Description

Urban context

The Olympic Village in Innsbruck is now a large housing development with around
eight thousand residents. It has all the features of a European suburb, and it
struggles with similar problems: inadequate infrastructure, a lack of cultural
offerings, monofunctionality, and a tendency to spatial segregation of ethnic
minorities. The areas between the blocks, with their endless rows of “public
housing windows,” are divided into small areas and so, despite the grand scale,
offer no sense of spaciousness. The centrum.odorf was introduced into this
context to create a center as a new urban building block with a hybrid typology.
The meandering building lends an accent to its surroundings thanks to the shift
in height from low buildings to a tower.

Ground-floor zone

This public square forms a new center for the neighborhood. It is intended not as
a romantic reminiscence of the traditional, organically evolved city but rather
as a vital platform for everyday life that makes common activities possible. All
functions are accessed from this square in order to obtain the frequency of use
necessary to gain acceptance. In addition to a variety of furnishings, light is
the element that determines the atmosphere on the square. It structures the
large area and provides intimacy and scale. At night thirty-two lamps rigged on
cables five meters high create a baldachin of light. Reflective stripes on the
ground mark the axes of sight through the closed corner of the square toward the
passageway. The visual permeability on the level of passersby makes orientation
easier and signals openness. It results in a graphic structure as a design
element for the square.

Building structure

The low buildings of this hybrid structure house a youth center, assisted living
with a day center, clubrooms, a garage for the neighborhood, and office and
commercial space. The tower holds 105 apartments. Access to the apartments is
through a three-story glass lobby located between the two halves of the tower.
The vertical access to both sections is in the wide part of the tower, to which
the narrower part is connected via glass bridges. The transitions in the gap
open up an astonishing experience each time: a spectacular, framed view of the
surrounding urban and natural spaces.

Facade

The gray, panel-clad meandering volume produces a lively facade, thanks to the
multifarious play with openings in a staggered arrangement. The patchworklike
patterns on the square, the roofs of the low buildings, and the facade generate
a graphic effect that contrasts with the monotonous rhythm of the surrounding
Residential Buildings. Inside the apartments the retracted loggias, which have
windows on three sides, provide space for widening views through the unit, and
form a special zone together with the dining area behind it and the kitchen.

---

Originally published in: Ulrike Wietzorrek, Housing+: On Thresholds, Transitions, and Transparencies, Birkhäuser, 2014.