playgrounds with their new Vienna base that includes a slide.

Austrian architects Innocad won a competition to design the three-storey offices, which feature themed meeting rooms including a hunting lodge and ocean.

An x-ray image of a computer covers the rear wall of the reception, there's artificial grass in one of the coffee lounges and of course there are games rooms.

Check out the slide at the Denmark headquarters of toy brand Lego here and Google's seaside-themed London office here.

Other buildings with slides include a house in Japan, a children’s centre in Spain and an airport lounge in the Netherlands. See all the stories about slides here.

We've also published the offices of other technology companies, including Google, Facebook and Skype.

Photography is by Paul Ott.

Here's some more information from Innocad:

Headquarter Microsoft Vienna

ARGE KOOP/INNOCAD emerged as winners in the architecture competition for Microsoft’s new headquarters in Vienna, held on the basis of the WPA concept.

Working in close collaboration with the Microsoft project team during the subsequent project realisation phase, the team of architects assumed responsibility for the overall design of the new Microsoft working environment as construction supervisors and project managers.

The architects commented: “Our aim is to intertwine and harmonise physical, virtual and social working environments.”

Click above for larger image

Architecture Office: INNOCAD Architektur ZT GmbH
Construction finished 10/2011
Floor Area: 4.500m2
Cost: 2.800.000 Euro

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by Innocad appeared first on Dezeen.

Austrian architect Wolfgang Tschapeller has won a competition to overhaul the University of Applied Arts Vienna with proposals that include facade-climbing staircases and giant balloons.

The architect plans to demolish an existing link building, allowing room for all staircases and elevators of the main university block to be relocated onto its exterior beneath an undulating blanket of glass.

This will create larger floorplates within the building for studios, as well as extended areas for lecture halls, workshops and storage spaces.

An internal plaza will also be enclosed behind the extruded facade, while gardens will bridge the spaces between this block and its neighbour.

Two large pneumatic balloons are to be positioned on the roof and will be inflated to signify special events or occasions.

This isn't the first unusual building proposal from Wolfgang Tschapeller that we've featured - click here to see plans for a science centre on stilts.

Here's some more explanation from the architect:

6 Points for a NEUE ANGEWANDTE

Between 1st and 3rd district in Vienna on the Ringstrasse a few buildings of different authors and times are collected on a block.

Heinrich von Ferstel, Schwanzer-Wörle and Noever-Müller are the architects of the group of fine buildings.

Some of them serve the purposes of the Museum for Applied Arts and some of them serve the University of Applied Arts.

The original urban intent for this group of buildings follows a very fine, subtle and precise idea.

Although being part of a block, or standing on a block, they were always meant to keep their independency and autonomy by simultaneously allowing for a visibility of the space in between them.

In late 2011 an international 2 stage competition was announced.

Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH proposed 6 POINTS FOR A “NEUE ANGEWANDTE”

ERASE ⇒ RESTORE

The LINK BUILDING by Schwanzer/Wörle was an unfortunate move.

It does not only work strongly against the original urban intent of a loose and open grouping of buildings on a block. It works also against the character of Schwanzer/Wörle´s own design.

Click above for larger image

Ferstel Bau as well as the Schwanzer/Wörle Bau are in their essence autonomous objects standing in critical and productive distance to each other. Such a reading is re-proposed in our project. Consequently the following steps are proposed: Demolition link building, Reconstruction of those parts of the Ferstel Bau and the Schwanzer-Wörle Bau which were destroyed by the insertion of the LINK BUILDING, Activation of the now very well lit areas of the Schwanzer/Wörle Bau.

Click above for larger image

DISLOCATE

We are fascinated by seriality of the Schwanzer/Wörle Bau. The building consists in essence of a series of columns and slabs.By taking out stairs and elevator cores and by repositioning them in front of the serial structure of the Schwanzer/Wörle Bau two essential targets are achieved: full flexibility on the entire floor slab, remarkable gain of usable floor area, improvement of circulation (in economic and spatial terms).

Click above for larger image

PURE STRUCTURE – AN ENTIRELY EMTPY SHELF

The removal of stair and elevator cores displays a pure serial structure. What remains are solely columns and slabs, ready for multiple functional readings. The shelf like structure will house the Studios.

Click above for larger image

COMMON BASE

Ferstel Bau and Schwanzer/Wörle Bau are connected by a common functional base, containing lecture halls, workshops, storage spaces, technical installations as well as supply lines and waste management.

Click above for larger image

CAMPUS - WHERE 17 DIFFERENT STUDIOS MEET

In essence we propose 3 main connecting elements to “make” the new Campus of the Angewandte. The INTERIOR SQUARE connects Ferstel Bau with Schwanzer/Wörle Bau, the GARDEN connects the buildings of the University with those of the Museum, the BROADWAY, a large stair which runs diagonally across the elevation of the Schwanzer/Wörle Bau. The BROADWAY is not only a means of circulation; it is the platform where members and knowledge of the 17 different studios meet. It is the informal marketplace for cross disciplinary projects.

Click above for larger image

TEMPORARY STRUCTURES

On the roof of the University two optional, temporary structures are proposed. Two pneumatic balloons indicate and signal special occasions at the Angewandte to the surrounding City. Raised transparent balloons means a special day, like flags on a building.

Click above for larger image

Project: University for Applied Arts, Vienna, international Competition, 1st Prize
Author: Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH
Project team: Jesper Bork, Simon Oberhammer, Mark Balzar, Franz Kropatschek, Gonzalo Vaillo Martinez, Daniel Erl

Click above for larger image

Experts: Werkraum Wien, Tragwerk
Planungsgruppe Grünpichler GmbH, TGA
Dr. Jochen Käferhaus, Energie + Klimadesign
Brandrat, Brandschutz
Klaus Pokorny, Lichtplanung
ISOCHROM, Armin Hess, Renderings

The post University of Applied Arts Vienna
by Wolfgang Tschapeller appeared first on Dezeen.

Vienna Design Week 2011: London designers PostlerFerguson have created a temporary Viennese coffee house for Vienna Design Week, which continues until Sunday.

They designed all the furniture to be flat-packed and flown to Vienna from their London studio, then slotted together on site.

Dark furniture and golden, reflective panels reference the opulence of traditional cafes on a temporary scale.

Cafe Sonja was one of five Carte Blanche projects at Vienna Deign Week, which invites designers to create urban scenarios in forgotten spaces.

See all our stories about Vienna Design Week here and all our stories about PostlerFerguson here.

Here are some more details from PostlerFerguson:

Cafe Sonja is a temporary cafe we designed for the 2011 Vienna Design Week in the second district of Vienna. Drawing on the unique aesthetics and feel of the traditional Viennese coffee house we designed a space which uses dark colours, complex, interlocking structures and high reflective gold surfaces to create an almost Brothers Grimm like atmosphere.

All furniture and fittings where produced by us in London, flat-packed and flown to Vienna where we set up the Cafe within 3 days.

Cafe Sonja welcomes guests from the 29.09.2011 until 10.10.2011 and operated by the legendary Cafe Drechsler.

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