Architects coming to Vienna for a project do not need a hotel room. They need a space that is simultaneously a studio, bedroom and living room. What that means in detail and which of our apartments we recommend for exactly that.
We host a handful of architects every year, sometimes for three months, sometimes for a whole competition year. They come for projects in Vienna, a renovation of a period building, a competition entry for the city, a collaboration with a local practice. They bring a laptop, drawings, material samples, a tripod, a sketchbook. They stay a long time.
Over the years we have learnt what these guests need and what frustrates them. It is a very specific list, and it differs considerably from what tourists or Erasmus students need.
Daylight quality, not daylight quantity
It is not about "a big window". It is about "north light or east light", about even brightness without hard shadows, about a window front that does not constantly shade your own hand on the model.
Architects need light in which you can judge materials and colours. Direct midday sun is bad for that. A courtyard-facing north window with even diffuse light is ideal. Our Top 13 "Atrium" at Volkertplatz has exactly this light situation, it is not the brightest apartment, but the one with the most balanced light.
Desk size is non-negotiable
An architect's apartment needs a table that is at least 1.80 metres long. Two metres is better. On this table lie A1-format drawings, next to a laptop, next to three pencil cases, next to a sketchbook, next to a coffee. It is a workspace, not a dining table with a laptop.
For this reason we ensure that in every apartment either the dining table is large enough (Top 7 Salon. Two metres of oak) or an additional work table exists. In Top 13 Atrium there is a massive, heavy draughtsman's table, one of the oldest pieces in the house, restored in a joinery in Floridsdorf.
A table too small for the drawings forces the gesture of clearing up. Those who clear up stop thinking.
Acoustics, the underrated factor
Anyone who has spent a whole week working in an echoey empty loft knows what acoustics mean. A room with hard walls, glass and concrete reverberates. Phone calls become exhausting. Concentration fragments. After two days you feel tired without quite knowing why.
Our apartments are all acoustically dampened, thick linen curtains, wool rugs, upholstered furniture, books on open shelves. That is not only a design choice; it is ergonomics. A room in which you spend three hours on the phone must function as an absorber.
Storage for drawings, models, material samples
Architects need storage space that is not a wardrobe. A shallow drawer for A2 prints. A shelf deep enough for card models. A corner where material samples, stone, wood, concrete, fabric, can lie without having to be cleared away after three days.
That sounds trivial, but most apartments fail on this. Our Top 13 Atrium has an old apothecary cabinet with thirty shallow drawers, originally for powders, now perfect for drawings and material samples. It was one of the best purchases of the last five years.
A separate corner for resting
Those who work in a room they also sleep in need a spatial separation. Not necessarily two rooms but at least one zone for work and one for relaxation. A sofa that genuinely invites reading. An armchair by the window. A bed that is not in the same pool of light as the desk.
Otherwise what happens is what many of our architect guests report from their previous projects. You work until half past ten, lie down, and from the bed you can see the unsolved problems on the table. Sleep becomes impossible.
Studio at Volkertplatz, for projects that need more
Those coming to Vienna for a longer project who need more than an apartment, model building, a material archive, client meetings, can also use a studio commercial space at Volkertplatz. 65 m², ground floor, its own entrance from the street, high ceilings, industrial sockets, a large flat table.
We rent the space monthly, often to architects or designers who are simultaneously staying in one of our apartments. More details in the studio gallery or directly via enquiry.
For your own spaces. Maison LAROGY
Some of our guests end up staying, professionally or personally. They buy a period apartment in Vienna, often in the 2nd or 7th district, and face the task of furnishing it. For exactly this task we founded Maison LAROGY in 2026, our interior service for private clients.
The logic is the same as for our apartments. Vintage, patina, found pieces, local restorers. But for your flat rather than ours. Those who have lived in one of our spaces for months and think "I want to live like this" will find a way to that at Maison.
What counts in the end
An apartment for architects is not a hotel room with a desk. It is a space in which concentrated work is possible without the living suffering for it. It is a space in which you sit in your shirt over the drawings on Sunday morning, and in the same space drink coffee with a friend on Sunday afternoon.
That only works if the room was designed for both from the outset. We build for exactly this dual function. Because we ourselves live this way.