A Sacred Shift: MD Kerstin Ortlechner’s Medical Practice in a Reimagined Viennese Church

In Vienna’s 9th district, where history and innovation often collide, a former 19th-century church has quietly undergone one of the city’s most radical transformations.

Now home to the MD Kerstin Ortlechner medical practice, the once-hallowed structure no longer echoes with hymns, but instead with the quiet precision of contemporary care. With mirrored walls, aluminum surfaces, and a striking interplay of light and shadow, this space is less a clinic and more a meditation on what a medical practice can become when architecture is allowed to ask new questions.

Originally built in the 1860s, the church presented both an opportunity and a challenge: how to preserve the sacred atmosphere of the space while reconfiguring it into something entirely utilitarian. The architects, in collaboration with Ortlechner herself, approached the project not by erasing the past but by folding it into a sleek and forward-thinking narrative.

The former altar now serves as the reception, a deliberate spatial gesture that immediately grounds the visitor in a sense of reverence, even in this new context. Two mirrored aluminum boxes now rise from the nave, offering a futuristic reinterpretation of the traditional chapel layout. Where pews once lined the floors, these volumes house state-of-the-art treatment rooms. The former confessional has been converted into a private beauty space: intimate, luxurious, and quietly symbolic.

Throughout the space, the palette remains restrained: pale gray walls, polished metal, and diffuse lighting from linear LED fixtures that seem to hover rather than hang. These are not merely decorative decisions, but spatial strategies. The choice of reflective surfaces and softened lines allows light to move fluidly throughout the interior, elongating perspectives and removing any sense of spatial boundary. It’s clinical, yes, but never cold.

One of the defining features of the project is the way light becomes material. The custom SR-L-01 wall and ceiling lights create vertical and horizontal lines that echo the architectural rhythm of the original structure. By day, the natural light is absorbed and refracted by the brushed metal and mirrored walls; by night, the space becomes softly illuminated, almost weightless. This calculated stillness sets the tone for the experience within: efficient, but serene; high-tech, yet grounding.

Despite the extensive structural interventions, the layout still acknowledges its ecclesiastical past. Arched thresholds and the preserved form of the spiral staircase serve as subtle cues to the building’s origins. But these elements aren’t treated as relics, they are reinterpreted, integrated, and at times, abstracted.

Floral installations, unexpected but masterfully placed, punctuate the minimalism. They act as living counterpoints to the rigid geometry of the built environment, injecting a sense of organic unpredictability into the otherwise highly controlled aesthetic. A sculptural arrangement at the base of the staircase becomes a kind of altar of its own, hinting at rituals both old and new.

The result is a spatial choreography that’s rare in medical architecture. It is not performative minimalism, but purposeful restraint. There is clarity in the materials, intent in the forms, and silence in the details.

The MD Kerstin Ortlechner practice is a case study in architectural recontextualization. A project that not only honors the building’s original spirit, but uses it as a framework to explore a new kind of sacred: one rooted in care, light, and spatial integrity. In a city that thrives on contrast, this conversion stands quietly, yet powerfully, as a work of architecture that dares to redefine what healing spaces can feel like.

Editor’s Note

This feature highlights the work of SR (Studio Riebenbauer), a global creative studio based in Vienna and Los Angeles known for its refined approach to brand, spatial, and sensory design. The project was brought to life for MD Kerstin Ortlechner and beautifully captured through the lens of Julius Hirtzberger (@byjuhli).

While this is not a That Cool Living project, we’re proud to showcase such inspiring work on our platform. Design enthusiasts will spot select pieces throughout the interior, including furniture and lighting by NORR11 and New Works—both available online at thatcooliving.com.

If you’re an interior designer, architect, or trade professional, we invite you to apply for a That Cool Living Trade Account to access exclusive benefits, custom sourcing, and preferred pricing for your projects.