Omicron Campus, Klaus (AT)
New building,
Building in existing structures
Client: Omicron electronics GmbH
Location: A-6833 Klaus, Oberes Ried 1
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Construction: 2012 – 2015
Area: 12,770 m²
Programme: Offices (200 workstations), foyers, meeting, storage and laboratory rooms
Photos: Bruno Klomfar, David Matthiessen
Team
Suzanne Bentlage, Christopher Braun, Nina Kozin, Anna Küng, Andreas Laimer, Thomas Mitterer-Kuhn, Anna Norrgard, Peter Nußbaumer (Project management), Roman Österle, Isabella Pfeiffer, Clarissa Reikersdorfer, Katharina Reiner, Martina Simoncini, Lena Zimmermann
Text: Gerlinde Jüttner
Partner
Statics concrete: gbd, Dornbirn
Statics timber: Merz Kley Partner, Dornbirn
Building services: e-plus, Egg
Building physics: Team GMI, Schaan
Acoustics: Müller BBM, Planegg
Light: Bartenbach, Aldrans
Electrics: Hecht, Rankweil
Hotspot “Crossing border”: A. Heringer, Laufen, M. Rauch, Schlins
Hotspot "Body": Eichinger Offices, Vienna
Daylight hotspots: Border Architecture, Amsterdam
Photovoltaics: Sunovation, Elsenfeld
Awards
- Staatspreis Architektur, Award
- ZV Bauherrenpreis , Award
- European Union Prize, Nomination
Working in organised spaces,
thinking in a free environment
The global electronics company Omicron had a high standard: the expansion of the company headquarters in Klaus needed to offer employees workspaces that would inspire creativity, promote communication and dialogue and create a feel-good atmosphere. We developed a coherent overall concept that complements the existing building to create the Omicron Campus.
Six very different courtyards now zone and illuminate the new three-storey square. On the ground floor, foyers, meeting, storage and laboratory rooms adjoin the green atriums. The offices on the two upper floors can be adapted flexibly to the team sizes thanks to easily removable partition walls and benefit from the view outside.


All offices are equal
The flat company hierarchy is reflected in the identical office cells – from the cleaning staff to the executive floor – which can be flexibly adapted to the respective team sizes. Each room has a direct exit to the surrounding balcony area or the terrace on the airy floor.

Efficient laboratories and storage
In the new laboratories, more extensive and precise tests and product demonstrations under high voltage are now possible. The efficiently organised storage rooms help to keep shipping and service times short. On the street side, the warehouse and laboratory wing, which is equipped with a photovoltaic façade in the company colours, acts as a sound buffer.

Walk-in hotspots
The hubs of the building, the two-storey "hotspots", were designed as meeting zones with spatial sculptures that can be experienced and accessed. They invite people to communicate or offer opportunities for retreat and thus ensure a balance between working in organised spaces and thinking in an open environment. Gregor Eichinger's expansive, walk-in wooden sculpture "Body" was organically moulded from cross-laminated timber panels using technically sophisticated 3D milling.

"Crossing Borders", the spherical thinking spaces made of clay by Anna Heringer and Martin Rauch, offer contemplative retreats. The two-storey red monolith was moulded manually layer by layer using clay building techniques.


The "Zeppelin" forms a slight counterpoint, its silky shell becoming a luminous body in the evening.

Flooded with light, yet cool
Room-high glazed exterior and partition walls as well as the skylights, together with a sophisticated shading system, ensure the best possible daylight conditions. The rough-sawn oak floor in combination with wall and furniture surfaces made of silver fir, a white metal chilled ceiling and curtains create a pleasant climatic and sensory atmosphere.

Responsible selection of materials
The Omicron Campus sends out a clear signal of social responsibility and the conscious use of energy and raw materials. The new wing is a reinforced concrete skeleton structure with a prefabricated timber element façade. Natural, regional materials such as clay and silver fir characterise the interior design. An ecologist was engaged to test all components for their environmental compatibility.


