Haus Klammer is a private house standing on the outskirts of the town of Klaus in Austria designed by the practice of architektur.terminal. The two-storey building nestles into the verdant tree-clad slopes at the foot of the Sattelberg. Its outline blends discreetly with the surroundings and adapts to the unevenness of the ground. The south elevation, a double façade of ribbon windows, looks down the valley to the distant mountains, a view intended to be enjoyed from all the rooms on that side. The whole building is on a compact C-plan embracing a spacious inner court that is partly screened by a concrete parapet. The raised daytime quarters including a covered terrace are arranged around this courtyard. Full-height glass walls open if need be onto this enclosed sheltered space and also extend the view of the landscape through the glass south front. While glass is the key to the façades overlooking the valley and the courtyard - letting nature filter in from around, as it were - the side and rear elevations are blind as though to enfold the building. By way of cladding the architects chose pre-weathered pro Rheinzink panels in a dark-slate pickled finish. They are mounted by the angled standing seam method where the joints stand out by 12 mm for aesthetic effect. The horizontal seam-lines are at irregular distances, which breaks up yet lends movement to the otherwise uniform surfaces of these walls, and at the same time picks up the horizontal motif of the ribbon windows.
