Office SFK

Using an existing building as a basis, the architecture studio heri&salli/Vienna designed a new office for SFK Technologie Manufaktur from Kirchham, Upper Austria.

It was completed in 2024 after 4 years of construction. The building is a symbiosis between an open understanding of space by the architecture studio heri&salli and the technical / technological precision of the family firm SFK, which has developed over the last 35 years from a traditional carpentry business into a pioneer in the processing of future-oriented materials.

The building has to meet different usage requirements: Workers from the adjacent production facility go in, out and through. Workplaces for the technicians, management and administration have to be available, customers are received, meetings are held and the needs of the integrated funeral home also have to be taken into account.

The solution was a kind of vertical “roundabout” in the form of an open, sculptural staircase.

The complexity of the functional layers contrasts with a reduction in spatial formulation.

The offices are an interplay of glass and wood. Depending on the location, situations of wide-open spaces, but also privacy and visual protection for working and meetings come into play. Visual axes within the building expand through the generous glass façade into the surrounding meadow and hill landscape. The central circulation, combined with common areas, facilitates encounters and communication.

The distinctive yet simple structure of the exterior façade, with specially developed panels and fibre cement elements, incorporates sun protection and drainage.

In terms of sustainability, the office building is part of a measures package already practised and constantly adapted by SFK, which affects the entire production operation.

90,000 kW/h electricity yield from the company's own PV system, heat supply from 80% production waste and 20% regional wood chips as well as additional heat recovery from the paint shop. E-mobility, both for employees using provided wooden bicycles as well as for the company's internal vehicle fleet, is a key concern. The aim is to reduce CO2 emissions to 0 by 2030.