LINZ

SCALES — L/S – Urban / Architectural LOCATION — Wiener Straße POPULATION — 204,000 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 110 ha PROJECT SITE — 3.91 ha SITE PROPOSED BY — ÖBB (Austrian Railways) and the City of Linz OWNER OF THE SITE — ÖBB (Austrian Railways) POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Strategic urban concept as a base for further development steps

Manuel Gattermayr — Project Manager ÖBBImmobilien

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? The overall goal is to develop an attractive, vivid, mixed-use quarter on the site. Transferring the plot from a closed railway workshop area to a public used quarter can be seen as a great opportunity for the urban development of Linz. The ÖBB, as the site-owner, is aware of the responsibility of the development, as the combination of size and location of the project site is currently outstanding. The development will take place step by step since a part of the area is still in use for the railway system. In the first phase, the South-eastern part will be developed within the next few years.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? We are convinced that adding manufacturing elements is essential to achieve a balanced mix in a city quarter. These functions do not only contribute to the vivification of a surrounding, but also enhance the local supply facilities. The project site’s long history of production and the nearby operating workshops are valuable preconditions for enabling productive functions, such as a rail-engineering cluster. The future owner will take the final decision, and will decide if manufacturing functions will be set up. But to be able to integrate productive elements, the productive city approach needs to be considered right from the beginning in the planning process, which is what we are currently doing at the moment.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? As the competition resulted in three runner-up projects, we will promptly start with a post-processing workshop, to come to an agreement on an overall concept for the development. Our intention is to specify the concept in cooperation between the ÖBB, the city of Linz and the winning team afterwards.

FABLinz

AUTHOR(S) — Andrea Chiarelli (IT), Enrico Ferraresi (IT), Architects; Gabriella Dora Romito (IT), Architect-urbanist; Giacomo Magnani (IT), Urbanist

LINZ (AT) — RUNNER-UP

CONTACT — London (GB) T. +44 (0)7400 871024 info@sedicigradi.com, www.sedicigradi.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — Commons of Production. FABLINZ is an innovation ecosystem. The new district will establish relationships between stakeholders at different scales and spanning across sectors. It means to be governed by a non-profitable body that will implement the “Commons of Production”. It is a vision of shared knowledge and know-how, where the major players in the local and regional manufacturing and research panorama can meet grass-root enterprises, SMEs and local skills. The urban morphology of the project reflects this vision. Taking inspiration from the surrounding fabric, FABLINZ offers a re-engineered version of the productive block, with a richer variety of spaces and opportunities for interaction. Housing, offices and retail seamlessly integrate productive activities and complete the on-site mix of uses.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The concept establishes a mixed productive quarter, where various stakeholders of different scales and sectors can co-exist. The team proposes a supervisory nonprofit organisation that governs the development and supports triggering innovation for the site, additionally integrating the neighbourhood. The proposed structural approach derives of a traditional workshop-and-housing urban block, integrating productive and connective elements in the lower floors. The blocklike structures are shattered into individual buildings, with small, double height modules for productive activities in-between.

AUTHOR(S) — Airam González Dorta (ES), Cornelia Bräuer (AT), Paloma Montoro Delgado (ES), Architects

PROlinz Productions Unlimited

LINZ (AT) — RUNNER-UP

CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Anna Wolf (AT), Illustrator; Ariadna Mulet (ES), Architect CONTACT — esoes Architektur, Wien (AT), www.esoes.at

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — PROlinz consists of a tower and a base. The tower is situated alongside the railroads and acts as a lighthouse for the newly developed area. A spacious North-South passage is connecting the former separated parts of the city. PROlinz is a special microcosm of housing, urban factories, labs, logistic spaces and showrooms; all horizontally connected by a couple of vivid factory roads. A cosmopolitan village-like structure is built upon the foundation. The different functional layers are connected via numerous patios, which allow a high level of transparency and interaction. The horizontal carpet-like structure is enriched by the verticality and density of the protecting tower. PROlinz is an adaptable and raw building structure, which provides a framework for future development and changes.

JURY POINT OF VIEW —The project proposes an unconventional approach regarding the topic of the productive city. PROLinz is a single large building, consisting of a tower and a base that seem to incorporate all layers of a productive city into a single structure. The carpet-like megastructure covers the whole site following a clear division of vertical zoning (active, productive ground floor and small residential patio-structures above). This idea of directly overlapping of production and living is regarded as highly interesting. Nevertheless, the dense and self-contained structure seems indifferent to its surroundings and leaves only a small amount of public space.

Rock the Block!

AUTHOR(S) — Lorenzo Ciccu (IT), Simone Langiu (IT), Carlo Pisano (IT), Architects-urbanists; Elisabetta Sanna (IT), Roberta Serra (IT), Landscape architects

LINZ (AT) — RUNNER-UP

CONTACT — Spaziozero atelier, Berlin (DE) / Cagliari (IT) T. +49 17688017631 info@spaziozeroatelier.com, www.spaziozeroatelier.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The proposal aims at connecting the inner city of Linz with the southern districts, creating a new vibrant neighbourhood which will introduce productive, commercial, residential spaces as well as cultural and social services. A new framework plan is provided to start an urban transformation in which the site will keep the potential to offer spaces for work within the city. Instead of trying to foresee the future program, the project provides the maximum diversity in the productive and public spaces. Along with a series of pocket areas, the piazza along Wienerstrasse, the park along the railway and the one on the Unionstrasse are the three large public spaces that will foster the creation of a vibrant open neighbourhood seen as the inception of the new urban development south of the tracks.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The proposal blends into the existing context and is clearly readable. It is well elaborated and very advanced. The fact of integrating remnants from the former industrial site into the new urban plan is considered as positive. The various public spaces are well proportioned and aerate the orthogonal grid. The proposed block structures are a flexible urban system that works well with different uses. At the same time, the size of the blocks is questioned, they seem rather small and appear more like large buildings than multiple-plot block structures, a larger grid seems more adapted to productive facilities.