Taking sustainable gastronomy to new heights

Designed by PPAG architects, the sustainable Steirereck am Pogusch restaurant sits at the top of the The Pogusch pass, 1059m in height, in the Austrian Alps

Rural areas are developing in line with the

Both greenhouses are connected to the kitchens located

The Salettl and the Wooden House in winter.

The Salettl's façade consists of foamed aluminium.

The challenge was to blend a situation characterised

Inside the Salettl spatial comfort is provided by

Large glass house, view across the floors and

The Small Greenhouse supplies the kitchen with fresh

The Fireplace room in the Large Glasshouse.

Designed by PPAG architects

From the architects:

PPAG architects have unveiled an offshoot of the Viennese restaurant Steirereck, which has been among the world's top gastronomic establishments for many decades.

Steirereck has been among the world's top gastronomic establishments for many decades.

Now the restaurant has opened an offshoot venue, Steirereck am Pogusch, which sets out to show how innovative and sustainable a gastronomic business can be.

Designed by PPAG architects, Steirereck am Pogusch sits at the top of the The Pogusch pass, 1059m in height, in the Austrian Alps, surrounded by its own farmland.

In addressing the conversion and extension project, gourmet chef Heinz Reitbauer and his wife Birgit wanted to blend the natural surroundings with a highly sophisticated, contemporary catering business to ensure a harmonious future.

Through various interventions, the pre-existing buildings and additions form a village ensemble on the scale of rural development in the mountain landscape.

For the most part, the striking new buildings are built into the hillside, acting as eye-catchers within the surroundings of nature and the traditional built environment.

The pre-existing buildings – a kitchen, lodging, a stone house, and a wooden house, along with agriculture – were complemented by relevant new ones.

The new buildings encompass extensive new catering areas including the Salettl for fine dining, the fire kitchen (bar, grill, steam counter, farm store, regulars' table), the distillery, kitchens with extensive preparation-and staff-areas, a kitchen garden in a small glass house, special staff and guest accommodations, and an extension of visible and invisible infrastructure.

In the large glass house, a hybrid of an advanced greenhouse and living space that atmospherically fertilise each other, there are integrated sleeping berths, as well as a wellness zone with a sauna and a fireplace.

PPAG architects also designed numerous details and furnishings to provide the project with the dimension of an ultra-modern Gesamtkunstwerk – and transport the visitor into an unusual mountain world.

Here, self-care means caring for the planet, too: the focus was set on renewable energy supply (heating, cooling, electricity), supplemented by measures to reduce resource consumption (on-site food production, circular economy, composting, ecological selection of building materials) and reduction of mobility-related energy and CO2 consumption.