It is not that often one can see a building which challenges the conventional to this extent. I mean, I personally always thought that curtains belonged on the inside of buildings, but Austrian practice Hertl Architekten clearly had a moment that went a little something like this – “Dude, I’m bored. Let’s do something fun and totally whack. Ok, how about we wrap this building in fabric… No? You reckon it won’t work? But who says that curtains always have to be on the inside of the building? Let’s play decorators and chuck some fabric on the outside…” Are they simply a bunch of frustrated interior designers? Perhaps. But what a result. Who would have thought that exterior curtains would look this good? Certainly not me.

Called ‘Aichinger House’, this two storey apartment building which once housed a restaurant appears more as an example of a temporary art installation rather than a permanent piece of architecture. Sure, the fabric is probably going to be quite difficult to keep clean, and there will possibly be all sorts of problems which may arise with dirt and insects getting trapped between the fabric and the facade, but what a joyous example of what is possible when creativity is allowed to run its course, and the client agrees to take the risk.

What’s otherwise a super simple and a fairly ordinary example of architecture has become a talking piece, simply due to turning the inside-out concepts on its head.

Ten points from me. What do you think?

[Found via designboom. Images © Kurt Hoerbst.]

aichinger house apartment building architecture austria conceptual curtain exterior hertl architekten residential design textiles thoughts unconventional