Exemplary and forward-looking neighbourhood

The Metzgergrün quarter is set to change significantly and develop into a contemporary neighbourhood without losing its original character. A modern residential neighbourhood with around 500 new flats and generous green spaces will replace the 27 ageing terraced buildings from the 1950s. Quiet inner courtyards, a lively public centre, high-quality and differentiated open spaces and a new network of paths create an exemplary and forward-looking neighbourhood.

Our design organises the flats into six blocks that form manageable neighbourhoods. Each block combines three- to four-storey terraced buildings and point houses around a green inner courtyard. Along the road and railway line, an L-shaped, elongated block shields the development.

Light-coloured wood, red brick and green courtyards

Diversity, flexibility and neighbourliness are the guiding principles of the residential project on the site of the US Army Hospital in Heidelberg. Diversity through a variety of future residents, flexibility through variable uses of the basic structure and neighbourliness through social interaction within the two building plots. This is made possible, for example, by a front courtyard in front of the three-point buildings or a semi-public inner courtyard in the separate building block.

The timber hybrid construction made of prefabricated elements enables the building project to be realised quickly, cost-effectively and in a way that conserves resources. Differently designed timber façades give the buildings an individual character and set them apart from the surrounding blocks of the US hospital flats.

Compact quadrangle with large patio

Demolish or renovate? This question often arises when it comes to the further development of school buildings from the 1970s. The Lycée Evariste Galois in the Paris metropolitan region no longer meets current requirements and is bursting at the seams due to strong demographic development.

With a holistic approach to the environment in mind, we decided to restructure and extend the building. Based on the qualities of the existing building, the individual parts will be reorganised and combined to form a communicative whole.

The new, green schoolyard forms the heart of the ensemble and connects the various functions. It is shaded by a curved canopy on slender supports, through whose large, circular openings daylight floods in and trees grow. We have extended the U-shaped school building into a compact quadrangle with a large patio. 

Growing office ring with great appeal

The legero united campus in the south of Graz consists of two round buildings of different sizes. The larger office ring can be extended by a further floor at any time. This fulfils the client's wish for a company headquarters that "grows with the company" and can be expanded in stages, without creating a temporary structure, a torso. The smaller cylinder houses the shoe outlet.

Generous glazing, the façade made of bronze-coloured, anodised aluminium that shimmers in the sunlight and the lushly planted inner courtyard blur the boundaries between inside and outside. The result is a campus as a place with its own identity and great charisma, a dynamic yet harmonious composition, at all times and in all phases of construction.

Hotel tower and residences made of 75 per cent wood

The mixed-use eco-neighbourhood La Cartoucherie with a total of 3,100 flats, 6,000 m² of commercial space and public facilities such as schools, sports and leisure facilities is being built on a former industrial site on the left bank of the Garonne. We built the "Wood'Art" complex there with an eleven-storey hotel tower and two residential complexes – an award-winning project as part of the national Adiv'bois competition in France. The buildings are 75 per cent timber construction – a topic that is also very important in France. Wood is used wherever it makes the most sense.

The hotel and the residential buildings were constructed from two-dimensional, prefabricated timber modules. This construction has a very positive effect on energy performance and the indoor climate, while also reducing waste and speeding up construction times – an essential prerequisite for building in densely populated cities.

A contemporary interpretation of local architecture

With the "Seegut am Tegernsee", a new neighbourhood is being created directly on the lakeside promenade. It is divided into three areas: the hotel in the north, the residential development in the south and a public area with an inn and cultural barn in the centre. The ensemble is embedded in an extensive and varied green space concept. The architecture and arrangement of the 25 individual building blocks pick up on the local architectural style, transform it in a contemporary way and integrate the Seegut harmoniously into the surrounding landscape.

Most of the buildings are designed as sustainable timber constructions. The heating and cooling requirements are covered by thermal lake water utilisation. The project is being planned and realised by three teams of architects - Maier Neuberger, Innauer Matt and Dietrich Untertrifaller. Enea Landscape Architecture is responsible for the design of the connecting bracket of the outdoor facilities.

Kuku 23 – Living in the art & culture quarter

A new residential district was created along Gastgebgasse in Liesing, in the immediate vicinity of the Sargfabrik cultural centre and the Atzgersdorf educational campus. Four blocks of flats and the studio building offer space for 430 subsidised flats, workshops, studios and a dance and music school.

We developed the concept for the Kuku 23 residential quarter with the aim of providing low-threshold cultural activities, especially for children and young people. After all, Vienna's southernmost district needs more art and culture.

The buildings are divided into individual "houses", visually separated by naturally lit joints. This allows for varied roofscapes, better lighting conditions and a more human scale. The studio house mediates between the coffin factory and the school campus and, with its two-storey passageway, leads over to the open-plan residential development. The special feature of the studio building is the open supporting structure, which is broken down into individual column slabs and enables a variety of room programmes.

Uncompromising cluster school

The Unterdorf primary school in the municipality of Höchst in Vorarlberg is a radical and uncompromising realisation of the modern "cluster school". Cluster school means teaching in small groups, flexibly usable rooms and varied open spaces, preferably with an outdoor connection. We have housed four identical clusters for 200 pupils in a simple, elongated, ground-floor wooden building on the east side.

At the centre of each cluster is the common room, topped by a high truncated pyramid with daylight streaming through the skylight. Gardens and outdoor classes with direct access from each cluster blur the boundaries between inside and outside and integrate nature into the learning environment. Special classes and the administrative offices are located opposite on the west side, connected to the lowered gymnasium by a spacious assembly hall. Parts of the outdoor areas are available to the local population as a freely accessible play and leisure area.

With 940 points, the school in Unterdorf received one of the highest scores ever for a new building in the "Municipal Building Pass" of the state of Vorarlberg. 

New splendour, also behind the scenes

Built in 1889 in the neo-Renaissance style as a bourgeois counterpart to the Burgtheater, the theatre offers 850 seats and the famous Red Salon. The aim of the urgently needed renovation and remodelling work was to offer the audience contemporary comfort, establish modern safety standards and improve efficiency. We therefore extended the stage area, reorganised the audience area and ensured accessibility and safety.  

The façade lighting also makes the new old splendour of the building visible from the outside. To improve the thermal quality, the richly structured plaster façade of the theatre was cleaned and renovated in agreement with the Federal Monuments Office. The entire listed building and its original character were retained.

Respectful conversion of a listed building

The Zacherlhaus, designed by Otto Wagner's student Josef Plečnik, is one of the most important Viennese architectural monuments of the early 20th century. The conversion of the listed building into a bank branch required extensive interventions on six floors – from technical rooms in the basement to the customer hall on the ground floor and offices on four floors. In addition, the roof terrace on the rotunda was made accessible for the first time and can now be used for events.

In 2023, the customer hall needed to be extended. We converted the adjoining corner premises, which had previously housed a shop, in the same design. This gives Hypo Vorarlberg a somewhat broader presence on the street and more urgently needed space.

Flexible working in a wooden office

We are constructing an innovative timber office building on the Unterfeld Nord site. The cross-shaped floor plan allows entrances and exits on four sides, which are accessed via the parkland surrounding the building. The clear structure with a central access core and circumferential walkway with attractive views allows for easy routing. The park around the building and roof terraces with views as far as the lake invite people to linger.

The four wings of the 6-storey building are constructed in timber. This structure not only offers advantages in terms of prefabrication and rapid construction time, but also enables flexible subdivision of the office space within the column grid. The façade also is designed accordingly. The lightweight room partitions can be altered as required. This allows the building to adapt to its tenants and future developments.

Living on the car park

The Dock-1 building site on the Rhine Canal (Petit Rhin) marks the start of the redevelopment of the "Citadelle" harbour district. The mixed-use project with 83 flats on a multi-storey car park interweaves various functions and creates a communicative place around mobility-related spaces.

Visible from afar, from the Parc de la Citadelle to the Vauban Bridge, the building blends into the urban context and characterises its identity as an "eco-district". Situated between the two harbour basins, Dock-1 is an atmospheric place with a strong identity and a direct connection to the city and water – ideal conditions for a high quality of living and a new form of urbanity.

The powerful large form makes a strong gesture to both sides. A five-storey multi-storey car park is stretched between two cross-shaped, elegantly balanced residential towers, above which are further flats with shared, spacious terraces on both long sides. The centre of the project is a high hall on the ground floor, designed as a pedestrian gallery, which can be used for a variety of purposes.

A congenial addition

The new, multifunctional Hall F for 2,000 visitors is a congenial addition to Roland Rainer's imposing Wiener Stadthalle. Built in a key urban location, the hall sends a clear signal to the outside world with its cantilevered body. Below the cantilever is the modern foyer, which provides access to the various halls (banqueting hall, rehearsal stage, large hall). The outer shell consists of aluminium panels that extend into the interior of the building.

The crystalline, polygonal building fills the empty space between Hütteldorfer Strasse and the Stadthalle, whose struts are reflected in the glass north façade of the new building. This precise positioning optimises the previously rather unsatisfactory urban situation and defines the adjacent square and street space.

We won the international competition held in 2002 with a project that was convincing in terms of form, function and urban planning.

Timber construction with school, sports hall and library

The new school and the multi-purpose hall were built in two phases ten years apart. The spatial concept of the L-shaped building comprises three main functions: School, sports hall and library. Completed in 2003, the school was built in timber construction in a record time of 18 months and was the first school building in Austria to fulfil the strict passive house guidelines.

Ten years later, the new multi-purpose hall replaces the gymnasium, which was in dire need of renovation. Precise planning, a compact organisation of the programme and a high degree of prefabrication allowed for a short construction time and optimised costs without making compromises on design and quality.

With this pilot project, we have proven that resource- efficient construction is very well possible in harmony with high architectural standards. The school building has received several architecture and energy-saving awards, including the State Prize for Architecture and Sustainability.

Bright.Robust.Innovative.Open

The innovative "Neues Landgut" district will be built near Vienna's main railway station in Favoriten by 2026/27. The 9-hectare site will be home to 1,500 flats and an educational campus, surrounded by attractive green spaces and recreational areas.

Under the title B.R.I.O., we developed together with PLOV Architekten, a socially, ecologically and economically sustainable project with 176 subsidised flats for our building site. The differentiated, socially balanced housing mix comprises 88 smart flats, family flats and floor plans suitable for shared flats. One focus is on the special needs of single parents.

B.R.I.O. is a robust timber hybrid element construction. The optimised support grid enables a high degree of prefabrication and economical use of materials thanks to the low ceiling thickness. This construction method and the use of timber and recycled concrete save around 20 per cent CO² compared to a conventional reinforced concrete building.

Habitat with typological and social diversity

Our concept for Kleineschholz integrates a wide variety of living and building types, with a focus on affordable housing. The typological range of the building structure and the mix of rental apartments, condominiums and building groups ensures the desirable social diversity. Families and singles, children, young and old, locals and newcomers live here. Craftsmen, self-employed professionals and service providers work here. Together, they form a stable, self-regulating social structure made up of different responsibilities, life cycles and local connections.

The western edge of the Stühlinger district in Freiburg is mainly characterised by large administrative buildings, which are well frequented during the day but leave the streets empty in the evenings and at weekends. The urban redevelopment will create dense residential neighbourhoods that will allow for diverse, lively use, enliven the district and ensure safety.

Like a city on a small scale

The renowned Festspielhaus on Lake Constance has been modernised, reorganised, greatly expanded and developed into a multi-purpose cultural, social and economic centre of international standing. The project impressively demonstrates how an unsightly conglomerate of buildings from the late seventies can be transformed into clearly structured and graceful architecture.

Thanks to extensive and precise pre-planning and prefabrication, we were able to realise the complex construction work, carried out in several stages, without interrupting operations. In the first stage, which lasted until 1997, the workshop stage, lakeside foyer and lakeside studio as well as an administrative wing were built.

In 2005, the festival theatre was renovated and extended. Guests are now greeted by a light-flooded glass façade and an inviting forecourt instead of grey concrete. The main foyer, Great Hall, foyers and lakeside gallery were redesigned and the building's technology was modernised. From 2022 to 2024, we refurbished the outdoor grandstand and Seebühne (Lakeside stage), updated the technology of the workshop stage and built a new multi-purpose building.

A high-rise on a traffic island

DC Tower 3 on the Donauplatte (Danube plate) in the north of Vienna completes the ensemble with the two office towers DC 1 and DC 2, designed by Dominique Perrault, and offers 832 flats for temporary living. On several levels, the 100 metre high building is connected to the existing Donaucity quarter and the transport network by public squares and paths and forms the end of the previously incomplete Carl-Auböck-Promenade.

The protrusions of the three-dimensionally shaped and aluminium-clad façade elements find their counterpart inside in cosy alcoves that frame the view of the Danube and the city from the rooms. Aluminium slats structure the façade in the base storeys, while the tower is clad in aluminium panels from the ground floor upwards.

The narrow plot – little more than a traffic island, surrounded by Wagramerstrasse, the motorway slip road and the underground line – presented us with major challenges during the planning phase. However, the attractive location on the Danube with a view of St. Stephen's Cathedral and the prominent neighbourhood with UNO City, the Perrault Towers and Harry Seidler's skyscraper were worth taking the risk.

Between transparency and unity

The new sports hall on Alter Postweg (the old postal route) in Vaihingen an der Enz was built as a compact, functional and very economical hall construction using timber elements. Only the parts in contact with the ground are made of reinforced concrete. The building is divided into a three-court sports hall with spectator area, a three-storey functional area and a multi-purpose wing with foyer.

All functional areas are united under one roof. We utilised the sloping terrain and built a large part of the hall into the slope. This meant that the functions could be spread over several levels, while the hall remained suitably low on the street level.

The flat façade made of perforated and black-brown anodised aluminium meander sheet runs across the entire building and protects the areas behind it from view and sunlight. The interplay with the large window areas creates an exciting contrast between transparency and openness, which also supports the functionality of the building.

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.

An identity-forming ensemble of old and new

The Rudolf Steiner School in the Maurer Schlössl, founded in 1964, is Austria's oldest Waldorf school. The lower school and after-school care centre were housed in a small old building opposite, which could no longer meet the requirements of a modern school: poor building fabric, too few and too small classrooms, no gymnasium.

The new building blends harmoniously with the existing historical building - we have avoided any sharp breaks between old and new. The auditorium, the dining hall with garden orientation, the sunlit, sunken gymnasium, the after-school care centre, the kindergarten and the roof terrace form the main elements of the clearly structured room programme.

The majority of the remodelling and extension work was concentrated on the southern side facing away from the street. On the street side, the character of the old building was retained and visually enhanced. The small extensions at the rear were demolished and replaced with spacious, naturally lit foyers and access areas. The new building with gymnasium and classrooms adjoins the rear garden in an L-shape. Its large, dark roof extends onto the existing building and is therefore also visible from the street.

Focus on social sustainability

On the "In der Wiesen Süd" site in Liesing, we worked with ARTEC to build an attractive residential complex with 310 flats, five studios and a residential community for young people. The main challenge was to develop a cohesive neighbourhood that promotes joint activities between the neighbours across building sites and thus enlivens the area.

We designed the northern area with three buildings that form a central, quiet square for the residents. The bends in the two solitary buildings open up the area to the south and promote permeability.

A circumferential band of loggias and the full-surface glazing bring light and openness into the flats and offer expansive views of the park and the city. A particular highlight is the light-flooded atrium, which is remarkably spacious for a subsidised residential building. A variety of visual connections ensure attractive and communicative access to the individual floors.

Wood, exposed concrete, fresh red and lots of glass

The all-day school north of the 3,000-strong community of Broons in Brittany is one of the most important educational institutions in the region. 570 children aged between 11 and 14 from 29 municipalities attend the school. The three-storey school wing stretches across the entire width of the site and is bordered to the west by the single-storey canteen, whose flat green roof merges gently into the lawned landscape.

Together with the outer wall, the school wing and canteen enclose the schoolyard. The entrance, protected from the weather, is located on the narrow street side. The two-storey timber construction of the classroom wing rests on a concrete base, which houses the event rooms, library and administration. A promenade running parallel to the street forms a pleasant and safe footpath from the town centre to the school outside.

Public living room for curious people

The library of the city of Dornbirn is a place of exchange, encounters and intergenerational learning. As a kind of public living room, it is intended to promote reading and language skills, the exploration of digital search methods and new forms of communication. Curious people with similar goals meet here and can immerse themselves in the material or engage in dialogue with one another.

Set in a park, the oval pavilion with a façade of 8,000 stylised ceramic books is an independent form and stands in stark contrast to the rectangular buildings in the surrounding area. The starting point for the design idea was a beaten path that ran diagonally across the meadow. We placed the library building on this path so that it runs lengthways through the two-storey atrium.

10 institutions under one roof

Located in one of Innsbruck's most prominent squares, the House of Music serves as a centre for open cultural exchange across all age groups and genres. The unifying theme is music. The complex spatial programme accommodates several music institutions, concert halls, numerous ancillary rooms, administration, catering, a national music library and outdoor terraces with views of Innsbruck and the Alps. The new building provides the city with a sustainable centre for music, theatre and all kinds of cultural events and also positions Innsbruck internationally as a "city of music".

The austere cube is vividly structured by atriums and incised loggias, terraces and recesses and blends in sensitively and yet excitingly with its historical surroundings. The surrounding historic buildings and three protected trees with the Leopold Fountain on the forecourt are reflected in the glass surfaces.

Farmhouse outside, museum inside

On the hillside to the west of the village centre, there are two small museums in a historic, carefully maintained farm house from the 16th century. The old residential part serves as a local history museum. The new Angelika Kauffmann Museum fills the former agricultural wing and is accessed via the barn and threshing floor. A wide sliding partition can be pushed aside and the museum is open. When it is closed, the modern wood and glass construction is no longer visible.

The exhibition hall was inserted into the barn as a flat-roofed "building within a building". Space-forming elements define the exhibition hall, but also evoke the former farm building – a sophisticated architectural dialogue.

With their meticulous work, the craftsmen – rooted in local tradition yet are familiar with the latest technology – put the finishing touches to the project. All the parts fit together and blend into the long building history of the house.

Striking alternative to the "Uniform Alpine style"

The Gourmet Hotel "Rote Wand" goes back to an inn next to the church, which has developed into an impressive hotel complex with six houses. We have been overseeing the regular modernisation and expansion phases since 2007. The long-term development concept is based on high-quality architecture and local craftsmanship.

Connected by a common base and the Red Corridor, the six buildings form a resort that is surprising in many respects. The Dependance and the Appartement house are also connected underground to the main building. The Dependance replaces a demolished guesthouse, and we also took this opportunity to make a correction. The cross-gabled buildings from the 1970s facing the valley above the church were replaced by longitudinal gabled buildings facing the slope on the eaves side. The gourmet restaurant "Altes Schualhus“ was added in 2015 as the last building block for the time being.

Zug, once a small hamlet with a church, schoolhouse and a few farmhouses, lies somewhat off the beaten track. In contrast to most other high Alpine tourist destinations, the village has managed to retain its rural atmosphere. This is mainly because, even during the decades of development from a farming village to a holiday resort, the buildings of the old set the standard for the new. Thanks to its dominance in the village, the "Rote Wand" hotel complex makes a significant contribution to the typical townscape and formulates a striking alternative to the widespread "Uniform Alpine style".

Aiming high with wood

A mosaic is made up of many individual pieces that fit together harmoniously. Colourful, modular, lively and connecting - this is also what the Moosaik urban quarter at the entrance to Starnberg is to become. At the centre of this district, we are building a timber office tower. Called Moo 6, it complements the surrounding ensemble of buildings with its height and presence and forms the unmissable centrepiece of the quarter.

The restaurant area on the ground floor with its large terrace creates a link between inside and outside. The flexibly divisible office units on the upper floors attract a wide variety of users and thus ensure diversity and vitality.

Clay, wood, bamboo, basalt

Building a school in Mayotte means dealing with many issues on several levels in a completely different way than here in Europe - in an educational, but also in a socio-economic and ecological sense. This is why we decided to combine the expertise of Austrian and French architects and our local partners in Mayotte for the new construction of the Lycée Tani Malandi.

The large-scale project with space for over 2,000 pupils includes classrooms, sports facilities, a school restaurant with kitchen and a boarding school. The fluid combination of these functions creates an inspiring space for working, eating, sleeping and relaxing. Local materials such as bamboo, wood, clay and basalt integrate the school into the culture and nature of the island.

The individual functions of the school are divided into several buildings of different sizes, which are arranged almost parallel to each other and staggered in height on the flat hill.

A green place as unifying element

What makes a campus? How can we create a sense of togetherness? These questions guided us throughout the entire design process. The existing headquarters – two spacious, interconnected building blocks – contains a variety of qualities, such as the shared green inner courtyard as a pleasant place to socialise. The new building and the exterior space pick up on this mood and knit it further.

The design forms the right counterpart to unite the buildings into a campus despite the separating street. A bridge on the first floor connects the existing building with our office building on the other side of the street. The new building closes off the existing headquarters, creating an inviting, green square that marks the new entrance to the campus

"Light, freshness, generosity"

To this day, the slogan of the 1972 Munich Olympic Games still applies to the TUM School of Medicine and Health in Munich's listed Olympic Park. The two-storey timber building, 185 metres long and 153 metres wide, forms the new, striking address for the Faculties of Medicine and Sport and Health Sciences.

The 19 metre cantilevered canopy is a special timber construction made of prefabricated box girder elements that was assembled without the need for complex auxiliary scaffolding. It was important to us to fulfil the diverse requirements of the users in the best possible way. All functions - 14 sports halls, 12 lecture theatres, 15 diagnostics rooms, 5 workshops, 300 offices, cafeteria and library - are combined under one roof in the bright, lightweight timber construction.

The two streets – "Rue intérieure" in the building and "Rue extérieure" for the outdoor facilities –are the defining element, they serve as ameeting place, an access zone and a place of communication.

Inviting arches, green circles, strict grids

South of Munich's main railway station, urban life pulsates in its most colourful and dense form. Our design for a new office building creates an urban block within the neighbourhood that blends into the street space but develops its own personal microcosm inside.

An ultra-modern building that fulfils the requirement for flexibility and adaptability and lives sustainability at the highest level. In the base area, inviting, large arches and open, high rooms connect the interior and exterior. A funnel-shaped widened arch with a small forecourt forms the striking address for the office use.

A large event hall with piazza

The location of the TuFa at the boundary between the historic city centre and loose development with individual solitary buildings requires a sensitive integration, but also a self-confident, representative formation of the site. We have broken up and subdivided the lengths of the large new building volume with kinks and jumps in height. A piazza with generous steps welcomes visitors and leads them to the polygonal forecourt of the interim entrance. The main entrance remains at the rear of the building.

The new and existing buildings merge to form a homogeneous ensemble, united by structure and colour. The new building is clad with a rear-ventilated construction of anodised standing seam sheet metal – a nostalgic reference to the existing theatre building in Trier. The building opens up by sliding, folding or lifting the façade shell, revealing behind it insights, light or information and thus interacting with the surroundings.

An internal street will provide access to all the uses of TuFa 2025 (large event hall, small hall, textorium, access to the workshop rooms) and improve orientation for users. This also makes it possible to use the rooms in a flexible way and hold several events at the same time.

From the barracks to the creative quarter

On the site of the former Luitpold barracks, the Creative Quarter Munich is being established, a colourful, mixed-use district characterised by social and ecological sustainability. Living and working will be combined with art, culture and knowledge, with a focus on the community. The neighbourhood is divided into a creative park, creative platform, creative field and creative laboratory, which are interconnected but can be developed independently of each other.

We have designed two buildings with around 350 flats for the " Creative Platform North" site. Along the newly emerging main axis, the central Romy-Schneider-Platz, which connects the Munich University of Applied Sciences in the south-east and the urban cultural area in the north-west, we proposed to programme the ground floors with public uses. Under the inviting, large arches and arcades in the base area, cafés and small shops are to enliven the neighbourhood in future.

First office building with LEED Platinum certificate

Innovative energy solutions, high standards of building ecology and indoor and working environment quality were at the forefront of the i+R headquarters. The new building brings together all of the group's companies under one roof and also demonstrates to the outside world the company's typical management style of flat hierarchies. It was particularly important to us to embed the building between the company's own construction logistics centre and machinery and to create a "model building" that demonstrates the company's efficiency and quality.

The i+R headquarters was the first new office building in Austria to be awarded the prestigious LEED Platinum certificate and therefore meets the highest standards for ecological and sustainable construction. This office building is an ode to intelligent construction: powerful architecture, in harmony with the client's philosophy and well thought out both functionally and in terms of conserving resources.

New architecture for new educational concepts

In a bid to transform the Edlach elementary school into a contemporary cluster school, the main classes and group rooms form small units with a variety of spatial design options. Parallel to the existing gymnasium, the two-storey main building houses the classrooms. The link between the school and the gymnasium is the glazed, multifunctional assembly hall, which is also the entrance to the school.

Here we have realised the concept of the cluster school in an architecturally precise and economical way without completely abandoning the original building structure. For the school community, the recognisability and easy orientation in the new structure of all-day and inclusive teaching was thus retained.

The Edlach primary school was honoured with the State Prize for Architecture & Sustainability. The use of natural products and the attention to detail contribute to the harmonious and cheerful learning environment.

Distinctive, kinked silhouette

A swimming pool with a 25-metre and practice pool as well as a three-court sports hall including a bouldering wall, sprint tunnel and spacious ancillary rooms - the construction project of the municipality of Gräfelfing at the Lochham school campus involves a lot of volume. We considered how this volume could be organised in the most compatible way for the surroundings and in the most functional way for the users.

The result is a single-storey, two-part building with a green flat roof, whose striking, kinked silhouette blends harmoniously yet confidently into the surroundings. The indoor swimming pool and lowered sports hall are arranged at an acute angle to each other and connected by a triangular, shared access area.

The asymmetrically cantilevered roof emphasizes the entrances and guides visitors into the hall. Narrow vertical slats accentuate the timber façade and act as privacy and sun protection in front of the generous glazing.

Ecological material, economical construction

The multifunctional sports hall forms a community centre in the heart of Bon Lait, an urban development area in Lyon. The spatial programme consists of a triple sports hall for various ball sports, a training hall for martial arts, dance and gymnastics as well as a meeting room and offices. The sports hall is available to schools, clubs and amateur athletes in the neighbourhood and is a meeting place for the local population throughout the week. The building is impressive proof of the effectiveness of timber architecture in an urban context.

It is not only renewable raw materials such as wood and straw that make the building sustainable. It is above all the interplay of ecological materials, economical construction, uncomplicated building technology and comfort that has been achieved here with optimal utilisation of daylight, natural ventilation and surfaces that appeal to the senses.

Campus on a children's scale

The up-and-coming Alsatian municipality of Lingolsheim, just six kilometres from Strasbourg, is a popular residential area for young families. A new kindergarten, a sports hall and the expansion of the elementary school create the best conditions for the care and development of children. The multifunctional building for extracurricular care forms the heart of the campus – a place for meetings, education and leisure with a permeable ground floor, a green inner courtyard and a wide-open staircase that invites you to linger. Covered galleries connect the rooms and offer a variety of views and insights. The low buildings are grouped around generous open spaces and blend in well with the loosely built-up neighbourhood. The multifunctional building brings all areas together to form a campus.

Timber construction on a factory roof

The listed former Grünwald metal goods factory from 1907 is one of the oldest reinforced concrete buildings in Vienna. The spacious industrial building houses our Vienna office on the ground floor. On the former flat roof, we have erected a two-storey timber construction with flats. The reinforced concrete structure was barely capable of bearing any additional loads. Vertical load transfer was only possible via the air shaft and the firewalls.

The low weight of timber and the ability to prefabricate and quickly assemble wall and ceiling elements provided the best conditions for the roof structure. The complex construction of overlays, discs and panels thus stands out from the majority of Viennese roof structures, which are made of steel with timber infills.

Work, research and living

For Siemensstadt 2.0, we created a coherent masterplan for the 70-hectare industrial site in the west of Berlin, part of which is a listed building. The aim was to develop a sustainable neighbourhood that meets high standards of architectural quality, sustainability and economic efficiency.

The closed industrial area is to become a lively neighbourhood with research and production facilities, 2,750 flats, a hotel, shops, restaurants and cafés, schools and kindergartens as well as spacious leisure areas. The residential component will be concentrated in three areas of the site. The typological diversity of its building structure and the mixed ownership of rental flats, owner-occupied complexes and construction groups ensures its desirable social diversity of residents.

For children's urge to move

The elongated group room wing with the short, transverse head section is located in the centre of a loosely built-up area of detached houses. A frame of wide panes on the south side unites the wing into a whole and creates a loggia-like transition area to the garden.

The three group rooms are divided into several sections. Each one has its own cloakroom, accessible from the rear corridor and with an exit to the garden terrace. The facility offers the children various types of rooms as experience spaces with different room heights and levels.
 

Timeless beauty in wood

On a mountain meadow above Dornbirn, we built a timeless, beautiful house in wood and glass. Conscious of tradition and at the same time straightforwardly modern, it shows respect for the landscape, but without any false rustic flair. With its clear cubature, flat pitched gable roof and wooden outer skin, the building blends into the surrounding landscape with the same respect and restraint as the traditional farmhouses in the region.

Wood is the dominant material, inside and out. The floor-to-ceiling glazed rooms are orientated towards the south-west with beautiful views of the countryside and the valley. Exits at ground level lead to the loggia in front, which is adjoined by the garden.

The house in the vineyards

The house's unique location on a steep slope on the outskirts of Vienna is characterised by a fantastic panoramic view over vineyards and Vienna's local mountains all the way to the Danube. That's why from the outset we worked with the client family to bring this scenerie into the house and make it a tangible experience.

A 36-metre-long bar, glazed on all sides, with an external graphite grey steel supporting structure, floats 12 metres freely cantilevered on the solid base. On the street side, the garage with storage and technical rooms is pushed into the slope.

The result is a modern, cubic building with high architectural standards that utilises the difficult hillside location. With clear, almost austere lines, the house confidently presents itself within the surrounding landscape.

Social integration through sport

Am Seebogen in the Seestadt Aspern, we have constructed two buildings with 90 subsidised flats as well as commercial premises, offices and studios. The complex consists of an elongated, five- to six-storey linear building and a compact, taller solitary building, connected in the basement. The bend in the row building defines an attractive forecourt and almost completely cancels out the barrier effect of the elevated underground railway line.

The Elinor-Ostrom-Park, which combines play and sports elements with attractive seating and sunbathing areas, is located in the centre of the neighbourhood. The sports programme for all age groups promotes interaction and communication between residents and encourages an active lifestyle. Low-threshold sports and fitness activities in social housing are an important contribution to a lively living environment, especially in growing, dense neighbourhoods.

Urban living in a rural setting

The coveted plots on the Pfänder slope in Bregenz offer lake views across the city while maintaining a "rural" atmosphere. The topography of the site, which rises from north to south, together with the view, determine the design concept of this house.

The lowest of the three levels is accessed from where Pfänderstrasse passes on the north side. Above this is the garden level with children's room, guest room and office. At the very top, the living level floats above the meadow slope, framed on all sides by cantilevered terraces – outdoor living space extensions, protected by the roof slab.

House DI gives the answer on how urban living can be combined with rural surrounding and privacy with representation:

"Healing Architecture"

What influence do rooms have on health and recovery? Healing takes place not only through medical and therapeutic measures, but also through the environment. Important factors include orientation, privacy, light and colour, as well as views of greenery. "Healing architecture" describes this new approach in the planning of healthcare buildings, which emphasises the positive influence of architecture on physical and mental well-being, thereby promoting the healing process.

In our design, an elegantly folded canopy forms the prelude to the spacious, idyllically situated grounds of the castle clinic. The glass pavilion behind it houses the reception and offers newly arriving guests their first views of the lake. From here, all existing and new areas can be accessed via the shortest possible routes.

Event location on the waterfront promenade

The Graf-Zeppelin-Haus was opened in 1985 as a cultural and congress center for the city of Friedrichshafen. The multi-part, flat building directly on the shores of Lake Constance comprises a large hall with 1,300 seats as well as eight smaller conference rooms, a restaurant and a café. After 30 years, extensive renovation work is now due to provide spectators with contemporary comfort, meet modern safety standards and improve efficiency.

Some of the most important measures are the thermal and technical refurbishment, the renovation of the catering areas, the improvement of room acoustics in the event halls and the adaptation of safety equipment to current standards. All work will be planned and carried out in such a way that operations can be largely maintained. The entire listed building and its original character will be retained.

Living in the garden

In the south of the old village of Aspern, not far from the Lobau nature reserve, we have built an area as an allotment garden estate. According to a system of regulated irregularity, 88 units are arranged on two fields of eleven rows of four houses each. The south-west-facing houses consist of prefabricated timber elements. Different building positions and the differentiated façade design create a very heterogeneous, multi-layered overall appearance.

An alleyway, almost as wide as a row, divides the estate into a western and an eastern half. It serves as a communal and meeting zone as well as a play area and public passageway. Parallel paths run across it, providing access to the individual houses, with small, square-like extensions providing spatial variety.

Sustainable timber construction by the river

The elongated, warehouse-like, single-storey timber construction of the Upper Danube Valley Service Centre and the Shipping Supervision Office blends unagitatedly and naturally into the existing ensemble on the banks of the Danube. Nevertheless, it is able to redefine the location and give it an unmistakable identity.

Floating on the high-water platform, its subtle elegance radiates far into the river space and appropriately enhances the interplay of longitudinally orientated timber volumes and transversely positioned, solid rural buildings.

The interplay of more or less paved areas results in a natural, simple open space design that tells a story full of variety. Diversity of use and maximum freedom of movement for people and nature are a key feature of this riverside landscape characterised by movement and change. The new administration building thus sets contemporary standards with an exemplary ecological footprint.