TSL Conversations · Episode 03

Inside BEHF: Stephan Ferenczy on Urban Change, Restaurants and the Architecture of Hospitality

How does a city change when banks become hotels and offices become homes? In conversation with Eva Winterer, recorded in September 2026, Stephan Ferenczy, co-founder of BEHF Architects, talks about transforming Vienna’s existing buildings and what they remember, about restaurants and hotel rooms designed around the people in them, and about why luxury, in the end, is time, quiet and concentration.

Recorded September 2026 · 50 min · In German

GuestStephan Ferenczy
Co-founder, BEHF Architects

HostEva Winterer
Publisher, The Silent Luxury

Read it in English

The conversation is in German, hosted by Eva Winterer and recorded as it happened, not produced in a studio. Every moment below has English subtitles, and the whole conversation can be read in English.

In this conversation

“The smile, that is the most precious thing. And that is what we create the room for.”

Stephan Ferenczy, co-founder of BEHF Architects · In conversation with The Silent Luxury, September 2026

Moments from this conversation

1 / 1

03.2 · 2:01 min · German with English subtitles

The Second Row Deserves a Loge

Why do the tables behind the window decide whether a restaurant works? Stephan Ferenczy explains why the second row must feel like a loge at the theatre, why the bar booths at Das LOFT now face the view, and why the lounge sofas are deep enough for the last hour of the night.

03.3 · 1:39 min · German with English subtitles

You Don't Always Need the First Idea

How far should an architect go inside another architect's building? Working in Jean Nouvel's tower and beneath Pipilotti Rist's luminous ceiling, Ferenczy follows one rule: treat other people's work the way you would want your own treated.

03.4 · 1:21 min · German with English subtitles

From Breakfast Eggs to a Marriage Proposal

A hotel restaurant has to survive scrambled eggs and jam in the morning and invite a marriage proposal at night. Ferenczy on rooms that change character with the light, and on the furniture that makes that change possible.

03.5 · 3:45 min · German with English subtitles

A Hotel Comes and Goes, the Building Stays

What remains of a building's spirit when its use changes? Ferenczy contrasts a renovation that dried out a place with the Rosewood Vienna in the founding house of Erste Bank, and explains why the hotel comes and goes while the building stays.

03.6 · 1:40 min · German with English subtitles

A Room Works When the General Manager Hugs You

How does an architect know a room works? Not everyone will feel at ease in the same place, Ferenczy says, and Das LOFT was built for presence and exchange, not retreat. His own measure of success is disarmingly personal.

03.7 · 50 sec · German with English subtitles

Luxury Is Time, Quiet and Concentration

A short exchange about what guests now look for when they stay longer: time, quiet and concentration. Ferenczy separates sustainability, the technical operation of a hotel, from regeneration, what a place gives back to a person.

03.8 · 2:36 min · German with English subtitles

Luxury Is Truth, Not Shine

Why does luxury lie in truth rather than shine? Ferenczy on Reiters Reserve in southern Burgenland, on real and durable materials, and on the Viennese buildings so well made that a wall can be opened and the rubble carried away in a briefcase.

03.9 · 1:29 min · German with English subtitles

Every Temple Has a Vestibule

Every temple, every church, every palace has a smaller room before the large one. Ferenczy explains why the suites at Reiters Reserve begin with a vestibule, with a bench for boots and a small fountain that tells you that you have arrived.

03.10 · 2:04 min · German with English subtitles

The Intercontinental Promise

Why was an Intercontinental once a promise of safety? Ferenczy on the standards that reassure travellers, and on the nuances he still changes: a bathroom at the far end of the room, a better reading light, a glass wall with a view.

03.11 · 1:59 min · German with English subtitles

A Black Beetle Beats the Painted Rolls-Royce

John Lennon's psychedelic Rolls-Royce or a black, glossy VW Beetle? Ferenczy on elegance that does not need to be seen, on guests who arrive in a T-shirt, and on the smile as the reason a room exists.

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What you will hear

01Why transforming existing buildings is the task of his generation, and what a bank, a hospital or a factory keeps of its spirit when the city changes around it.
02How restaurants and hotel rooms are planned around people: the second row that feels like a loge, the vestibule before a suite, the bathroom at the far end of the room.
03Why luxury is time, quiet and concentration, built from real, durable materials rather than shine.

Read and go deeper

Stephan Ferenczy, co-founder of BEHF Architects, in the lounge of Das LOFT. | Photo: Stefan Gergely

Conversation Stephan Ferenczy: Hotel Architecture That Makes Room for the Guest

Guests at the bar of Das LOFT in the evening light beneath Pipilotti Rist's illuminated ceiling, with St Stephen's Cathedral beyond the glass.

Reading The Second Row: Das LOFT and the Architecture of Hospitality in Vienna

Conversation Hospi-tecture: When Architecture Becomes Medicine

Now movingSO/ Vienna’s Das LOFT Reopens, Darker by Design →

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Ideas for a conscious tomorrow