A subdivision dating to the 1970s in Zellerndorf, a town in Lower Austria’s Weinviertel district, provides the setting for this single-family house. The building massing is reminiscent of shipping containers – in stark contrast to the neighbouring houses whose roofs are pitched. Dividing the program among three bar-shaped volumes of the same size and arranging them like a string of pearls along a glazed corridor is also out of the ordinary: the architect’s design is a reinterpretation of the region’s traditional extended-farmhouse typology in which the individual uses – residence, barn, stables – are placed in a row. In this instance the program is spread throughout three separate 6.60 x 16.60 m boxes. The first, situated nearest the street, serves as garage and storage space; in the middle the family congregates in the open kitchen-living room; the third accommodates the master bedroom, children’s rooms and bathrooms. The three wings are linked by the hallway – glazed on both sides – which literally penetrates them, protruding as a canopy above the entrance and culminating on the opposite end in a glazed bay window, which the residents use as an alcove for playing or reading. Intimate courtyards were created between the boxes. The largest one has a boardwalk terrace with swimming pool; the French doors in the bedrooms and living spaces open on to it.