Paris based Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes' has erected the new Financial and Commercial Department of Voest Alpine Stahl GmbH in Linz, Austria. This new sale and financial centre and the existing building 'Blue Tower' together form the portal to the site of voestalpine: two mutually complementary structures as a symbolic representation of the complementary units of voestalpine.
The new building and the existing tower are in a dialogue that clearly defines the opposite of the vertical element of the blue tower to the horizontal shape of the new sales and financial center (VFZ). The wide overhang of the head of VFZ symbolizes the industrial ambitious claim of modern innovative and efficient company.
The entrance with gently sloping surface guides staff and visitors into the building with the addition of LEDs to light the way. Glass and steel are predominant offering transparency and strength across the 23,160 sq m built up area. The entrance of the blue tower is also renewed which is facing the new building.
Entrance
The main entrance to the sales and finance office lies, impossible to overlook below a daring cantilever that exploits steel's structural possibilities at the north-eastern end of the building. Here entirely glazed entrance hall focuses the attention of visitors from the steel reception desk on the one side to the impressive landscape of cranes, waste heaps, and chimneys on the other.
From here a panorama lift takes you to the meeting rooms, accessible to a wider public, that are located in this part of the building. In terms of number, size and fittings these rooms respond to the needs of the location Linz as a whole and are augmented by a terrace on the top floor, surrounded by glass walls and open to the sky, which offers exceptional views. All the rooms on the ground floor, which is clearly shaped as a plinth and has a delicately profiled glass façade, are also reserved for "public" functions such as the company's own travel agency, shops, library, documentation.
Structural Design
Transversally the building is divided in 3 zones: the lateral zones of the offices, a central zone serves for meetings, and Inner atriums.| At a Glance | |
| Location | : Austria |
| Client | : Voest Alpine Stahl gmbH A - 4020 linz |
| Start of construction | : 08 | 2007 |
| Completion | : 06 | 2009 |
| Architect | : Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes, |
| Floor area | : Office 17084 m² Livraison 1238 m² Parking 32260 m² |
| Cost | : 46 400 000 ð HT |
| Photographer | : Josef Pausch |
Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes display the steel construction – columns and open web beams, as well as the concrete of the ceiling slabs. The building services which run only above the corridors can be made out behind their expanded metal cladding. The discipline that this demanded in both design and execution adds a further level of quiet elegance to the overall impression, something that, unfortunately, one can often look for in vain in many a palatial office block.
In addition, the new centre provides a generous open public space covering a one storey parking deck. The spacious garden creates a designed outdoor area for employees and visitors of the company: a sequence of green fields, wooden decks, paved and planted areas structured by patios.
Materials used
The building is designed as a steel structure: Steel frames distanced by 10m50 carry a concrete slab. The columns are in the centre of the building, the side areas are carried by cantilever beams. This configuration offers a large flexibility for office division. The concrete slabs are kept visible. They provide the mass necessary for thermal comfort. An integrated steel truss allows the free cantilever in the front of the building.
