Römersiedlung Murau

Location: Murau, Styria, Austria
Client: ÖWGES gemeinnützige Wohnbau GmbH
Typology: Subsidised multi-storey housing, 18 residential units in two buildings
Construction: Solid construction with reinforced-concrete and masonry elements, with timber balconies and privacy screens
Procedure: Direct commission / Wohnbautisch
Status: Building permit submitted, 2026
Site area: approx. 3,826 m²

A House, Multiplied

Housing · Murau, Austria

What if collective housing could retain the scale and familiarity of a house?

Set within the existing Römersiedlung, the project introduces two compact residential buildings containing eighteen apartments. Rather than expressing their density, the buildings borrow from the familiar scale of the surrounding settlement: simple volumes, pitched roofs and a clear domestic silhouette.

Generous balconies form a second layer around the living spaces. Their timber screens provide shade and privacy while giving each apartment an individual outdoor room. On the ground floor, terraces extend directly into private gardens, creating a gradual transition from apartment to landscape.

The two buildings follow the same underlying system but respond individually to their position on the site. Between them, existing landscape and shared outdoor spaces become part of everyday life rather than residual space around the buildings.

The project looks for architectural quality within the ordinary: compact plans, familiar forms and simple means, combined to make collective housing feel a little more like home.