Design Studio SS 13

Raumdepot Trais.kirchen

TASK

A company site with partially used existing buildings is the subject of this design program. Even if it is not a listed ensemble, the interaction with the existing wasteland, which borders directly on the Wiener Neustädter Kanal, is of interest. Furthermore, the view direction to the summit of the so-called Anninger is also formative. The site itself is visible from a greater distance, as a chimney acts as a dominant feature. At the time, the site was part of the Semperit works and was only 20 km away from Vienna. The design process initially addresses the questions surrounding the possible use of available existing buildings, as well as the subsequent integration of the existing wasteland. Primarily, residential and/or commercial uses are to be thought of here. On the one hand, the prevailing conditions of the existing uses are to be taken into account, and on the other hand, the special features of the site are to be taken into account.

RESUMEE

At first glance, the current plant site can hardly be characterized as particularly attractive or even inviting. Only the brick chimney of the boiler house appears significant ad hoc and, in connection with the adjoining boiler house, generates an industrial charm that is difficult to escape, especially in its interior. Here, history seems to have been captured or preserved. It is a space that immediately and immediately evokes a world of its own, despite its present-day appearance. Here it is first of all rather a matter of emptying and of freeing oneself from what is already there and of clearing out in order to make room for possibly subsequent approaches to thought.

The adjoining building tracts, on the other hand, with their open structure and their appearance, which in places is getting on in years, evoke many an image and possibly stimulate all kinds of ideas, but their structural consistency also quickly calls into question many a use. In this way, the designer quickly gets caught up in a whirlpool of diverse approaches that are always in inner conflict between demolition, revitalization, or even adding on or building over.

If one looks at the results, this conflict becomes more than clear. In the end, however, they show how the individual decided on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes the building structure is left to itself, sometimes it is spanned, then again one nests in it or grows out of it. Other times, at least on paper, the wrecking ball is used. Thus, one opts for the “tabula rasa” solution and generates a scenario on the sidelines of past industry. The deliberately vague title of the design, “Raumdepot,” thus achieved its self-imposed goal of developing a variety of different approaches to the question of what could happen to an area such as the one being worked on, or what could grow out of it.