Creating light-flooded rooms is not easy in a protected area, where dormers cannot be longer than 50% of the length of the house. Luckily a correct daylight distribution was taken under consideration very early in the design process. Daylight Visualizer showed dark corners and a dark ceiling surface: exactly the opposite of the project goals. Luckily repositioning of the windows and addition of smaller windows close to the gable solved the problems. Those highlights windows are responsible for indirect light in the apartment and for lightening up the ceiling - the most dominant surface in any attic.

A new, private staircase leads up to the light, to the spacious attic apartment. Due to roof form regulations in the old town, only the kitchen has a vertical wall and connection to the balcony. All other rooms are lit and ventilated from above. The functions were located around the existing shafts and pipes, which resulted in an interesting typology of rooms. The bedrooms are traditional, their proportions remind of the apartments below. In the middle there is a light-flooded bathroom, lighting up the corridor through a transom window. The corridor and walk-through kitchen connect to the open living and dining area, divided into two zones by shafts, reminding of the classic room proportions. The spruce plywood construction, glazed in translucent white, is visible inside - its fine pattern replacing other wall decoration. "There is not much wall space for hanging paintings in an attic apartment, anyway" - laughs Strobl - "and both me and my wife like the wood pattern."