architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

Like many other schools, the HTL Bau und Design (Technical High School for Structural and Civil Engineering and Design) is affected by an acute shortage of space. ao-architekten realized the desired extension as a compact, single-story addition to the main wing, which clearly stands out from the existing structure through a band of windows running around the entire story. In the building, which is characterized by an open spatial structure and supplied with northern light via sheds, a studio-like ambiance with a high quality of stay was created for the seven final-year classes.

While the Nordkettenbahn cable railway (architecture: Franz Baumann), built around the same time, was sensitively adapted for a new cable car technology, this apparently proved not to be economically justifiable for the Patscherkofelbahn (architecture: Hans Fessler), which opened in 1928. A three-station monocable gondola lift, characterized by a very strict and purist approach focusing on function, arose in place of the old aerial tramway.

Tourism pioneer Heinrich Klier had a chapel dedicated to the memory of his companions built directly on the ridge of the Schaufeljoch Mountain. Very plain in its form and materiality, the structure is reduced to the basic elements of a classic chapel and offers a place of calm and contemplation, which is open to everyone, in the midst of a lively ski circuit.

The glacier terminal extension provides the existing Stubaier glacier cable lift valley station with a new reception area. The extension connects the existing heterogeneous buildings and, for the first time presents the single and double cable lifts as a single unit. A form-giving element is the curved and greened roof, beneath this is the transparent cladding of the lifts reception area.