architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

Several educational institutions belonging to the Sisters of Mercy school association are housed in a building complex dating back to the 1930s. In the course of the most recent renovation, conversion and expansion measures, this heterogeneous building stock situation was resolved. A façade made of translucent polycarbonate panels consolidates the various existing buildings; the interior was returned to its concrete structure and complemented with natural materials.

In 2014, the religious order of the Sisters of Mercy in Innsbruck decided to renovate and expand the facilities of the former girls’ boarding school to make accommodation available to people who fled their home countries. Under the premise of using the existing means as best as possible, the girls’ boarding school dating from the 1960s underwent a general refurbishment according to plans by STUDIO LOiS, who added an annex and a stairwell. The makeover ostensibly did not center on design issues, but much more on combining and reacting to cheaply available resources.