architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

In the next few years, around 1,000 new apartments will be built on the Campagne site in the Reichenau district of Innsbruck. On the first of the four construction fields, Bogenfeld Architektur implemented a concept based on the main idea of an open-air living room. Between four buildings of different shapes, they create a sequence of alleys, squares and gardens that are intended to promote a lively coexistence.

The residential complex is an example of how high-quality, inner-city densification can arise in the inner courtyards, which are enclosed by a Gründerzeit block perimeter development. The 120 or so apartments are spread over two floors that open up to the sunken inner courtyard and a number of separate structures with green roofs and façades.

A 92-unit residential complex from the 1950s was extensively renovated and extended by 32 apartments through a two-story addition. As a slim, clear, longitudinal structure, this is distinctly set apart from the existing building by a circumferential strip of windows on the street side. At the same time, the existing balconies were renewed and enlarged, and the apartments connected to the elevators in the courtyard area.

A housing development with approximately 100 apartments was erected in the densely built-up residential area where a gas station once stood. It exemplarily shows how postwar modernism can be densified in urban structures without perpetuating its monotony and uniformity. Several elongated components of various heights were placed on the narrow plot, creating an exciting ensemble with a clear center.

At the transition from the historic "Anpruggen” district to the Mariahilf urban development area, a residential building with shops on the ground floor was erected for a private investor. The monolithic structure is an example of inner-city densification that fits into the heterogeneous surrounding space on the northern side of the Inn River and places a contemporary accent.

Erecting a residential building along the Südring near the Grassmayrkreuzung presents a difficult challenge. Raimund Rainer reacts to this starting situation with several structures of varying heights that run along the street. Closing the existing block perimeter development off on three sides, they function as a soundproof wall in the south. An additional, free-standing structure, which the majority of the apartment living rooms are oriented towards, was placed in the quiet inner courtyard.

In 2006, Lorenzateliers compiled an urban development study for a former industrial estate in Mühlau for the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) and suggested the conversion of monofunctional areas in the sense of a mixed-use city. In this context, a complex of 52 apartments spread over two south-facing, terraced rows of buildings was created on Kreuzgasse, offering a high quality of living with spacious loggias and terraces.

The Sill Island is a place with a unique urban situation in Innsbruck, in the middle of a water and park landscape. A high-quality housing complex, which – according to the idea of stacked city villas – is to offer an alternative to the single-family house, was built where the factory of the Herrburger & Rhomberg Spinning Mill originally stood. Parallel to the Sill Canal, arranged in a row and spread over six structures, two- to three-story units are respectively piled on top of each other in such a way that the detached house character remains legible and a high degree of permeability is assured.

In the place of the no longer salvageable housing block built in the late 1930s according to the plans of Theodor Prachensky, Schenker Salvi Weber Architekten erected a reinterpretation of the perimeter block development. In contrast to the previously narrow block edge closed on three sides, the new building is broken open in the middle and divided into two mirror-like structures stepped towards the inner courtyard with a concave building line that tapers in the direction of the head-end buildings.

The project by ARTEC Architekten, which resulted from a competition, reacts to the extremely sensitive building lot on the Innpromenade by placing itself as gently as possible into the riverbank landscape through mounting pillars and cantilevers. A low service wing lies at the street; the main wing of the residential home is segmented into interleaved housing units arranged around an interior space that opens towards the top. The green space newly designed by Auböck & Kárász seamlessly continues under them.

The small residential complex arose on an undeveloped piece of land made available by the Diocese of Innsbruck in the middle of a predominantly small-scaled, villa-like area. Starting from an urban planning context, the architects returned the building site, so to speak, to its "original condition” as a continuous slope and placed three self-confident, free-standing structures, developed in the style of the villa-like tenement blocks, in a newly designed green space.

After the Olympic Games of 1964 and 1976, Innsbruck was the first-time venue of the Youth Olympic Winter Games in January 2012. A new Olympic Village, which has meanwhile been populated by Innsbruck’s inhabitants, was executed on the grounds of the former Eugene Barracks for this purpose. Around 450 apartments are distributed among the 13 six- to eight-story cubes. Three houses, together with a common forecourt, respectively make up a group that was arranged, in turn, around various, large courtyards.

On the grounds of the former Tyrolean Loden Factory, located at the northern edge of Innsbruck’s Reichenau district, the largest certified passive house construction in Europe at that time was completed in 2009. Resulting from a 2005 competition, the basic urban planning concept of Architekturwerkstatt din a4 consists of three building complexes that are again respectively composed of two L-shaped structures placed against each other and form large inner courtyards through their interleaving. One building with rental apartments for NEUE HEIMAT TIROL was executed by Architekturwerkstatt din a4, the other two by Architekturhalle Wulz-König, resp., teamk2 [architects].

As part of the residential development on the former Tyrolean Loden Factory premises, the Architekturhalle Wulz-König executed a building with 128 owner-occupied apartments. Following the basic urban planning concept, two L-shaped structures facing each other form an open perimeter block development and surround a square-shaped inner courtyard. This inner courtyard lies one meter higher than the surrounding area and is accessed over two ramps at the openings on the east and west side.

Part 3 of the Lodenareal passive house complex, consisting of three open perimeter block developments, was carried out by teamk2 [architects]. Like the other two buildings, two L-shaped structures form a spacious inner courtyard here. A total of 165 rental apartments are extended for the most part and feature open spaces in the south as well as the west, and household balconies in the north, resp., east. A second façade level with story-high sliding elements provides protection for the open spaces and contributes to the structuring of the large-volume building.

From the outside, the solitary building at the university bridge – a residential building mainly built for use by students – presents itself as a shiny white "monolith” with a distinctive cut off corner and rhythmic offset window openings. A house high "entrance slot” leads to the completely different "inside world” where two bent wall slabs covered with oak slats form a paved courtyard accessible via wide loggia landings.

As a further development of the "Am Lohbach I” project completed in 2000, the Innsbruck Stadtbau GmbH constructed a further five residential buildings. Based on the original town planning concept, Baumschlager & Eberle and driendl*architects realised the two or rather three chessboard type blocks of flats, which although next to each other are slightly offset. Generous, light-flooded development zones characterise the inside of the buildings.

On the 70,000 m2 area of the former Tivoli Stadium a new city district arose from 2005 onwards with over 400 apartments, shops, offices, a senior citizens’ home, a nursery school and a youth center, a hotel, as well as numerous green areas and open spaces. In order to maintain as diverse and lively a district as possible, an individual architecture competition for each building was tendered. The first stage of construction, executed by Bruno Schwamberger, lies in the southeast part of the grounds directly on the South Ring Road and consists of a perimeter block development with apartments that are capped off in the east with the "Office am Tivoli”.

On the southwest corner of the inner city expansion area "Am Tivoli”, Manzl Ritsch Sandner executed a residential building with shop zones on the ground floor area. In contrast to the other buildings, the perimeter block development concept predetermined in the urban development key project is circumferentially carried out here on the ground floor only and is resolved in a building angle and a "corner cube” on the upper stories. Located in the center is a raised plaza, facing the west, which is consciously designed in an urban fashion.

In response to the town planning situation in the vicinity of the square shaped church from Horst Parson and, as a transition from residential buildings down to the banks of the Inn zone, Johannes Wiesflecker built a high-standard student’s residence with generously designed rooms and common areas all packed into two basic square buildings of different character. Beneath the building is a hollow space serving as a passage to the Inn.

Executed by Architekturhalle Wulz-König, Component 4 is a reinterpretation of the perimeter block development arising from the natural slope of the construction site. The base of the building incised into the west of the slope is opened towards the northeast, corresponding to the incline. Lying above the base, the five to seven residential stories are distinctly raised from the streetscape. Broad recesses break through the perimeter block development in two places and afford lateral views to the south and west.

Arising from a competition, the housing development set new standards in social housing at the time of its construction. Despite the high density, Georg Driendl succeeded in creating a permeable housing development with high atmospheric quality on a narrow parcel on the banks of the Inn. A total of 120 apartments are placed in three six-story structures, whose visual appearance is characterized by rear-ventilated glass façades and the colorful glass skin of the balconies.

This new quarter is the westernmost part of the city, closing off the residential area towards a zone reserved for agricultural use. With over 300 apartments, at the time it was built it was Austria’s largest low-energy housing project. The master plan was designed by the Vorarlberg architects Carlo Baumschlager and Dietmar Eberle; it consists of six very compact single buildings staggered, as it were, on a chessboard, creating a multitude of views and perspectives into the surrounding landscape that defy the high density.

Across the street from the "South Tyrolean Settlement” of the ‘40s, Lackner built his version of low-income housing. The rather flat and long-stretched volume is accentuated by wave-like rising structures above the four entrance areas; the apartments here are shifted upwards by a half storey. The rhythm of the spacious oriels that are a characteristic element of these buildings is determined by the different types and sizes of the apartments.