The Waagner Biro Strasse and the noise protection measure through the Grätzel cell wall define the building field. Density specifications, ideas for use and their mix as further hard facts determine the playing field. But what urban rules are being played by? Which conditions are adopted, which are questioned? How can a livable, urban, contemporary, smart milieu be created between the tracks and the street, on former industrial land? As the most essential questions, this was played out on a variety of models. It quickly became clear that we could not orient ourselves to the surroundings, but had to create our own atmospheres.

Courtyard spaces of differentiated design at different levels, with different uses and moods, seem to be the right answer to the situation. They penetrate a flat building, invite, exclude, create calm or activity, establish relationships or seal them off. Only on Waagner Biro Street is an appropriate single mass extruded from the building structure, which responds as a closure to the residential development to the south.

Neutral use, a sufficient storey height, combined with a simple column/plate construction, easily allows for changes at the 0.0m and 5.6m levels. On the floors above, there is flexibility within the framework of uses that correspond with a residential building.

Two-stage realisation competition
4th place

Partner: EEP Architects, Graz

2014, City of Graz

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