'Lanserhofwiese' in Salzburg / Austria by Wimmer Zaic
Housing shortage is a major urban problem, especially for alpine countries. In 2005 the city of Salzburg developed an overall housing concept which included the creation of at least 300 apartments per year. Apart from new site development on the outskirts, urban densification of existing residential areas was included.
One successful example is the project ‚Lanserhofwiese’ by the Austrian architects Wimmer Zaic Architects. The 74 000 sqm site is covered with buildings of the 1970s which the Salzburg-based architects completed with four extended apartment blocks and one solitaire.
The solitaire
Here is what the architects say:
The buildings along Moosstraße are rhythmical, and quiet, and linear. By their structure they do not form a barrier against Moosstraße but are in an interaction with street and surrounding buildings. There are insights and vistas. Between the buildings, which stand in varying distances to each other, there are free spaces of ways. The buildings have three storeys and in the fourth storey there are some punctual cubes.
The buildings along Moosstraße are painted with the basic colours “red/yellow/blue”and the mixed colour “green”. On each building these colours are applied in varying nuances so that a differentiated and lively aspect is created.
Extended apartment blocks along the street
The buildings are oriented towards west, the sides of the buildings towards Moosstraße have covered walks (outdoor corridors) which provide noise protection. The apartments have loggias facing west which are formed by retractions into the skins of the buildings. The parapets have parapet walls so that the plaster facing is continued. Through the loggias the deep sun shines into the buildings but the high sun is shut out. This concept also contributes to the aspect of saving energy: the windows to the west are large, which enables the natural use of solar energy and the reduction of artificial energy.
In the centre of the building site a “solitaire“ rises and towers the other buildings along Moosstraße in its third dimension. This “solitaire” is meant to decisively enlarge the pattern of the whole site. The large space inside allows a building of that size, a point of orientation in an otherwise free view on the surroundings.
The zone of the ground floors is kept free and transparent. Thereby a hovering and airy picture of the tower is achieved. Only the vertical element – the glass lift tower – is to be seen.
View from the solitaire
The succinctness of the tower is – apart from its dimensions – achieved by its quiet plaster facing, which has only punctual windows. Only in the uppermost storey there is a round band of balconies with a round glass parapet. On the other hand there are cubes protruding from the tower which are also marked by their colouring. The cubes are covered by large aluminum plates which give the tower a somewhat strange appearance. Onto the plates pictures of the “Sahara” are printed, a satellite photograph of Geospace Ltd. They can also be found on the retreating walls of the “solitaire”.
Project team: Robert Wimmer, Michael Zaic, Dagmar Braitenthaller, Daniel Drücker, Manuel Dornstauder, Thomas Hahn, Martina Lodek, Thomas Kögl, Petra Waldmann, Reinhard Wimmer
Start of planning process: February 2000
Start of construction: May 2004
Date of completion: October 2007
Construction costs: about 10 Mio. €
Land area: about 74.000 square meters
Net floor area: about 5.500 square meters
Gross floor area: about 12.000 square meters
Cubic contents: about 33.0000 cubic meters
