Client: Kärntner Messen

Location: Klagenfurt am Wörthersee, Austria

Date: 2024

Type: Civic

Area: 5019m2

Budget: €10,5 million

AZPML

Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Maider Llaguno-Munitxa, Ivaylo Nachev

Our ambition is to use the additional program to provide the Klagenfurter Messen with an iconic entrance. Our proposal is to use a balloon-like massing that hovers over the public space and creates a kind of festive gate to the Messen, while contributing to a playful and festive atmosphere.

The project consists of two main volumes:

-Base volume will align with the façade of Hall 1 framing the access into the mall.

-Hoovering volume shielding the forecourt and framing the mall with an East gate to the complex.

The elevated building allows for a large 6.4m high column-free space forecourt which allows for large gatherings and the circulation of heavy vehicles.

We have resorted to very long-span structures in order to reduce the obstruction to the flow of public. Permeability to the north side is maintained, with two columns forming a secondary gate to the north public square.

Envelope:

The complexity of the site led us to a multi-directional single volume that could index the entrance to the Messe mall on the East side.

The main volume of the project emerges as an ellipsoid measuring 60m on the N-S dimension and 42m along the E-W dimension. Subsequently, the West side has been squeezed 4.5m to adjust to the East face of the Messen while providing enough floor area for the required program.

The base volume provides space for the main entrance lobby to the facilities, and the administrative and logistic functions. Its form is generated also from an ellipsoid and follows similar principles and is rounded in the plan on two sides and at the top, where it connects with the upper bridging volume. They form a playful composition of celebratory balloons.

Both volumes are clad with stainless steel panels in the low underside and glass shingles with fritted PVs in the upper half, enclosing a peripheral greenhouse that will create a semi-conditioned environment capable to extend the use of the terrace to an all-season leisure space.  The surface above the Hall will be entirely covered with photovoltaic panels to contribute to the energy balance of the building.