Aspern Campus

Location: Vienna, Austria

Client:  WA BSC GmbH

Date:  2016 Restricted Competition

Area: 4,874m2

Budget: €6.5 millions

Team credits:

AZPML: Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Guillermo Fernandez-Abascal, Ivaylo Nachev, Francesca Lagomarsino, David Salvat

SHARE: Thomas Lettner, Silvia Forlati, Hannes Bürger, David Paoli, Isabel Sande

Consultants: Gmeiner Haferl Zivilingenieure, Transsolar, Arquitectura Agronomia,

Kunz Brandschutzplaner, Klösch & Richter

Renders: SBDA

Model: MattWeiss

The design of a technology building today requires fundamentally the consideration of three targets:

1.The flexibility that will enable the building to adapt to a fast-changing entrepreneurial environment.

2.The creation of a structure which enhances the exchange of information and ideas among the occupants.

3.The responsiveness towards energy consumption and carbon emissions.

Following these three ambitions, we have based our proposal on four key design principles:

1.Both buildings are structured as a ring of offices which surround a semi-conditioned atrium space which acts as a connective space for the community of users.

2.The building’s structure is designed to provide maximum flexibility for the use of space, in terms of subdivision.

3.The buildings optimize environmental performance by using a double horizontal fenestration around the office space, optimizing daylighting patterns on the floor with a 45% fenestration rate. This is achieved by locating the transparent bands where they are most effective: on the eye level, and just under the soffit to bring daylight as deep as possible into the space.

4.A building that will reduce construction costs and construction efficiency by using prefabricated systems.

The temporary landscape arrangement has been done aiming to reduce the costs as much as possible, as it will only work for a short period. Our strategy has been to locate the parking area as far away from the buildings to allow for vegetation to be closer to the buildings. The ground will be stabilized with a geotextile mesh, where gravel will be rammed, enabling the ground to remain permeable to rainwater, and bioactive. The ground that is not needed for the parking functions will be planted with indigenous vegetation with very low maintenance.