A tasteful design

The LeBurger restaurant in Wiener Neustadt seized the opportunity to express its philosophy both inside and out. The chain’s first stand-alone branch makes an impact with its modern, industrial chic, brick façade.

Restaurant "LeBurger"

“Rather than replicating an old façade, we wanted to create something new. Something that hadn’t been seen before in Austria”. Andreas Gärtner and his team at interior design agency gärtner2 were clear about what they wanted to achieve at the new LeBurger site in the city of Wiener Neustadt.

Six of the chain’s restaurants have already taken the inspiration for their interior design from old industrial buildings, and now it was time for the first stand-alone site to get a similar look. A former fast food restaurant was split in half and replaced by a new, two-storey construction. “We opted for a modern design with a brick façade in shades of red and purple, and steel structure,” says Gärtner.

“Rather than replicating an old façade, we wanted to create something new. Something that hadn’t been seen before in Austria.“ - Andreas Gärtner, gärtner²

Modern aesthetics

The bricks serve three purposes, all of which were crucial to the design team: they are unusual in appearance, durable, and could be produced quickly to meet the short construction schedule deadlines. “Luckily, we came across the Belgian factory, which was able to supply a wide range of interesting bricks,” explains Andreas Gärtner. “We wanted to get away from a traditional brick façade, and create a darker, more modern aesthetic.”

They ultimately opted for matt facing bricks in the colours Vino and Viola with carbon deposits on the surface. “We didn’t want a glossy finish, so we went for this combination of materials,” says the architect. “The bricks used let the colours shine.”

Brickwork inside and out

A total of 380 m² of facing bricks were used in construction of the building, which opened in 2018. Large windows create a sleek contrast with the smoky bricks on the external wall.

There is also brickwork inside – however, the architectural team used original bricks from the days of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy there. Internally, a living wall runs the full-height of the two floors, creating a visual link between them. “In all the LeBurger branches that we have been asked to design before, we used exposed brick walls as an internal design feature,” says Gärtner. “Bricks are very much on trend at the moment. There’s hardly a project that doesn’t use them.” This only increased their motivation to do something more unusual for this project. “And we succeeded!” says the architect.