'The 26-metre-high head building sits partly above the historic extension, with the two forming a coherent whole.'
'The 26-metre-high head building sits partly above the historic extension, with the two forming a coherent whole.'
The former Ballonhalle at Vienna’s Arsenal is being transformed into a centre for materials science, art and conservation for the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. The project combines the heritage-sensitive adaptation of the 15-metre-high hall with a new building accommodating workshops, studios, laboratories and offices. Drawing on the site’s distinctive industrial character, the design develops a prominent architectural ensemble at the entrance to the Arsenal.
Within the Ballonhalle, an elevated volume accommodates the seminar rooms while preserving the expansive spatial character of the existing hall. The barrel-vaulted roof, windows and structural order of the existing walls remain visible; the new intervention is set back from the historic envelope as a precise insertion. The library, assembly hall and public event spaces occupy the main hall, allowing its generous scale to remain fully perceptible.
To the north, an extension adds a single-storey workshop hall beneath sawtooth roofs, designed to remain as free of columns as possible, together with a compact head building. The sawtooth roofs bring glare-free northern light deep into the studios, while their south-facing surfaces are used to generate energy. The head building consolidates laboratories and offices with more demanding technical requirements and at the same time forms the address, terminus and link between old and new. The result is a building that spatially interweaves heritage conservation, research, teaching and production, translating the functional industrial architecture of the existing structure into the present day.
Project details
Collaborations
'The 26-metre-high head building sits partly above the historic extension, with the two forming a coherent whole.'
'The 26-metre-high head building sits partly above the historic extension, with the two forming a coherent whole.'