Friday, May 6, 2011

The shingle best thing about Austria

Recently we had the chance to stop at some friends' house in western Austria coming back from picking up my press. Strewn along the valleys of Switzerland and Austria were wooden chalets with steep pointed roofs. Historically, these affectionate buildings were built with economy and function in mind to keep warm during the alpine winters, and used seasonally as huts by cow herders to make food products like milk and cheese.

It was a pure inspirational color pallet of bright but subdued weather worn window frames and shutters against shingled exteriors. What a pleasant surprise to also find many restored buildings or new homes reflecting traditions of the past but with modern interpretations. Cafe Cabako was one of those really cool buildings with not just coffee in mind, but also bakery and practice music room upstairs that our architect friend Christian had a hand in. Definitely and exactly what I was looking for in terms of direction on designing of my own home studio...