The Long View

A mountain house puts an artist couple’s work in a new perspective

‘It’s one thing to design a house for an artist, but it’s another to design a house for your mother and father,’ says architect Stuart Veech of the home created for artists Vadim Kosmatschof and Elena Koneff in the countryside outside Vienna. Veech’s partner and collaborator, Mascha Veech-Kosmatschof, grew up in Soviet Russia surrounded by the avant-garde work of her parents – Kosmatschof, a sculptor, and Koneff, a visual artist. In 1979, the family emigrated to Austria, where she studied architecture before moving to London’s Architectural Association. US-born Veech also studied at the AA and spent time in Kosmatschof ’s studio as an apprentice.

In 1993, the pair set up their first practice together, quickly establishing themselves as experts in the emerging field of designing for broadcasting. Veech x Veech is now one of the world’s leading designers of TV studios, blending real and virtual elements to create high-tech environments that are part dynamic graphic design and part intricate 3D space.