The urban environment of the plot is influenced by a perimeter block development along the Sensengasse coming from the Northwest which in the area of the construction site abruptly moves over to a green area used for sports that has a large stock of trees along the Sensengasse. At the crossroads of Sensengasse and Spitalgasse, the office building Haus der Forschung (“Research House”) (BIG) is projected. In the southern continuation there is a strip of land with an adjoining building belonging to the old general hospital. There is a sports ground in the western area that is planned to be re-designed in the same size and shall have an underground car park and an underground sports-hall built beneath it. In the bordering area to the north, there is the Anne Carlson Park, as well as a primary school with children’s day-care facilities.
he proposed project responds to the described situation with a linear building structure along the Sensengasse and a free-standing, “point-house” positioned in an extended park. The linear construction, composed of three connected individual buildings, creates a membrane-like break between the park area and the urban space. In doing so, particular attention has been paid to permeability with paths and visual connections in the direction of the park on the one hand and the partly two-floor ground floor area forms part of the open urban space. These spaces with their views upon the surrounding greenery create a “green break” in association with the untouched and completely preserved tree avenue in the Sensengasse which fuse the façade of the garden and the airy opening of the “vertical green” together with the park to form one organic whole. The row of trees along the Sensengasse is taken up into the arrangement of the individual structures, so that the project reacts with sensitivity to the existing tree stock. The green area does not end at the perimeter of the property. Instead, it interweaves with the planted greenery of the old hospital, the sports ground and the school. Through the combination of a sensible development together with an eventful layout of paths through the area, it was possible to maintain the quality of this urban recreational area. The free-standing point house marks the construction’s boundary to the northwest and stands, as a result of the now clearly defined park perimeter, literally in the middle of greenery.
The three structures along Sensengasse consist of:
- the University building with a central developed core;
- the middle construction which provides for office space at and below ground level, as well as residential property on the floors above;
- and a building at the head which due to its pushing formulation and open, two-floor ground floor zone symbolically creates the function of an entrance into the park and sport landscape.
