architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

The centerpiece of the multifunctional building complex planned by henke und schreieck Architekten for PEMA Holding is a 49-meter tower with a design hotel, restaurant and publically accessible scenic terrace. Attached to this tower, which characterizes the cityscape, is a five-story, slightly pitched structure that provides tenants with well-lit spaces by means of generous courtyards and atria.

The research and teaching campus of the Eduard Wallnöfer Centre for medical innovation is situated in the middle of a spacious park near the Old Town of Hall.
The architects designed the abstract glass cube, which is accentuated by angular perforated sheet metal sun-blocking blades, as a forceful counterpoint to the surrounding park-scape. A two-storey assembly hall defines the center of the atrium-type building, which houses a private university and other educational institutions.

The general idea was to bridge the gap between the Old Town and the residential area farther to the east with a third university building along Milserstraße.
Thus, a classy student dormitory housing also a kindergarten was added to round up the EWZ campus. Just as the university building itself, the dormitory is designed as an atrium-type house. Around the open interior space, there is a cluster of social rooms for general use, with generously spacious terraces, while from their private rooms the students can look out into the park.

Next to the former Seeber tower hotel designed, in the Thirties, by Lois Welzenbacher, the architects placed a second solitaire whose shape, materials and colours boldly contrast with the older building. The Welzenbacher building, a white angular cube with balconies whose situation and shape suggest a circular movement, was beautifully retrofitted, and can now enter into an exciting dialogue with the new conical glass tower. At their base, the towers are linked by a building containing the lobby as well as a café and restaurant.

A first impulse for the development of the inner city was the relocation of the university from the outskirts of town to the centre of Kufstein. Henke and Schreieck designed the "Möbel im Park” (furniture in the park), a cubic building with a glass outer surface structured with wooden slats. The energetic and innovative double layer façade with integrated room ventilation is a feast for the eyes of the studying (future) "Facility Managers”.

The new Social Sciences and Economics building is a most important urban joint between the Old Town and the historical park of the Imperial Garden, widely commended not only as a great work of architecture, but as an achievement in urban development. Formerly, the massive military barracks had virtually occupied all the available space, tightly closing itself off from the street, now there is a vital public space, a truly "open university” in the heart of the city centre.