Projekt
Schloss Arenberg gemeinnützige Betriebs GmbH
Location: Salzburg, Austria
Client: Schloss Arenberg gemeinnützige Betriebs GmbH
net usable area: 1740m²
Status: 2020-2024 approval process
Project cooperation of:
COOP HIMMELB(L)AU | Wolf D. Prix & Partner ZT GmbH
and
Martin Oberascher & Partner Architekten ZT GmbH
Project Team CHBL: Wolf Prix, Karolin Schmidbaur, Helmut Holleis, Silvia Pirkner, Constantine Papachristopoulos
Project Team MOA: Martin Oberascher, Alexander Matl, Katharina Bacher, Mascha Gonopolskaja
Consultants:
Structural engineering: Bollinger and Grohmann ZT GmbH, Vienna
TGA Consultant: S&P climadesign GmbH, Gmunden
Building physics: Bauphysik Team Zwittlinger & Staffl Engineering OG, Salzburg
Fire protection: Golser Technisches Büro GmbH
Soil report: geo² zt gmbh
“The 1,800 m² building plot is located in the western part of the sculpture park of Arenberg Castle in Salzburg. The planned new building includes the extension of the “Open Medical Institute” (OMI), which is a medical training center of a private foundation, and the ensemble will also be supplemented by an art gallery with a connection to the sculpture park.
At the center of the site is a protected oak tree, which plays an important role in the design. Since it is neither possible to formulate the spatial program as a squat block perimeter development, nor to accommodate it in a central building with a direct connection to the castle, the tree became the central, formative element of the design.
The building is designed as a garden pavilion around the tree. A two-story, largely closed base takes up the structural fabric of the surrounding buildings and an existing, street-defining fencing wall.
The pavilion provides sight lines to the castle and the park and accentuates the newly designed entrance. The spiral-shaped transparent element above the base connects all parts of the building to form a sculpturally effective unit.
The architectural gesture of the open ring can be interpreted as an embrace, as a positive framing of nature and its central position in today’s society. An emotional architectural appeal is made to the viewers or users of the building, so that, as a positive consequence, they place nature back in the focus of their interest in their dealings with art, culture and science. The base structure on which the floating-looking ring rests springs from the landscape and the accompanying enclosure wall of Arenbergstrasse. It grows out of the earth as a natural link between the architectural gesture and the cultural science base rooms of the education center and art cabinet.
The protected old oak tree located in the middle of the property and the existing castle thus form an essential part of the new, expanded ensemble, as central form-giving elements for the new building. The tree therefore forms the ring together with the base structure into a central campus, which, as a rest and relaxation zone, forms the final end point of a tension arc between the historical past and contemporary building culture.
In terms of architectural history, this solution is a further development of the theme of “base and building”. In the design, the building not only detaches itself from the base (classical modernism), but also effectively connects with nature.”
The total height of the new building does not exceed the eaves height of the palace. On Arenbergstrasse, the base building only rises one storey above the existing wall. Particular attention was paid to maintaining visual connections to the palace and park. From Arenbergstrasse, the window of the art cabinet draws attention to the publicly accessible “Walk of Art” in the palace park. The main entrances for the gallery and the education center are to the south in the central area of the campus near the oak tree.
The lecture and seminar rooms as well as the foyer are located in the basement and garden level of the base building. Above the foyer on the street level is the associated administration of the OMI. The 20 rooms for students are located in the ring floating above, which are accessible via the central access and a pergola.
