The Steirereck restaurant in Vienna has been the top gastronomic leader in Austria for many decades and has been ranked one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants for over than 10 years. In addition to the gastronomic concepts’ contemporary orientation, special attention is always paid to the sustainability of one’s own activities. 

With the renovation and extension project of the Steirereck am Pogusch, in the Austrian Alps, Heinz and Birgit Reitbauer want to show how innovative a gastronomic business can be. The Pogusch is located at an elevation of 1059 m above sea level: a high alpine pass in Upper Styria that connects two municipalities in the Mürz Valley. 

At the top of the pass, the Steirereck am Pogusch inn can be found with its main and ancillary buildings. After decades and generations, the agricultural work deeply linked to the restaurant and the mindful way of life that stemmed from the institution was to be manifested, tangible and visible for the operators themselves, and for the guests. 

The challenge was to reconcile a situation characterized by the experience of nature with a highly demanding, contemporary catering business and to orchestrate a harmonious holistic solution for the future. The new gets to be visible, demonstrating the perspective of life in the 21st century away from the city, nonetheless linked to the know-how of the 21st century. 

The pre-existing components – the kitchen, the accommodations, the stone house, the wooden house and the agriculture – were complemented by new relevant ones by PPAG architects: the kitchen extension, the “Salettl” (a gazebo), two glass houses, special employee and guest accommodations, including the expansion of high-tech infrastructure. The supra-regionally well-known inn has been expanded on a large scale, but the changes remain respectful of the surrounding mountain landscape. The Steirereck's existing buildings have been completely refurbished and elevated as well as expanded. 

These extensions, namely the "Salettl", the bar kitchen, the kitchen garden (a warm greenhouse) and a large glass house (cold greenhouse) are partly buried due to the hillside location. Through various calculated interventions, existing buildings and extensions now form a village ensemble at the scale of a rural development. PPAG also designed numerous details, such as organomorphic door handles, 3D-printed washbasins, most of the new furniture and spatially effective vertical wooden blinds, all of which bestow the project with the character of a cutting-edge, total work of art – and transport visitors to an unusual mountain world. 

The inn and upscale restaurant Steirereck am Pogusch now brings together a down-to-earth quality, haute cuisine, high-tech work processes, sustainable agriculture, and a luxury hotel business under one roof.