Community Center
The community of Sankt Gerold occupies a steep southern slope which commands beautiful views across the valley below and mountain peaks beyond. The form of the new Community Centre references the neighbouring schoolhouse, a protected structure, and collegiate church which together form the gateway to St Gerold.
The new Community Centre, a four storey building for a preschool, playgroup, shop, function room and offices for the local administration, sits slightly offset from the schoolhouse. The building occupies two existing areas of flat land: the public square at street level and the playground two storeys below it, and provides the unifying element between them. Existing panoramas have been preserved and new ones framed. Functions are distributed vertically across the Community Centre’s four levels, with frequency of use and access to the outside deciding their exact placement.
The Community Centre is conceived in timber, mainly sourced from St Gerold’s own forests, with a solid, untreated timber floor structure and prefabricated wall panels chosen to minimise construction time. An interplay of solid against transparent surfaces enlivens the facades: the change from uniform cladding to precisely placed opening subtly expresses the internal organisation on the outer face. Openings are placed according to internal circulation routes, room sequences and vantage points of the mountain scenery, reinforcing the idea of the Community Centre as a singular, self-sufficient insertion into the landscape.
Self-sufficiency is also reflected in the Community Centre’s energy concept, operating within Passive House standards. St Gerold Community Centre is now considered to be a paragon of architectural ecology, sustainability and community-centric value creation.
Team: Andreas Cukrowicz, Anton Nachbaur-Sturm, Stefan Abbrederis [PL], Christian Schmölz, Michael Abt
