architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

In the Tyrolean community in the lower Ötztal Valley, which is characterized by tourism and tradition, an attractive site for the village community was created with the new music pavilion. An elongated wall is flanked by two side arms for technical equipment, storage, toilets and a bar, while the slightly sloping terrain is used as a natural grandstand. The pavilion takes on its very own character through the use of tamped concrete, the exact granulation and pigmentation of which was developed in numerous experiments.

Innsbruck’s "House of Music” can be found at one the most central locations in the inner city, where the city concert halls and chamber theater housed in the previous building were combined with numerous institutions dedicated to music. The complex spatial program is accommodated in a compact structure with a multilayered façade made of ceramic cladding. Emerging as independent elements, the publicly accessible hall bodies clearly distinguish themselves from those areas used for research, teaching and administration.

The free-standing solitaire, visible from all sides, with the stage facing south and a bus stop facing north, offers a place for cultural life in the village centre. The free-standing solitaire, visible from all sides, with the stage facing south and a bus stop facing north, offers a place for cultural life in the village centre. Together with the Institute for Structure and Design at the University of Innsbruck, a special folding system made of solid wooden panels was developed that meets all acoustic requirements and at the same time gives the building a striking sculptural form.

Conceived in its form and materiality as a conscious contrast, a new building of the Tyrolean Festival Erl was erected next to the Passionsspielhaus (Passion Festival House) built by Robert Schuller. Clearly offset from the white circular structure, the architects placed a dark building whose sharp-edged geometry was developed from the surrounding topography. Fluid spatial sequences with varying visual relationships to the outdoor space lead the visitor up to the concert hall situated in the center of the building.

After long years of having to cope with a lack of working space, finally the rehearsal stages and workshops were transferred to an annex building. The various functions can easily be read from the outside as an addition of various different spatial structures, the piled-up units are obviously inviting future additions whenever necessary.

The formerly commercial cinema, designed by Hubert Prachensky in the 1950’s, was cautiously adapted to house an art film society. The new steeply rising auditorium guarantees good view from every seat and, at the same time, makes room for a second, smaller auditorium situated crossways under the bigger one. The lounge bar serves as a meeting point not only for movie addicts.

This cultural centre – the name literally translates as "greenhouse” – was planted in the city centre in the 1980’s. The hermetic octagonal structure made out of dark Lecca stones was to symbolise the stubbornly provocative mind of the then young and ever-belligerent impresario. Since then, the building was enlarged and also, in a way, "opened”, by Reinhard Honold, in 2001, and has become, together with the events staged there, a well-established part of the city’s cultural life.

The Festspielhaus – place of performance for the passion plays performed by approx. 500 actors and actresses and at the same time the main place of performance for the Tyrolean festival Erl – was built in the 1950s by Robert Schuller and in the meantime, due to its distinctive shape, has become a symbol of Erl. The white building at the foot of the Niederndorfer Mountains uses the hillside location for the ascending auditorium and emerge towards the valley side as gestural form of the stage house.