Departments Building at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
Vienna, Austria
Our project could be defined as a play of parallelepipeds that responds to a repetitive and homogeneous program and at the same time generates public space. This play permits connecting the two buildings proposed in the master plan, letting the street pass below without having to add any volume or connecting footbridge.
The idea is to let the apparently haphazard or formalist movement of the parallelepipeds resolve the program with rigor and flexibility.
The volume containing the library and the cafeteria on ground level starts out at street level, acquiring a more urban character. In contrast, the two other volumes have a greater privacy by resting on an earth topography that separates them from the pedestrian itinerary, making it possible to pass under the volume that functions as bridge.
Though apparently expansive and longitudinal, the building has a clear center from which all the circulations are articulated, and the access to offices and to the library is located precisely in that center.
Inside, each parallelepiped flexibly contains the faculty departments. These longitudinal volumes open up to generate an interior space containing storage areas and complementary services. At the same time they shift longitudinally creating exterior facades that take light to the interior spaces. These facades are clad with folded metallic meshes that protect from the sun and moderate the perception of an excessively long and monotonous building.
Perforated sheet shutters protect from sunlight and give different perspectives of the building depending on where we are upon approaching it.
Project data
Area
16.064 m2 Gross Foor Area
Year
Competition: 2008
Technical Design: 2010
Construction: 2009 – 2013
Status
Completed
Client
Private – WU Wien / Público – BIG
Team
Main Architect: Carme Pinós
Architects: Clarissa Rosenow, Holger Hennefarth, Roberto Carlos García, Juan Antonio Andreu, Elsa Martí, Daniel Cano, Alexandra Clausen, Ton Homs, Bettina Münster, Adriá Escolano Ferrer, Andrea Prosnicu
Structural Engineering: Vasko + Partner
MEP Engineering: Vasko + Partner
Quantity Surveying: Vasko + Partner
Photography
Duccio Malagamba
Awards
2014. City of Vienna Schorsch Award
2014. BHT Bauherrenpreis – Finalist