ehrenfellner.at

The “Südbahnhof“, the central station of Vienna, is one of the biggest and most important railway stations in Austria. The building was planned by Heinrich Hrdlicka and built from 1955 to 1961. The complex combined the two existing stations (south- and east station). The actual building brings a lot of problems for travellers because the rail is not continuous. On the other hand there is no direct connection to an underground line of the city right now, which causes a lot of fussiness reaching the centre of Vienna.

On Sunday the demolition to make place for a new station begins. The new building does not only include the platforms and its waiting hall. Around the area, a complete new part of Vienna will arise. Living space for 13.000 people, this are around 5000 flats, a school campus and office towers are going to be built. The new “Südbahnhof” gets a direct connection to the underground station U1 – Südtirolerplatz  and several tram and bus lines.

The new head quarter of the Austrian Railway Federation (ÖBB) with three towers of different height (the highest 88 meters) adjoins the main station.

The ARGE Wien, consisting of the architecture studios of Theo Hotz, Ernst Hoffmann and Albert Wimmer are liable for the design and conversion of this project.

The core of the new station is a 100 meters long and 25 meters wide entrance hall. The eye catcher is the roof of the platforms, consisting out of 14 white rhombuses. Around 100 shops, restaurants and bars should settle in the 20.000 square meters of the complex. The opening of the the new main railway station is planned in 2014.

http://www.hauptbahnhof-wien.at/

The best works of the diploma projects of the faculty of architecture and urban design of the university of technology vienna are to visit right now at the kunsthalle vienna – project space karlsplatz. The vernissage is free available till the 30th of October 2009.

The archdiploma is held every second year. The book with all project is avaliable right now!

archdiploma 2009

The “Loos – House” at the Michaelerplatz in Vienna celebrates its 100th birthday. The house without the eyebrows was the first and one of the biggest architectural scandals in Vienna. Planed by the Austrian architect Adolf Loos for the gents outfitter Goldman & Salatsch it was the first house in the Austrian capital without any ornaments.

Loos said once: “Ornaments are maledictions!“

Based on this speech he planed the first and very simple facade in the first district of Vienna, directly in front of the “Hofburg”, the home of the Austrian emperor Franz Josef the first. A legend says, that the emperor never used the back entrance again in his life.

After two years of fighting with the government Loos agreed to install flower boxes and the construction could be finished. In 1947 the house was declared as a historic monument.  Over 40 years later the city realised how important the building is and renovated it.

Based on a draft of photo montage for the book “Content” by Rem Koolhaas which shows the legs of a naked kneeing woman beside the characteristic archway of the building causes quite a stir in China. The images was not used for the cover but at the same time it is documented inside. In the last months the montage was going around in the Chinese web. According to a survey 47 percent of the participants really think that the building is a symbol for the genitals of a woman.

The Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas negated this association on his homepage www.oma.nl. He insists that the montage was the idea of a designer and shows not his view. He says, “The CCTV – Tower (China Central Television) should be a shining example for the changing world order.”

www.cctv.com
www.faz.net
www.oma.nl

Next year the EXPO will open its doors in Shanghai, China on the first of May 2010. Six months it will be possible to visit pavilions and exhibitions of 186 different nations and 41 international organisations. The host expects more than 70 million visitors till the 31st of October 2010 from hole over the world. The EXPO is in the center of Shanghai and has an area of 5.28 square kilometers.

Austria will participate with a pavilion designed by the Viennese Architecture Studio Arge SPAN & ZEYTINOGLU. The dynamic and abstract form of the building, the red and white porcelain cladding and the multimedia based visuals inside are the highlights of the 2000 square meters big Austrian contribution to the world exhibition 2010.

Normally it is possible to rent an exhibition area for rich industry countries but this year not. Cause of this it will be one of the biggest participation of Austria at such an event. All together it will cost around 16 million Euros.

Inside of the pavilion the visitor makes a journey through the variegated nature and culture of Austria. The VIP – lounge is in the first level of the pavilion. Hosts and guests of economy, culture and politics will meet their Chinese partners in this part. A restaurant will serve Austrian specialities to its guests and visitors. Beside live – events of Austrian artists and musicians small interventions are planed.

http://www.expoaustria.at/
http://en.expo2010.cn/

At the Colorado River and just a few meters beside the Hoover Dam the biggest bridge project of the USA is going to its final stage. At the end of the month the last part of the huge arch is going to be placed. After the completion of the construction the bridge will have a height of 274 meters and a length of 324 meters. Furthermore it will be one of the biggest arch bridges out of concrete in the world.

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Today jack-hammers started to break the old airfield of the Flugfeld Aspern, Vienna. 28.000 hectare of square meters have to be cleaned to start with the new district of Vienna. 2028 the new part of the Austrian capital, called “Seestadt Wien” should open its doors. With an area of 240 hectares it will be nearly as big as the centre of the city. In the biggest urban project in Austria are going to be 8500 flats for 20.000 people, 15.000 workplaces for offices an 5.000 for research and trade. The most important and name giving part of the new district is the lake in the middle. The development plan for the area is conceived for 20 years. The tube U2 and the highway A23 (Südosttangente) will connect the Seestadt to the old parts of Vienna.

The head of the “Architekturstiftung Österreich” and professor at the University of Technology Vienna for architecture Christian Kühn speaks of a conservative project that closes itself from the surroundings. In his mind it is problematic to urbanize such an area just to get new places to life. Cause of a high noise level and missing transport connections it is often difficult to rent the flats for a good price.

In the first phase a research and development park with 8.500 square meters is going to be built. An international architecture competition is already initiated.

Seestadt Wien

master plan

The new Acropolis Museum spontaneous of the temple hill in Athens, Greece was opened last week. The building was planned by the Swiss-French architect Bernard Tschumi and costed around € 130 million.

“Unlike other exhibition halls, which are usually very introverted in the area around, the Acropolis museum opens to the city deliberately” explains the director of the museum Dimitris Pandermalis.

The original plans have been made by the Italian architects Manfredi Nicoletti and Lucio Passarelli. After starting with the new building a lot of streets and walls of the seventh century were found. Cause of the ignorance of the two architects to integrate the antique constructions into their plans, the competition had to be done a second time in 2001.

Originally to habitants of Athens have been against the new and very modern museum but after the realisation, there is a very high acceptance to it.

“The building is a dialogue between antiquity and present” says Tschumi about his newest creation.

Linz 09 opens the “Yellow House” on the top of the highway tunnel at the exit “Linz”. The house is built out of simple wooden boards. The Linz 09 project opened its doors today. A house full of culture and a meeting point for people of Linz and from the whole world should it be. The wooden house called “Bellevue” will be a place for: dance and cooking events, will give place for a restaurant, a bicycle rental, a library and more.

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The student Jesús Sánchez of the school of Industrial and Aeronautical Engineering of Terrassa (ETSEIAT) of the University Politécnica de Catalunya (UPC) developed an escalator wich can be used with wheelchairs and prams.

A normal escalator can not be used by disabled or older people. The System of Sánchez has got a button which activates the barrier free escalator. By pushing the button three steps are building one closed platform. Afterwards the steps go back to their normal positions. In case of a power cut there is a battery included that the wheelchair users are not getting captivated. Beside there are light and audio signals for deaf and blind people.

Sánchez won with his escalator design prices of the College of Industrial Engineers of Catalonia and of the spanish Universia Foundation. As well the invention is already patented.

more information: http://www.upc.edu/eng/noticies/a-student-from-upc2019s-etseiat-designs-an-innovative-escalator-that-is-accessible-to-all-users