architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

Dating back to the 13th century, the core of Heinfels Castle had fallen into disrepair over the past century. In 2007, the South Tyrolean company Loacker took over the ruin and, in cooperation with the Federal Monuments Office, the State of Tyrol and the newly founded museum association, developed a concept to make them usable for tourism and culture. In a balancing act between old and new, parts of the large castle complex were preserved and restored, while others were reconstructed and reinterpreted.

With the Visitor Centre, one of the most visited sights in Tyrol has been given a prestigious entrée. Almost invisible from beyond the outer city wall, the new building pushes itself between the existing "Feuerwerkhaus" and the new fortress courtyard and closes the square. In keeping with the existing development of the fortress, the partly two-storey large space was given an outer façade and roof cladding of untreated larch wood.

The Goldried lift valley station situated on the outskirts of Matrei i. O. provides various service facilities, the Tauern Stadium built shortly later by Gerhard Mitterberger provides a centre. The main idea during planning was to creatively integrate the infrastructure for tourism, including the large parking spaces, into the alpine surroundings. The service building for skiing schools and ski-hire and, the cable car stations themselves, were all built of simple industrial materials and designed to fit the requirements of mass tourism.

A nursery school, a sports center with a changing area, a sauna, a tennis hall with seating, the community forum as well as the fire brigade, building yard and trash collection point—this mix of leisure time offers and community services was realized in the mid-1990s by consolidating and expanding existing buildings in the center of town. The various usages are divided into clearly different structures and, together with the paths and surfaces, form a loose and yet locally defined network.