The new community center in Großweikersdorf, Lower Austria, is more than just a town hall. In addition to the municipal administration, there is also space for a clubhouse and a medical center in the elongated building. In an interview, Philipp Buxbaum and Christian Kircher from smartvoll architects explain why they weren’t really interested in the project to begin with.
The new community center in Großweikersdorf, Lower Austria, is more than just a town hall. In addition to the municipal administration, there is also space for a clubhouse and a medical center in the elongated building. In this interview, Philipp Buxbaum and Christian Kircher from smartvoll architects explain why they weren’t really interested in the project to begin with.
What is unusual about your design for the Großweikersdorf community center?
Philipp Buxbaum: Breaking through the row of houses and turning the building itself by 90 degrees. When you study architecture, you are always taught to close the row of houses in order to strengthen the space in front of it. In 99 percent of cases, this is true. That’s why our design initially feels like stroking a dog against the grain. Nevertheless, it was precisely this decision that really catapulted the whole community center project in Großweikersdorf forward.
Christian Kircher: It was the only way we were able to design a building that is now a built gesture of welcome, and we were able to make the open spaces available to the public. The community center is not just a façade in a row. It is accessible from all sides and has depth. In comparison, administrative buildings and buildings of public interest in Austria have an average of ten percent open space for the public. In Großweikersdorf, we have almost 50 percent, and this is really accessible to everyone.
Apart from that, which decisions would you now, in retrospect, consider particularly important for the current appearance of the community center?
PB: Well, you have to go back to the very beginning. We were called by the mayor of Großweikersdorf and asked whether we would like to take part in an architectural competition for the community center. We discussed this internally for a long time, but came to the decision that we were not interested in building a project on the edge of the village. We didn’t want to seal off any more space or draw footfall away from the village center. We believe that a town hall should be accessible to everyone. It would also eliminate the possibility of a meeting place for everyone. So we called to cancel this competition. We were then informed that the mayor and the municipal council had decided to acquire a plot of land in the center of Großweikersdorf. It was an old butcher’s shop on the main square that had been empty for almost ten years. We were immediately involved.
CK: So you could say that one of the absolutely most important decisions for this project was not made by us, the architects. Rather, it was the local council and thus indirectly every citizen of the municipality itself. Now the building contributes to the frequency in the village center through its functions of town hall, doctor’s office and clubhouse and is really accessible to everyone.
How many topics or designs did you discuss and reject during the design process for the Großweikersdorf community center?
CK : No drafts, but there were around 60 variants that we went through for the Großweikersdorf community center. You never know beforehand under which stone the solution is hiding. That’s why you have to turn over every single one.
PB: As is so often the case with us, it turned out to be the craziest variant. But it’s also the one that we think will move Großweikersdorf forward.
What characterizes the design process at smartvoll?
PB: Many different people work here, often with contradictory ideas. Nevertheless, we have developed processes and created a basis of trust that allows every opinion to be heard. Every voice in the office is heard. There is hardly anything more exciting for us than seeing how these different opinions slowly come together to form a holistically conceived architectural design.
CK: In addition, there are two souls in each of us.
The classical architectural one: it deals with material, light, space and aesthetics. The second deals with socially relevant topics and finds its inspiration outside of architecture. It’s not just us, but also everyone in our team. And all these topics then influence the design process. Finally, it is the freedom that defines this process at smartvoll. The freedom we give ourselves to question everything, to take nothing for granted and to reject many things.
What about the architectural soul of the Großweikersdorf community center? Materials, light, atmosphere …?
CK : Wood, glass and brick define this project. Inside, we have used wood
from the floor to the gable. When you enter the Großweikersdorf community center,
a large spatial continuum builds up in front of you, stretching all the way up to the large meeting room. The whole thing almost has the character of a cathedral. However, the wood creates a feel-good atmosphere and a great quality of stay. The ecological aspects of this material were also particularly important to us. Used in this quantity, it is equivalent to almost 160 tons of CO2. The glass makes it possible to experience the course of the day and the seasons and offers exciting views of the village – especially of the church. But it also has a symbolic character and stands for the desired transparency in democracy.
PB: The brick, on the other hand, plays a particularly important role on the outside. We don’t just want to build a building for the residents of Großweikersdorf, we want to make the entire site available to them. So we used a single material from the roof to the façade to the newly created alleyways. The color and feel of the tile merges with the paving, which also extends into the entrance area of the community center. This intuitively signals: all of this belongs together, all of this belongs to you – make it your own.
And the second soul? What themes have occupied and inspired you outside of architecture?
PB: Christian has already briefly mentioned the symbolism of glass: We didn’t want to conceive of democracy as something dusty and dingy, but rather to make the processes transparent. For example, the local council meets in the large meeting room. And now you can even see into “the heart of democratic decision-making” from the street. Decisions, laws and regulations are no longer made behind closed doors, but are at least architecturally visible to everyone. This is also demonstrated by the fact that we have placed the mayor of Großweikersdorf on the first floor. You no longer have to go upstairs to see the mayor. He is on the same level as everyone else and his door is always open.
CK : We were also concerned with the issue of open space. The rotation of the building has created a new passageway and outdoor spaces on both sides. If you imagine the community center as a cake, we have shifted the individual pieces of the cake towards each other. As a result, there are narrower and wider rooms here. A passageway, but also terraces for staff and visitors, planting beds and a small playground. We have not renovated or upgraded the walls of the existing buildings on either side. Now you can really walk along the history of Großweikersdorf.
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