The proposal for the Wimmer Medien Business Center and Urban Development in Linz, Austria by Atelier Thomas Pucher recently won the third prize in the international invited competition. Their main concept is the creation of a 33,600 m2 gross floor area central public space that recovers the mystical feeling of the Italian piazzas, offering flexibility to host the most variety of events and activities, like ice-skating, Christmas market or outdoors cinema. This piazza is also a central point for the social life of the building, providing outdoors spaces for the offices, significant synergies for the commercial area and a feeling of the life of the city to the apartments. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The main idea of the building is offering flexibility in its functions. Not only by combining apartments, offices and a commercial area within a single complex, but also providing a structure that allows individual units to be easily adapted from offices to apartments or vice-versa, adapting to the future needs of the building and the city. As a plus, the residential areas offer in some cases double height spaces and, in others, roof gardens.
In the office area, the striking feature is its central terrace that can be used both as an outdoor extension of the office in summer and also a social area for clients and the workers of the different companies installed in the building. For the commercial areas, installed in direct connection with the central plaza, the design reflects a careful creation of diverse spaces, reminiscent of the lively old town, with the advantage of developing synergies between living, working and shopping. The crucial idea is to reinforce the spirit of urban lifestyle, where living, working and leisure are blended into a major urban area, creating a real regeneration within the city of Linz.
For the headquarters of the Wimmer Medien, the main company to be installed in the building, the program is distributed on three levels and organized around two atriums. The idea behind is to maximize integration and communication between all parts of the building. The newsroom is symbolically the inner core of the project, once it is the main activity of this company. The result is an impressive space and high quality working areas.
Architects: Atelier Thomas Pucher Location: Linz, Austria Design Team: Thomas Pucher, Klaus Hohsner, Christopher Leitner, Dorota Nagowska, Erich Ranegger, Kamil Rusinek, Hannes Stöffler Client: Wimmer MedienHaus Gross Floor Area: 33,600 m2 (incl. parking area) Gross Floor Area: 16,300 m2 (excl. parking area) Commercial: 4350 m2 Office: 1680 m2 Housing: 5700 m2 Hotel: 4200 m2 Competition: 2011, 3rd prize in invited international competition Main Materials: concrete, glass, stone
