architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

On the Neustift school campus, several schools, previously scattered across various parts of town, were brought together for a total of around 500 pupils. fasch&fuchs.architekten naturally integrate the extensive spatial allocation plan into the landscape. They designed a carpet-like school campus that develops like a cascade between two head buildings and offers a differentiated range of spaces with streets, squares, ramps, courtyards and gardens.

With the Swarovski Manufaktur in Wattens, Snøhetta developed a hybrid location for production, creative collaboration and representation for the Tyrolean crystal manufacturer. A column-free hall with natural light through openings in the ceiling offers space for machines, robots and workbenches, but also for offices and meeting zones. A large open staircase, which also serves as a meeting point and arena, leads up to a wooden platform suspended from the ceiling, into which further offices and showrooms are integrated.

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.

The Martinsbrücke, a pedestrian and cycle path bridge over the Inn River, connects the communities of Zirl and Unterperfuss, and is located on the Inn Cycle Path. In terms of design and technology, it is a prime example of a sophisticated bridge construction. With a total length of around 100 meters, it is the first wood-concrete composite bridge in Europe of this size. Supported on the banks by inclined concrete struts, it spans the river in an elegant arc and naturally blends in with the surroundings.

For the newly built Falginjochbahn aerial tramway on the Kaunertal Glacier, the architects developed two technoid-looking infrastructure buildings made of concrete, steel and glass that make reference to the technical equipment of cable car technology. Situated at an elevation of 2,750 meters, the base station consists of a large, glazed steel framework on a concrete plinth; the cantilevered top station at an altitude of over 3,000 meters is designed as an antipode.

The School Center in Hall in Tyrol by fasch&fuchs.architekten is part of a large number of schools realized by the architectural office that respond as contemporary statements to new educational concepts. Two secondary schools and the district special needs school were combined at one location in the immediate vicinity of Hall’s town center. Meshing with the outside space in a variety of ways, the new structure forms a flowing inner and outer educational landscape.

Built on a very small plot of land at the edge of a public green zone, the house gives people with chronic mental illnesses a temporary home. There are small apartments on the upper floors, while the attic and ground floor offer communal lounge and therapy areas. An outer skin made of colored exposed concrete elements surrounds the entire polygonal structure, reinforcing its monolithic character.

For many years now, the Innsbruck Tourist Information Center has been located in a former stable building directly adjacent to the city wall. In the course of the renovation and redesign, the interior was cleared of later fixtures, the historic vaulted ceiling exposed, the original floor level restored and a barrier-free access in the form of a concrete ramp placed in the Renaissance hall. In order to restore the character of a city wall, the large arched windows were closed flush with the façade with perforated ceramic tiles.

The Längenfeld Nature Park House is the operational center of the Ötztal Nature Park and includes, among other things, an exhibition about the natural diversity of the valley. Proceeding from the topographical conditions, Hanno Schlögl designed the house as an artificial rock, with its exposed concrete surfaces, imprinted by the horizontal formwork, taking up a role that mediates between rock and wood. Purposefully placed perforations, a transverse concrete slab and the inclined canopy emphasize the structure’s sculptural character.

The redesign of the village center in Patsch arose out of a community development process with an associated architecture competition. On the northern edge of the property, a building for the community office, based in terms of its dimensions and materiality on the existing development, and a music pavilion on the southern edge, were erected. Together with the former parish hall, which has been transformed into a clubhouse, and the new village square, the residents gained a lively meeting place.

As the end result of an invited architecture competition, the multi-functional P2 building connects private and public interests as an urban hybrid. The pointed, almost 50-meter-high tower contains apartments, and the two-story base building provides space for the Innsbruck City Library, which features several reading zones and an event hall. In between, there is a public space designed as a reading deck, accessible via two flights of stairs, which invites visitors to linger without any pressure to consume.

The little house in Fulpmes is a paramount example of the resource-saving approach to building materials and upcycling. Materials from a nearly 200-year-old, demolished threshing floor were utilized, as well as used windows, doors and glass. Moreover, regional or inexpensive materials were primarily used. A radically stripped-down, open-use space emerged on the ground floor, and a one-room apartment on the upper floor, largely equipped with used items.

An approximately 300-year-old mountain farmhouse at an altitude of 1,200 meters was sustainably revitalized with careful attention to historic preservation and based on the tradition of "building on.” Taking into account the farming past, as well as the more recent history, a harmonious ensemble was created with sensitivity and through the introduction of new architectural elements such as lattice windows, raw steel fittings and the use of conglomerate rock.