Locations · 5 min

The courtyard stays cool when the city glows

When Vienna glows in high summer, the city splits into two worlds. In front, on the street, the heat stands like a wall. Behind, in the courtyard, the air suddenly turns soft and a few degrees cooler. Our apartment by the Westbahnhof lies on the right side, facing the courtyard, still, and a few steps further a green garden waits. Here you spend the summer in the city without suffering under it.

Why the courtyard stays cool

The cool side of a house is almost always the back. No direct sun reaches the courtyard, the walls stay in shade, and the air above it stays soft. Open both sides in the morning and the night's cool draws through the flat and stays until evening. No traffic heats the façade, no asphalt radiates back. So you live cool, without any technology, only with the right position and a little knowledge of when to air and when to close up.

Stillness as luxury

Facing the courtyard means above all quiet. No traffic, no tram, only the muffled life of a back building, distant voices, a window that swings. The sound of the city arrives here only as a hint. For everyone who works in Vienna or brings a project to an end, that is worth more than any view. Quiet is the luxury you only miss once you have had it.

Green around the corner

And if you do want to go out, the green is near. A garden a few steps from the house, trees, a bench, the Westbahnhof with all you need just behind. A Grätzl at the edge of the fifteenth district, unshowy and real, with short walks and little pose. You live in the middle of Vienna and breathe all the same, because the cool and the green are both within reach.