salzburg, austria is a unique city where, as architect toshiko mori explains, ‘architecture and nature coexist
in a unique state of balanced tension’. the city’s high cliffs are an architectural challenge in their own right.
for toshiko mori’s entry for the salzburg sternbrauerei housing competition, the architect chose to embrace
the cliffs and stressed the differences between their height and the low level of urban infrastructure.
their design was a hybrid housing typology that features two distinct sections. the city dwelling was envisioned as a low-rise structure with an undulating form that would create public areas such as
courtyards and plazas. suspended above this is the sky dwelling, a luxury housing structure which perches
close to the cliff face, over looking the city dwelling unit. the form of this unit is curved to match the cliff’s
shape to echo their similarities. mori intended to create an iconic identity to the project through this element,
hoping it would ‘become a landmark for the city of salzburg’.

http://www.tmarch.com