KAI 36

Nicole Lam

Kai 36 – 500 years revitalized. Hotel and Café Bar in-between rock and river.

Located in the old city center of Graz, Austria’s 2nd biggest city, right at the edge of the castle hill, this building was mentioned for the first time in 1596. The site includes two properties. One facing the street with the existing building and one in the back, which is terraced on to the Schlossberg (castlehill), which is a rock-hill with the old fort in the historic centre of Graz. The flow of operations for the hotel and café bar as well as the flow of visitors through the house and the garden were fundamental for the planning of possible interstitial spaces, meeting spaces and communication spaces. The dialogue between inside and outside was an important requirement to show people the way from the street to the inside of the building. Kai 36 is housing 163 original artworks from the client’s private collection such as photographs, paintings and sculptures.

The spatial experience of the ensemble is created from a grown and complex configuration of elements. The aim of the project was to maintain the unique character of the facility, to restore what is worth to protect and creating something contemporary at the same time. The idea for modification was shaped by looking at the different elements - like main house, new areas like the pool and outbuildings - individually and how to best bring them back together. In contrast to the main house with its characteristic crested hipped gable, the roofs of the outbuildings were not worth to be protected. The removed roof areas as well as a terrace area were covered with new Y-roofs. The new structures are clearly subordinated in terms of the scale of the existing main house and add themselves into the surrounding roof landscape through their sloping gable roofs.

Planning partners: Nicole Lam (LAM ARCHITEKTUR STUDIO), Birgit Kilzer (LAM ARCHITEKTUR STUDIO), Andreas Kassl (LAM ARCHITEKTUR STUDIO), Elmar Hess (Hess Engineering)

Client: Dr. Helmut Marko GmbH

Category: Historic Preservation, Recreation and Tourism

Project Gallery

KAI36 EXTERIOR_FACADE, © Dietmar Reinbacher, Photographer: Dietmar Reinbacher
KAI36 EXTERIOR_FACADE
KAI36 EXTERIOR ROOFTOP, © Dietmar Reinbacher, Photographer: Dietmar Reinbacher
KAI36 EXTERIOR ROOFTOP
KAI36 EXTERIOR TERRACE, © Dietmar Reinbacher, Photographer: Dietmar Reinbacher
KAI36 EXTERIOR TERRACE
KAI36 EXTERIOR COURTYARD, © Dietmar Reinbacher, Photographer: Dietmar Reinbacher
KAI36 EXTERIOR COURTYARD
KAI36 EXTERIOR CAFE, © Dietmar Reinbacher, Photographer: Dietmar Reinbacher
KAI36 EXTERIOR CAFE
KAI36 INTERIOR BAR, © Dietmar Reinbacher, Photographer: Dietmar Reinbacher
KAI36 INTERIOR BAR

Nicole Lam

Nicole Lam AT

http://lam.co.at
Mehlplatz 1/1 | 8010 Graz