A CITY DISTRICT A collection of important steps. 2006 / 2007
TENTS
Where How What Who
Where
Graz-Reininghaus Graz Graz West Neighbours Existing buildings Overview
Graz-Reininghaus – More than half a square kilometre
As big as 72 football fields. Larger than the Vatican by a quarter. As big as the old city of Graz.
A sound wave needs 20 seconds to get round Graz-Reininghaus. A homing pigeon needs 6 minutes. A bee, 18 minutes. A cyclist, 21 minutes. A pedestrian, 1 hour and 17 minutes. A mole (digging), 41 days. A snail, approximately 4 months.
Austria in comparison
8,298,923 inhabitants (2007) 22 % children and young people 61 % employed 17 % pensioners 10 % international inhabitants Ranking 14th in the UN index for human development Average life expectancy is 79.21 years Real changes of GNP 2007: +3.4 % (EU27: +2.9 %; USA +1.9 %) Seventh in the World Bank ranking of the richest countries Average per head income 32,276 USD
According to the World Competitiveness Yearbook 2007 Austria ranks worldwide first regarding the protection of people and property Ranking sixth in the Environmental Performance Index Fifth in the ranking of the greenest countries most worthwhile living in
Austria has 2,562km of external borders Altitude ranges from 115m at Lake Neusiedl up to 3798m at the Grossglockner 43.6 % of all Internet connections are high speed
Graz >>
Milan
Verona
Nice Florence
X-ray of the city An as-built plan is just like an X-ray of a city. From the dimensions of the buildings, parameters such as period of development, uses and urban morphology can be read off. The relative positioning of buildings characterises the social structure and the importance of individual districts.
Graz
Graz in numbers
287,723 inhabitants (31.12. 2006) 3859 students (winter term 2006/2007) 4 universities 207 university institutes 2 technical colleges with 36 courses 5 research centres outside academia 1 opera house 1 theatre 1 Kunsthaus (House of Art) 3 festivals 12 museums
Don Bosco
Graz to the west of the railways. 66,548 inhabitants (approx. 23.2 % of the Graz population).
Graz West
Notable locations
Eggenberg Castle
Emergency hospital/Regional hospital
Styria’s most important palace complex. Surrounded by vast landscape gardens. Houses a part of Landesmuseum Joanneum.
(UKH/LKH West) Currently the Graz UKH is being transformed into one of the state-of-the-art trauma hospitals in Europe. LKH West – provincial hospital has been in operation since 2002.
Helmut List Hall Industrial premises, refurbished in 2002 by architect Markus Pernthaler. Concert and event hall for styriarte and steirischer herbst amongst others.
Eggenberg recreation centre Largest of all Graz leisure operations. Indoor and outdoor swimming baths and sauna have offered space for all kinds of water activities for 35 years. Will be totally refurbished by 2010.
Don Bosco local traffic hub Recently developed node for short-distance transport. Connects Südbahn-railways (southbound) with Ostbahn (eastbound) railways, as well as regional and city buses. Already fitted out for planned suburban railway.
Main railway station Inaugurated in the 1950s following the total destruction of the old station. Since 2003 Peter Kogler’s installation has made the station hall a room of illusions.
University of Applied Sciences Joanneum The University of Applied Sciences Joanneum was founded in 1995 and is Austria’s largest technical college, currently offering more than 32 courses for almost 6000 students.
Our neighbours
Roche Diagnostics At the Graz location, global headquarters for Business Area Near Patient Testing, diagostic solutions are developed, optimised and produced.
SFG Impulse Center The impulse center supports high-tech companies during build-up phase and by providing an environment supportive to business.
AVL AVL Academy and AVL Skills Center offer the development of expertise for employees by means of various different training methods and a systematic qualification programme.
Siemens Worldwide largest producer of high-tech undercarriages for rail vehicles designed for short and long-distance traffic. Approx. 2500 undercarriages leave the Graz works every year.
University of Applied Sciences Joanneum The Graz location offers 23 courses including: · International management · Journalism and company communication · Exhibition and museum design · Vehicle technology · Industrial design · Information design · Information management · Aviation · Architecture and project management · Healthcare engineering · Social work
Stamag Stadlauer Malzfabrik – malt factory purchased the malt house from Brau Union in 1998 and supplies almost all major breweries in Austria. And overseas.
Siemens
AVL Skills Center
The immediate environment
Our tenants
Start-up Center
Start-up Center Houses start-up companies with focus on healthcare technology, telecommunication, information technology, research & development in the automotive sector.
WIKI nursery school At WIKI child care twenty children are taken care of all day. Kids enjoy a lot of green space in Graz-Reininghaus for letting off steam and having fun.
WIKI nursery school SFG Impulse Center
Stamag
Valuable building stock
Malt silo
Malthouse
Erection of the silo building was started in 1905 and took place in the heyday of the Reininghaus brothers’ brewery which was converted in 1901 into a shareholders’ company by Therese, widow of Peter Reininghaus. On five floors connected by a timber spiral staircase, today there are still the storage cells for barley and malt, also made of timber. With its 600 m2 of useable floor space, the building was one of the core elements of the brewery and, furthermore, it is also one of the oldest silo facilities in Austria. The silo is a protected building.
These floor maltings were built as early as 1888 according to the plans of Johann de Colle. The vaulted ceiling system of the building consists of three naves and eleven bays. The columns supporting the span of the vaults run from the base into strong round main and shallow arches. On a total of 2700 m2 useable floor space, in the early days malt was produced by hand from brewing grain. To this end, the grain was distributed on the floor in relatively thin layers (approx. 30 cm) and regularly turned over manually. The originally much larger plant also included exterior malt silos.
Existing buildings
Well house Start of construction of the pump room building dates back to 1907. The massive octagonal building provided a water supply not only for the brewery, but also for the city of Graz. Inside is a 35 m well that is still used today. The spiral staircase inside and the tall rectangular windows made of glass bricks, as well as the gate, show the influence of Viennese Secessionism. The Well house is a protected building.
Villa The villa was built in 1903 and was the family seat of the Reininghaus family. As early as in 1853, the brothers Johann Peter and Julius Reininghaus settled down here as a result of purchasing the Mauthaus in Steinfeld and started brewing beer and distilling spirits in 1855. Soon the Reininghaus brothers became influential in the city and their home became a distinguished meeting point for personalities from the worlds of art, business and politics. In particular Carl Reininghaus, Julius’ son, was an important collector and patron of art, and was a friend of Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimt and Alma Mahler-Werfel. After emigration at the beginning of World War II, the villa became the residence of the managers of the brewery group, the latter merging with Puntigam in 1944. In 2002/03 it was refurbished by Ernst Giselbrecht + Partner architects and today offers 1500 m2 of space. It is a protected building.
Auszug aus dem Flächenwidmungsplan der Stadt Graz MaĂ&#x;stab 1: 9598
Overview plans
Building land WR
Pure residential area
WA
General residential area
KG
Core, office and business area
GG
Commercial area
I/1
Industrial and commercial area I
Reserved areas ÖPA(WR)
Transport areas Verk
Reserved area
Existing or planned local roads and public access roads
A. Special use
Local roads and public access roads (approximate position)
Railways Pavement or bicycle lane (approximate position)
Open land
Tram
Separate use Klg
Supply facilities
Allotments Public areas of water
1/2
Industrial and commercial area II
öPA
Public parks or the like Private areas of water
L(WR)
(EZII)+(J/L)
0,2-1,5
Spo-Th
Facilities for sports activities
Core, office and business area with shopping centres and Ist phase
Frh
Cemetary
Development area with future building utilisation
pPA
Private parks
Development area – overlap of use Building density
B. Usage restrictions Protected existing buildings ææææ ææææ BS I
ææææ
KG[EZI]
Shopping centre I, II, III
ææææ
EZI
ææææ ææææ
Water reserve
How
Vision Reininghaus method How we reflect How we look at the place
Vision
The white patch of Graz-Reininghaus represents an opportunity for the city and one of the last opportunities in Europe to have a considerable influence on an inner city position, by virtue of the size alone.
We go on a quest for exactly the characteristics that this district would be able to and should develop, in order to make people want to live and work there.
This quest will certainly not be a linear one. We reserved several years for this purpose, since we would like to see these characteristics evolve and fuse in a modular way – in order to be translated step by step into economic concepts, into architecture and, finally into a city district. We would like to prevent negligence and inexactness and thus disappointment. This search for quality is the only search that really pays off. We do not yet know what the perfect solution will look like, but still all is possible.
What are the questions one has to ask in order to get the right answers?
How can identity be created? How much time do we reserve for thorough reflection?
How open do we have to be towards results in order to avoid mediocre or hasty solutions?
How can the group of collaborating minds be expanded beyond the usual suspects?
How can both individual and collective happiness be increased?
Which are the qualities
How can the people of Graz be included in the development process?
Reininghaus method
How can we broaden our horizons? How can we create a shared, engaging image for a desirable future?
How can we deal with contradictions?
How can we combine public and private interests in favour of the welfare of people in the city?
essential for the future?
How can global thinking and local development work be combined?
How can we place Graz-Reininghaus on the international map?
What are the possibilities for the joint decision-making processes a city of the future needs? How far may a district deviate from standard?
Which partners, what international network would be necessary for a contemporary and trend-setting urban development process?
How can we at this early stage, create energy and life on site, without setting the wrong course?
werkstadt017 The book Structure of characteristics Reininghaus-Gesellschaft Waldzell Meetings
How we reflect
A compilation for the future
In Graz, a new district offers the chance to ask and answer questions anew about personal and social happiness. To this end, 32 people from Graz came together to research what will really matter to people in 2017.
Usually the development of a district starts with lines, density and building heights: in short, best-possible distribution of planning units on the surface available. The result: mainstream – ready made – foreseeable, copyable and exchangeable. Creation of meaning – afterwards, by intense publicity for potential customers.
For Graz-Reininghaus, for an area of approximately 54 hectares, we pursue a new development process based on identity and the creation of value.
werkstadt017 >>
We take the time to reflect before starting to plan concretely. And leave the usual suspects aside for the time being, in order to listen to those who normally rarely have the chance to be involved in urban development.
The topic of discussions was not what the future might look like. In the foreground there were personal wishes for the future and what we would like it to be like. How we will be living, working and learning in future in the urban space.
The quality of discussions will in future decide the success of projects.
In addition to the discussions at home, representatives of the various categories also went on journeys to European benchmarks of urban life – desirable places such as Barcelona, London, Copenhagen and Cambridge – in order to learn from both their strengths and usually hidden weaknesses and errors committed. In the end, in Austria and abroad, more than 100 conversations took place.
Following this idea of Alan Webber, long-term editor of the Harvard Business Review, 32 people of Graz with various backgrounds got together and formed werkstadt017. This was to jointly reflect in four categories (work, education, life and urbanism) in discussions and interviews with people from different areas, on the white patch per se, i.e. the future, in order to define first framework conditions and principles for future developments of a new Graz district.
The four categories
Life We are on a quest for the prerequisites of greatest possible common happiness. The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham once called this “Greatest happiness of the greatest number�. Here, we followed our conviction that responsibilities are always both in private and public hands.
Work Change emerges from the fringes of mainstream. This is exactly where the work category went. We checked things out, had a look and critically reflected on things normally taken for granted. The final outcome will mainly depend on one thing: concrete action.
werkstadt017
Urbanity Urbanity as a feeling of life and lifestyle is untamed. Intellectual. Distanced. Immediate. Inconsistent. Critical. Almost all major developments of humanity were originated and developed in cities, networks of human evolution. Urbanity is not only utopia of a better life but also the realisation thereof.
Contributions by Barbara Albert, Denise Barlow, Cornelia Ehmayer, Gabriele Fischer, Hermann Hauser, Bodo Hell, Johannes Kaup, Franz Küberl, Peter Lau, Paul 0´Leary, Eugen Lendl, Fred Luks, Hans Monderman, Ulla Pirttijärvi, Leopold Rosenmayr, Tex Rubinowitz, Bernd Schilcher, Gert Steinbäcker, Dirk Stermann, Karin Tschavgova amongst others.
Education When we talk about education today, we usually refer to training. However, in contrast with the classic idea of education, this is not about the future, but is consumed by coping with the present. The concern of the categories was to find out which are the right places for learning for the future.
196 pages full of inspiration and contradiction.
What shall we do with all the conversations, questions and answers? With this considerable number of subjective, socio-political reflections on what life, work, education and urbanity should look like in the future. The 32 people from Graz forming the werkstadt017 team spontaneously declared themselves a team of editors and decided to make a book and look for a publisher. They were successful with Czernin-Verlag editors, well known for their ambitious, critical and unconventional publications. After hard and time-intensive editorial work, magnificently led by Franz Hirschmugl, the result was there:
The foundation stone in the form of a book. As a basis for more public reflection on the desired future. No slippery answers. No standard recipes and also no pre-digested fantasies of redemption. What we rather get is a view of all possibilities of what is right. A motivation for the continuation of thinking. Inspiration and impetus for all those who would like to deal correctly with the future. In short, a book with the title “Conceptions of the desirable What cities ought to know about the future.�
The book
Philosopher and editor in chief. Peter Heintel and Franz Hirschmugl.
The book and its provider. Asset One CEO Ernst Scholdan. The books in good hands. Collaborators and guests at the book presentation.
Structure of the characteristics >>
A city district with characteristics
With the publication of the book and resulting reactions and inspirations grew the desire and the necessity further to compress all those thoughts, wishes and reflections. And to reduce it down to the essence of the book. At the end of this process was the structure of characteristics.
The structure has the characteristics of a network of bundled values and serves as an instrument for both personal and collective reflection. Moreover it projects beyond this intention to provide a guideline for tangible development steps.
A guideline for the continued posing of questions. Questioning the relevance of the attributes in one’s own life. For each part of the community in which one lives or works. For the life in a new part of the city. Questions delving into the collective and individual conceptions for the design of the future. And the consequences emerging from these for Graz-Reininghaus. The individual attributes here are not divided and set apart, but they form the part of a whole. The dynamism of this model results from the reciprocity and the interplay of all the contradictions that arise. Above all from a readiness to open oneself up to collective experience within the scope of the Graz-Reininghaus development process.
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Structure of the characteristics >>
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A new social form
The Reininghaus-Gesellschaft was established in spring 2007. It was set up as a platform for public thinking ahead, chewing over and generally using the brain in seeking directions for a desirable future. The task the two founders Peter Rabl and Michael Sammer have set themselves is to sound out in public the relevant qualities and issues for a desirable city district development, together with experts and an interested public, and to reflect critically on these matters. And furthermore to provide an increased number of people with the opportunity to contribute to the development of GrazReininghaus in the process.
Step-by-step gains in experience and knowledge are to be achieved in the process in the form of a continuing and living discourse, showing how the desire for a better future can be transferred to a city district in the form of modular solution building blocks. How the happiness of the individual and of the community can be promoted in the same manner through tangible implementations, helping Graz-Reininghaus to achieve an unmistakable identity. Focus groups are planned as a continuing follow-up process, above all to provide people from Graz with the opportunity of operating an “urban programming� network together with leading personalities from the sciences, arts and business. This will also give people with marginal access to these issues the chance to make their contribution to the development of this city district.
The Reininghaus-Gesellschaft >>
The culture of failure At a public breakfast, the conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt spoke with architecture critic Ute Woltron and with radio journalist Peter Klein about the compellingly non-simultaneous nature of beauty and security, the dialectic of success and risk and about interruptions and breaches as opportunities for personal and social advancement.
Michael Sammer and Peter Rabl on the occasion of the foundation of the Reininghaus-Gesellschaft.
A supper with characteristics Four of the finest chefs in the country Gerhard Fuchs (left) and Yvonne Schwarzinger, Manfred Buchinger (right) and Joachim Windhager provided their interpretations of these principles in tangible form and served them up on the guests’ plates on the occasion of the foundation of the Reininghaus-Gesellschaft.
The spanner in the works of education Invited by Reininghaus-Gesellschaft, 28 personalities came together under this title in order to exchange ideas about what could be improved in the future in terms of education. The two panel guests Peter Heintel and Erwin Wurm provided introductory inspiration for the discussion, facilitated by Peter Heintel and Erwin Wurm.
Where does the new one come from? With Tony Lai, managing director of the “Idea Factory�, Reininghaus-Gesellschaft invited a guest to the focus group who, with his company founded in 1995 in San Francisco and meanwhile relocated to Singapore, specialised in the development of tailored, non-linear innovation processes.
The Reininghaus-Gesellschaft
Futures of Cities 51st IFHP World Congress 2007, Copenhagen
It is not only the Reininghaus-Gesellschaft that is thinking seriously about the urban future. A world congress with this purpose in mind was held in Copenhagen from 23 to 26 September 2007 under the title “Futures of Cities”. The Graz-Reininghaus project was also invited to present itself to the world at this event. The Reininghaus-Gesellschaft used this opportunity to experiment with organising itself as a travelling association, and a number of co-thinkers were invited to fly in the group to Copenhagen.
The submitted abstract The place The place which accommodates the former Reininghaus brewery in Graz: an almost empty white patch in Austria’s second-largest city. An area of about 540,000 square metres. 1,800 metres away from the city centre. Owned by a private investor. A quest – not a task At first glance cities consist of rather banal elements: buildings, in-between spaces, private and public uses, community and business life. And yet they are as different as they are diverse. Obviously, in spite of all their common features, they are programmed very differently. Nowadays, we tend to disregard this fact for reasons of efficiency. Therefore it seems reasonable to take one‘s time when it comes to the conception of a city district. And to reflect carefully on the software. For the hardware, function, works out on its own. Eventually. Yet, how do you explain this to the real estate industry?
A book – not a master plan This new kind of urban programming takes the form of an open-source network. And its first results do not consist in a concrete plan either, but in a collectively written book. The future emerges as we reflect collectively on the present. Thus, the ideal form could well be – conversations. Several citizens of Graz have travelled around conducting such conversations. And they have achieved a first result: “Conceptions of the desirable - What cities ought to know about the future”. A foreword – not an investors’ story „Cities aren’t linear, they’re networked. They aren’t straightforward, they’re round-about. And so is this book. Writing a book rather than drawing up architectural plans is an odd way to start building a new urban district. I have no idea if it will be a model that other developers will want to follow. But I am impressed with the way its founders are approaching their task. They’re asking the right questions. Like a lot of people who care about cities, I’m going to follow this ambitious project as it evolves and matures. I get the sense it will be a place that makes a difference.“ (Clifford Pearson – Architectural Record)
Waldzell Meetings
You can learn a great deal that is of value for your personal development from contact with great people and perceiving how they think about the world. The best method is personal contact. The Waldzell meetings are places of inspiration and of encounters with extraordinary people. Each year a few of the most significant thinkers and visionaries of our time meet with international decision makers of the present and future for a “Dialogue of the best minds”. They spend three days together in the monastery exchanging questions and knowledge, experience and expectations, ideas and visions. Waldzell appeals above all to people who want to change something themselves and who are not satisfied with the existing stock explanations given to the major questions of our times. The Benedictine Monastery in Melk provides the spiritual setting for the Waldzell Meetings.
The subject of the last Waldzell Meetings in autumn 2007 was: What Remains? What will each one of us as an individual leave behind her or himself and what will be our common legacy for coming generations? Will we be able to find the time, the intellectual strength and the will actually to be able to achieve the legacies we are striving for?
Asset One supports the Waldzell Meetings, because inspiration through meetings with remarkable people fits in perfectly with its corporate and development philosophy. This is a principle that finds a forceful reflection in the development work for a city district – not least in the philosophy of the Reininghaus-Gesellschaft.
Waldzell Meetings
Anton Zeilinger
Paulo Coelho, Christo and Jeanne-Claude
Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast
Rodell MIPIM sTennisMasters Partners and sponsors Cooperations Outlook
How we look at the place
Setting an example
The word “Rodell� resulted from abbreviation of the term for Reininghaus model. The guiding thought behind this was to make the development process visible in emblematic form on site. Each Rodell describes a temporary intervention in Graz-Reininghaus, which became recognisable through the selected qualities subsequently established in a city district. These interventions have been developed by a working group consisting of landscape planners, architects and artists and the development work began in autumn 2006. Intensive discussions were held on the city district development projects that had essentially failed and on the successful ones in the course of the search for an expression that showed the way. A collection of extraordinary ideas and their translation into highly expressive images had resulted by the end of this process in February 2007. As the synonym for a somewhat different development process.
From the eleven Rodells that have been processed, all having interesting sounding names such as Cell, Land acquisition or Beacons, the first one picked was that of a coherent green belt for immediate further development and to test its consistency and suitability for implementation in Graz-Reininghaus.
Rodell >>
Those taking part
Ernst Giselbrecht, architect Comes from the architectural wonderland Vorarlberg and has planned and lived in Graz since 1985. Andreas Kleboth, architect Teaches, plans and has implemented urban developments since 1995. Partner in the office of kleboth lindinger partners. Gertraud Monsberger, landscape architect Has designed gardens – the luxury of our times – with an input of a great deal of time and devotion since 2001. Helmut Reinisch, entrepreneur Since 1978 has been interested in discovering art beyond the usual clichÊ concepts. Hartmut Skerbisch, artist Has created sculptures since 1969. The largest and best known of these is the Light Sword in front of the Graz Opera.
Rodells
M 1:10 The dimensions of building structures in relation to the city district development.
Boundary and link A green belt as the first intervention.
Land acquisition A “feeling for the future� for people and their lives, not of stones and the structures built from them.
Rodell >>
Abstraction – simulation – manifestation A gigantic light and illumination visible from afar as a sign for production premieres.
Monitor 40,000 points of light for the largest monitor in the world. The white patch A symbolic pause before the first spade cut.
A green belt
The outer borders of Graz-Reininghaus separate the area from the rest of the City of Graz with a lightly wooded open strip. Graz-Reininghaus is thus a clearing in Graz. The green belt is created with a mixed wooded area of fir, oak and beech. Internally the course of this border area follows a clear line that is emphasised by a water course. The green belt has the effect of a curtain especially when it is lit up at night. You can only reach Graz-Reininghaus through this green curtain. The green belt remains a closed ring. All access roads go under this belt. Communication The green belt makes the fact quite unmistakably clear that Reininghaus should develop as an independent city district. It communicates with passers-by and investors and clearly defines the territorial limits of Graz-Reininghaus. This green area unfolds its power as a significant and forceful symbol of a new city district, above all when it is seen from the air. One recognises the opportunities that this location has: close to the city centre, big enough for independent ideas and still sufficiently compact to be developed quickly.
Change of meaning When building development takes place at a later date in Graz-Reininghaus and a new city district is concentrated all along the clearing line, then this green belt will provide an already firmly rooted leisure and recreation area for the people who live and work there. There is nowhere in the entire site area that is more than 100 metres away from the 100,000 m2 area woods. Apart from this the intensive ring shaped green area has a positive effect on the microclimate in Reininghaus. The green belt is also an important connecting element to the surroundings. A green area in the middle of the city. A real plus point. For the immediate neighbours. And for other citizens of Graz.
A landmark in the west of Graz.
Rodell
Potential development in Graz-Reininghaus Reininghaus offers living space for 12,000 people by virtue of its urban density.
Graz-Reininghaus and MIPIM
MIPIM in Cannes is an obligatory date on the calendar for everyone who has ambitions of presenting themselves globally on the real estate property market: cities, construction companies, architects, major banks, lawyers and developers. The challenge in all of this: how can you have yourself picked out from the crowd of 2,522 participants? The best way is to do precisely the thing that no one else is doing or has thought of. Instead of presenting Graz-Reininghaus in the over-filled exhibition rooms, a villa was rented in Monaco away from the tumult. Thus an atmosphere was created, not too far away from the masses at MIPIM, and one that permitted the invited interested parties and partners to concentrate in peace and quiet on the important aspects of the development projects presented.
The major real estate exhibition in Cannes. 24,464 m2 for 2,523 exhibitors and 26,210 visitors.
MIPIM
‌ and new perspectives in the area of urban development.
Instead of architectural plans and Perspex models, thought models were presented in the form of features that would characterise the new city district.
Models of this kind are softer than the usual ones and you need to listen very carefully in order to understand them. Only thus can the nuances be heard that have a specific Graz-Reininghaus reference. With this in view, 80 opinion leaders and experts were invited to travel to Monaco and given the opportunity to get to know the development process in Graz-Reininghaus in the course of a dinner presentation whilst they were simultaneously offered the opportunity to participate in the discussion, bringing in their own perspectives and understanding of urban development. An animated discussion on the Reininghaus method was initiated by this means, resulting in interesting contacts and inspiration that will lead on further and have consequences for the continuing development.
sTennisMasters
Some 25,000 people came as spectators to Graz-Reininghaus for the sTennisMasters tournament from 11th till 18 th August 2007. The former brewery has never seen such a big crowd of people since its heyday some one hundred years ago. But the event was not only impressive in terms of quantity, but also for its quality with the specially laid out park on the cultivated lawns of Graz-Reininghaus. The result: not only the spectators but also players and the press sang hymns of praise to this new venue in almost perfect harmony. “What has been established here is sensational. This event is better than many a station on the ATPTour�, was the view of tournament victor Michael Stich.
In addition to the sport, the tournament provided a week long foretaste of the dynamic and urban life of the city district of the future.
Furthermore it provided a one might say playful indication of the potential that this long forgotten location can yield in the future. It was a festival. For both tennis enthusiasts and for tennis legends such as Anna Kournikova and Thomas Muster. And for all of those people from Graz and beyond who sought and found an extraordinary experience in Graz-Reininghaus. There was a loud and united call for this summer sporting event in Graz-Reininghaus to return da capo in 2008. And who knows, perhaps next summer Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf will call in at Graz-Reininghaus together with all those other people.
sTennisMasters
Partners and sponsors
steirischer herbst
La Strada
“We are beginning a festival although we know well enough at what a late hour on the world clock”. Hanns Koren, the founder of the Steirischen Herbst Festival said in his opening speech in 1968. Some 40 years later a journalist wrote in the “Neuen Zürcher Zeitung”: “When the mild southern September sun shines and the horse chestnuts smack onto the pavements in the Graz Stadtpark, an autumnal obligation to debate and discuss breaks out all along the banks of the Mur that only loosens its grip when there is an occasional flippancy.” The railway station theatre – the Theater im Bahnhof – was guest at the jubilee with its production “Zwischen Knochen und Raketen – Ein Theaterstück von weltpolitischer Dimension” (Between bones and rockets – a play of global political dimensions) on the largest stage the autumnal theatre performance event of the past 40 years. A harvested maize field in Graz-Reininghaus.
A highly amusing nine day storm that sweeps through the streets and squares of Graz. The International Festival for Street and Puppet Theatre was held for the ninth time in Graz during summer 2006. As the official sponsor for Innovations we have made cooperation possible with the French theatre group KompleXKapharnaüm in 2006. The production “PlayRec” was an “urban intervention” for the director. The artists applied themselves to the history of Graz-Reininghaus, sought out witnesses to events in the past, questioned decision makers and produced a film. The presentation examined the question of the “memory” of a city on the basis of closed down production works. The “PlayRec” concept was developed within the scope of In Situ, a European platform that promotes street art in cities and which receives financial support from the EU.
Partners and sponsors
A city district is growing First of all with the addition of 3000 newly planted trees and bushes. A step towards a desirable and sustainable future. A total of 450 trees and some 2600 bushes were plantedin Graz-Reininghaus during October 2007 for a total investment cost of 200,000 euros. These are seen as the basis for improving the micro-climate and the quality of the air. The landscape architect Gertraud Monsberger selected a mix of domestic tree and bush species that blend harmoniously into the existing landscape. In order to ensure that this green belt area will make its effect seen and felt as soon as possible, trees that were already five to six metres high were planted.
Styria, the land with an inquisitive spirit
Styria is the second largest R&D location in Austria. four universities in Graz one university in Leoben two Universities of Applied Sciences Joanneum Research as the second largest non-university research institution in Austria 21 competence centres with 3.67 % of the GRP the highest R&D rate in Austria
Knowledge map Who and where are the most innovative researchers and developers with the greatest potential for the future? What are the outstanding scientific projects with international pulling power in Graz and Styria? In order to be able to come up with satisfactory answers to these questions, a contract was awarded to draw a map of the state showing existing knowledge and all knowledge with a promising future. And to put further interesting development partners for Graz-Reininghaus squarely on the map. A small selection of intriguing minds and projects Olivia Koland from the Wegener Centre researches the interplay of the environment, economy and energy with regard to the economic-ecological spatial planning relationship between the urban environment and its surroundings. CNSystems developed and marketed worldwide technologies for bloodless, no-risk and painless cardiac and circulatory diagnosis. This achievement has already brought them the Austrian State Prize for Innovation and in 2005 an entry in the “Top 100 Private Companies in Europe�.
Cooperations >>
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Interviews Journalists Scouts Explorers
Internet Public perception Databases Homepages of R&D facilities
Persons / companies Luminaries
The heroes of tomorrow
Projects Bright sparks
World changing
Gert Pfurtscheller and his project partner Christa Neuper worked on controlling computers with the power of thought. Wolfgang Sanz and Franz Heitmeier have developed a revolutionary new kind of power station in which fossil fuels can be burned without a CO2 discharge. In his dissertation, psychologist Sebastian Seebauer looks at the question of how people can be persuaded to use public transport. The Institute for Road Traffic, together with Graz University of the Arts, is researching the subjective perception of (city) noise on the basis of psycho-acoustic and physiological foundations. Within the scope of the COMET (Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies) programme, two of three new Austrian-wide competence centres in the top K2 category will be set up in Styria during the first project phase. • K2 Mobility – Sustainable Vehicle Technologies in Graz AVL, TU Graz, Magna Steyr, Siemens Transportation Systems, Joanneum Research, Infineon, Audi, OMV and others • MPPE (Integrated Research in Materials, Processing and Product Engineering) in Leoben Montan UNI Leoben, TU Graz, TU Vienna, the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Joanneum Research, Böhler Uddeholm and some 35 other partners.
A selection of current cooperations with Graz universities
urbanism impulse
Townhouse Development
A student project with the Master’s degree course Architecture and Project Management at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum.
Student project involving the Architecture Department at the TU Graz.
Urban impulses for the area are to be developed on the basis of the planning area Graz-Reininghaus and some of the plans are to be examined in depth in the course of a two week workshop in January 2008.
The townhouse typology is increasingly popular on the global property market. The innovation in the design tasks lies in placing the market demand for the townhouse in a tangible, central European context with a contemporary interpretation.
Headed by: Thomas Lettner, architect, partner in share architects, lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum; Anke Strittmatter, architect, partner in osa (office for subversive architecture), lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum and the TU Graz
Headed by: Johannes Fiedler, architect and regional developer, partner in fiedler.tornquist, Graz Reader at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum Graz (city and regional planning, urban planning) and at the TU Graz (Institute for housing construction)
Cooperations >>
Social space analysis
Tennis or the magic of the non-standardised
A student project with the Social Work / Social Management course at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum.
Tennis is a highly standardised sport. Two players. A net. A ball. A couple of lines.
The fifth year students will carry out a cultural anthropological social space analysis for the city district of GrazReininghaus. They are to put their fingers on the pulse of the entire environment around Graz-Reininghaus in work carried out in multiple teams.
An attempt has been made playfully to smash through this standardisation rigidity in the form of a series of short films. Thirteen student teams from the Information Design Department at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum Graz are taking part in this curator-led competition on the invitation of the Reininghaus-Gesellschaft.
In charge of the project: DDr. Bernhard PlĂŠ Project team: Dr. Siegfried Ledolter, Mag. Barbara Porotschnig, Mag. Marie-Therese Sagl
Project curator: Eberhard Schrempf
european smart cities A new evaluation instrument for medium-sized European cities
Scientists from the TU Vienna have developed a ranking instrument, together with colleagues from Ljubljana University and the TU Delft, that puts 70 medium sized European cities with less than 500,000 inhabitants under the microscope.
First the good news: Graz was ranked in thirteenth place. And now the bad news: Graz was behind Salzburg, Linz and Innsbruck. “Medium sized cities are a fascinating target group” smart cities project manager Prof. Dr. Rudolf Giffinger from the TU Vienna commented. “Some 120 million people live in 600 cities of this size, they are 40 % of all European city dwellers. They have enormous potential, although they are often in the shadow of the big metropolises. They have difficulties in positioning themselves, frequently have to fight against image problems and tend to be overlooked by investors. But they do have a very significant advantage: they can score points for smartness as a result of their size.” Smart means: a good performance in six characteristics. A long analytical look was taken at the current qualities and the developments that are to be expected in the areas of economy, people, governance, mobility, environment and living.
Cooperations
The top five Luxembourg, Aarhus (DK), Turku (FIN), Aalburg and Odense (DK). The issue is above all to reveal improvement potential. Dr. Natasa Pichler-Milanovic from Ljubljana University: “It is naturally of the greatest interest to be able to achieve a positioning of a city in the ranking, but it is much more important to be able to uncover strengths and weaknesses in specific areas and to be able to develop strategies for how performance can be improved.� A second evaluation is to be made in three years time. The scientific team hopes to be able to uncover further data material at that time that will allow other cities to go into the ranking. Details under: www.smart-cities.eu
11 / 2007
03 / 2008
07 / 2008
Further group tours to seminal cities for the future
Focus groups
Development of further urban perspectives The “Urban Visions” student competition Perspectives
New forms of cooperation with the City of Graz Standpoints
Investigations of city typologies
A requirement analysis for international research facilities
Urban Development Congress
The ”Green Belt” detailed concept Smart Cities Conference
Smart Cities University cooperations
Masters 07
steirischer herbst
sTennisMasters 08 Graz-Reininghaus continues to stay in the focus of artists and creative people.
Extension
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University cooperations
Outlook
What
Standpoints Perspectives
A question of attitude
Graz-Reininghaus represents a somewhat different approach to urban development. But what exactly is different about it? To give an unequivocal answer to this question, the convictions, intentions and wishes forming the foundations of the development process will be summarised and laid out as clear standpoints upon which the forward-looking perspectives are constructed.
The more clearly the standpoints and perspectives of this undertaking are expressed, the greater the degree to which Graz-Reininghaus will differentiate itself from other city districts, not only in terms of development but also realised form. Clear positioning raises the attractiveness of Graz-Reininghaus for all those development partners, investors and, most importantly, future residents who identify with these standpoints and perspectives and wish to join us in the forthcoming development.
A dynamic development process oriented towards the sharing of results does indeed need a framework for content and process in order to avoid arbitrariness. The anchor points so defined offer the orientation necessary for development work. And the commitment for all concerned.
We state with complete clarity what it is we stand for. And thus also for what we don’t. This yields a both solid and yet flexible foundation for the joint development of a city district. The standpoints forming part of it are no irrevocable dogmas carved in stone. They are altogether relevant positioning statements that shall and indeed must adapt in an evolutionary way to the continuation of the process, the associated extension of the cohort of thinking collaborators, and the redirection of thought toward the right foci.
Standpoints >>
Poly-centralised urban development The new city centre at Graz-Reininghaus raises the variety in Graz.
A new city centre is created at Graz-Reininghaus. As such it will add value to Graz West, creating a new attraction for the entire urban structure. With a major development potential for all kinds of uses such as work, education, research & development but also living, shopping and leisure activities in a central, well-developed but currently underestimated part of Graz. A dense development of GrazReininghaus with mixed use fully corresponds with the ideals of sustainable urban development according to the Rio 1992 agenda and the requirement thereof to re-densify and newly use inner city industrial wasteland. As one of the most important prerequisites for an urban centre, GrazReininghaus must be connected up perfectly with the city centre including all means of transport.
Graz-Reininghaus will develop into something of maximum distinction from established city centres, with the help of a total commitment on the side of all stakeholders in the project.
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In addition to multi-functional “anyway functions�, GrazReininghaus confidently strives for taking over complementary central tasks reaching beyond basic supplies and in the full spirit of shared tasks within the urban structure of Graz. The new district will in some respects complement grown parts in Graz. Established and loved spatial, atmospheric and economic characteristics will be complemented with unusual, modern and dynamic qualities. This will make Graz more diverse and add value, thus contributing to even better results for the city on the virtual map of those looking for locations to live or work, and in relevant city rankings.
Impulse from outside Graz-Reininghaus, arising not through evolution but in the form of a concentrated intervention.
Asset One, in the role of initiator and mentor, is bringing the city district Graz-Reininghaus to life and, as owner, running the complete development. Collaborating in a process that facilitates results, development partners, experts and gifted individuals are to be involved from the very beginning in a targeted and inclusive way so as to offer important, reinforcing and initiating energy to the effort. There will be partnerly and continuous communication with politicians from the city and province as well as the public authorities. One can imagine many forms of cooperation in the spirit of a public private partnership. Fundamental to all these considerations is the clear commitment to the realisation of a living, diversified and open city district. Asset One has defined and is pursuing this development goal determinedly, whilst also creating the required process framework. Within the latter there is the greatest possible openness for development partners, participants and stakeholders. The degree of definition will be as small as possible and as much as necessary. The development process is to be seen as a “work in progress” that consciously admits improvisation and considers continuous self-renewal to be an important component of the identity of Graz-Reininghaus.
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Here the aim of creating an “ideal city district” is not a fixed endpoint but rather will be repeatedly redefined as time passes – the urban development will thus become a permanent interim solution.
All planning stages will be considered in the complete context and deliberately in an interdisciplinary way, with all the consequences and interactions. All measures will be checked continuously for compatibility with the development goals. This process will ensure that Graz-Reininghaus develops not in an evolutionary way, through an extension of what already exists, but rather in an impulsive way, through targeted, conceptional intervention. Meanwhile the impulse emanating from Graz-Reininghaus can be expected to have a positive influence on the environs, raising their long term potential.
Standpoints >>
Confidently self-reliant Graz-Reininghaus’ public spaces lend this district an unmistakable identity.
Serving as a functioning city district, Graz-Reininghaus has been designed right from the start in such a way that, growing from a characteristic seed that already carries significant hereditary information influencing the future city district, it can continuously change, extend and consolidate.
A distinctive ambiance, enticing attractions and plenty going on in what is a clearly defined location; all combine to generate that sought-after “small town feeling” for the residents. The clear spatial identity of the public space and the convenience of a “town with everything within reach” will draw in activities and users. This will bring about the cycle of “need-want-wish to be in there” in Graz-Reininghaus. The desirability of residing, living and working here will thus be escalated continuously. The balanced mixture of usage, offering space to less profitable tenants too in order to round off the range of services on offer, serves as a foundation for Graz-Reininghaus’ development goals with their orientation towards diversity and self-reliance.
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For the investor, a mixture of usage and potential exchange of usage means an optimised spread of risk: this will even out fluctuations in demand, whilst intensively occupied buildings raise the value of the location in the long term. To ensure sustainable development it is necessary to plan appropriate reserves to enable continued further development locally for the users. Equally, open spaces for autonomous development need “rules of play” that serve to create a self-reliant centre with an unmistakable identity. Complementing thorough planning, there is also “daring to leave gaps”, a measured amount of slack capacity to cater for spontaneous or unexpected events.
Reininghaus brand The sum of properties yields a unique city district with a strong profile.
In terms of international perception, Graz-Reininghaus should become a symbol for modern, forward-looking city district development. Here, the important distinctive characteristic will be the open development process and the history of how it arose. The unusual way in which, over a period of years, the basis for unconventional methods of realisation was prepared not only through discussions with “everyday experts� at altogether diverse levels of thinking, living and social cooperation, but also the preparedness to reflect openly with them. One example of the unusual approach to urban development is illustrated by the dealings with green space. Parks and open areas are not to be constructed upon completion of the construction activities at the end of the development process but rather arise right at the beginning of material activities. They are already there a long time before the first resident settles in Graz-Reininghaus. Moreover, the greenery is not restricted to flourishing along narrow boundaries but rather it surrounds the entire city district in the form of a green belt. This is also a substantial benefit for the neighbours.
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The unmistakable atmosphere, the true experience of a city district character and the unique aura of the Reininghaus brand will ensure that people from outside Graz and Austria will want to live here. Also that international guests will want to stay here, and that international companies will see the location as fundamentally so attractive that their best people will want to come here to learn, conduct research activities and engage in training relevant to their personal requirements. Even if the answers are not yet known in detail. The process itself is part of the answer. And it makes the difference.
Graz-Reininghaus will not repeat anything that already exists in Graz, but will indeed at the same time draw in a great deal of that which is not yet available in Graz. Thus Graz-Reininghaus will be a valuable complement to and extension of what Graz offers and indeed of its identity.
Standpoints
Good Governance The many interests of all those involved will be kept in consideration and weighed against each other in the best possible way through an open process. In order to match up to high expectations of good quality decision-making, Graz-Reininghaus needs a high quality planning, decision-making and management culture reflecting “good governance�. This must aim for even-handed cooperation between private entrepreneur, public administration and political representatives. At the same time, good governance strives for a well-considered balance of economy and ecology, culture and social aspects, opinion leaders and the silent many.
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Openness and transparency are significant characteristics of Graz-Reininghaus’ development. Communication with interested parties and stakeholders right from the start allows both the interfaces for individual interests to be optimised as early as during the planning process and additional development potential for GrazReininghaus to be identified. Alongside political representatives and the administrations of Graz city and the province of Styria, the partners in dialogue include above all national and international thought leaders in the areas of society, art, ecology and science along with the immediate neighbours touched by the development. This will ensure that a city district will arise in Graz-Reininghaus in which a desirable future can be realised.
Using the impulses of relevant content The options created in this way can for triggered in the process as a basis, actual example describe the resulting effects perspectives will be generated for Grazperceptible actually on location, the interReininghaus. actions between them and their influence on the overall development of the city Desirable characteristics and urban district. The results of this work will be themes will be linked together and discussed and reflected in appropriate and, then translated by internal and external in part, publicised formats. In this way experts into real, feasible measures. they will serve as the basis for further forward-looking generation of detailed and altogether feasible concepts and projects for Graz-Reininghaus.
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Perspectives >>
Graz-Reininghaus is developing decision-making structures and a finely-tuned sensory apparatus for the right point in time. How does one perceive this perspective? Graz-Reininghaus can decide. Given that the real estate is all in the hands of one owner, decisions can be rapid and unequivocal. The decisions are based on a fundamental catalogue of objectives collectively conceived and supported by the owner. What might be potential implementations? · definition of the future decision-making processes and creation of the conditions for decision rituals · a “Reininghaus trust” as a new decision authority · a “dynamic understanding of building” that develops and alters in terms of both content and form alongside the development of the new city district What differences can be expected to result from these perspectives? A privately developed city district that, by virtue of clear decision-making structures and instruments, takes its citizens seriously and offers a high degree of identification to its residents and businesses.
What good examples are there of this? · the New York Community Trust · experimental development projects like “100 m2 Dietzenbach” in Hessen · the Viennese cable factory What does such a perspective rule out? · delegation and ignoring of important decisions · decisions by the owner alone without consideration of the views of important participants in the process · participation for its own sake What advantages result from this perspective? One identifies those 20 % of the decisions that are important for the identity trust going forward, and renders them determinable for the right people, thereby creating for oneself an unmistakable identity.
Graz-Reininghaus defines traffic areas as social space. How does one perceive this perspective? · within Graz-Reininghaus, public and non-motorised private transport has priority. An intensive level of mixed use yields short journeys, and this enhances the possibilities for interaction and communication · the residents get to know each other better · the first class connections to pre-existing transportation networks yield good connectivity to the city What might be potential implementations? · preparation of an holistic mobility concept for both parked vehicles and moving traffic alongside networking with the existing traffic infrastructure in Graz · tailor-made concepts like city-bike, car-sharing, delivery and concierge services What differences can be expected to result from these perspectives? Graz-Reininghaus views mobility in the collective sense as the sum of all the mobility requirements of people working and living in this city district. Not just from the perspective of motorised private transport. Public space is primarily space to live, not just to park.
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What good examples are there of this? · the “shared space” concept that is founded on the equality of all on the move · the Cycle Town in Houten (NL) · Copenhagen as prime example of good mixing of means of transport What does such a perspective rule out? · areas primarily used by cars for manoeuvring · places that inhibit direct communication between people, like culs de sac · squares having the predominant function of a car park. · poor connections to the surrounding city What advantages result from this perspective? · social networks arise more quickly, residents find it easier to identify with their district, whilst a city district requiring short journeys makes it easier to do without motorised transport · a reduction of emissions, minimisation of surface-level car parking requirements, enhanced safety and quality of life in public spaces
Perspectives >>
Graz-Reininghaus is interpreting the principle of leisure and wonder anew. How does one perceive this perspective? In Graz-Reininghaus there are places of wonder and places for leisure. Zones that slow the pace and enable a different way of handling time – that make a new view of oneself and the world possible. What might be potential implementations? · National parks of time: places that require a different understanding of quality and time. Through a new inter pretation of parks, sanctuaries, libraries, museums etc. · “Reininghaus Sabbaticals” – organised breaks from everyday (working) identity by virtue of special open areas in Graz-Reininghaus · Special hospitality locations, like a new form of “guest houses” What differences can be expected to result from these perspectives? Graz-Reininghaus impresses its residents not superficially but rather it inspires them at a deeper level. For many things one can indicate a potential path without having to prescribe it as completed. A kind of signpost that indicates development areas and adequate open space for the unexpected and new directions (“daring to leave gaps”).
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What good examples are there of this? · historic city centres with unregulated architecture and non-standardised use · “vocation vacation” as the first travel agency for temporary excursions into other professional identities · places, like Novi Dvur in the Czech Republic, that enable a different experience of time What does such a perspective rule out? · a single-themed floor area concept prepared completely on the drawing board and covering all areas, much like the commercialisation of all public spaces · closed answers that do not encourage new possibilities What are the resulting advantages? Through the democratisation of the fundamental human principle of leisure and wonder, Graz-Reininghaus delivers the creative possibilities of residents and local businesses.
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Graz-Reininghaus adopts a self-reliant spatial, constructional and atmospheric identity. How does one perceive this perspective? · internal and precisely formulated conditions for construction, traffic, decisions, treatment of ownership and rental, … · clear communication of objectives to future investors, residents, architects, planners, … What might be potential implementations? · a belt of areas of greenery underlines the difference between Graz-Reininghaus and its environs yielding attractive new connections to intact green areas for the city too · buildings with variable ground plans and diversified, variable functions What differences can be expected to result from these perspectives? The courage to go one’s own way is reflected in conventions of one’s own and the genuine solutions developing as a result, thereby creating an unmistakable whole.
What good examples are there of this? Everywhere where the determined implementation of an idea based on the specific properties of the location, such as climate, site, social make-up etc., has led to self-sufficient urban planning solutions: · Amsterdam: the requirement to build in the narrowest possible space moulded the appearance of the city and houses · New York: the city plan shows the fundamentally democratic attitude of society, whilst the imposing city silhouette was only possible as a result of geological conditions (“built on rock”) What does such a perspective rule out? · forms of construction that come “off the peg” · complete freedom and arbitrariness in the distribution and use of areas What advantages result from this perspective? Reininghaus receives an unmistakeable urban structure and self-reliant public space, the calling card of the city district.
Perspectives >>
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In Graz-Reininghaus, all aspects of daily life take place in a spatially concentrated form. Small-scale structures lead to a new togetherness. How does one perceive this perspective? · there is an unfamiliar proximity between differing areas of life · the functional units are smaller and the individual areas of life are connected directly · the active and centrally administered organisation of events in public spaces and the base zone raises the density of urban events What might be potential implementations? Public squares are always decorated as though stages and are therefore forever changing, hourly, daily, weekly. The delivery area becomes a playground, the weekly market an open air stage, the path to school a running track. What differences can be expected to result from these perspectives? · everyday life will become at once more comfortable and enriched as a result of the direct and immediate proximity between uses · the “either or” of everyday life will be replaced by “both and”
What good examples are there of this? · Paris: the square in front of the Centre Pompidou is suitable for sitting, use as a stage for open air perform- ances, for concerts, for markets … · Europark Salzburg: the access areas are “staged” with sports events, theatre performances, concerts, films, presentations etc. ever changing but properly organised What does such a perspective rule out? · single function usage · very large interconnected units and their unlimited extensibility · privatised base zones What advantages result from this perspective? · for residents and users, greater quality of life, enhanced togetherness and a simplification of everyday life · for passers-by, more attractive, livelier and more richly varied public spaces · for investors, shorter vacancy periods and higher density of usage of space
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Who
Properties
REININGHAUS DOWNLOADS
Bird’s eye view of urban development
VISION
INTERACTION
The company Properties People
Asset One
The company Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG was founded by Austrian private investors in 2005 with the aim of developing the areas formerly in the possession of Brau Union in Austria in close cooperation with the relevant towns and their residents, businesses, authorities and institutions. A brief history From 1921 onwards an ever increasing number of Austrian breweries came to be united under the Brau AG (later Brau Union) company. Many of these breweries had large property holdings. As time passed, shut down breweries also came to be absorbed, including the Sternbrauerei in Salzburg, Reininghaus Brauerei in Graz and parts of the Schwechater Brauerei that were no longer necessary for operations. In 2003 Heineken bought the shares in Brau Union and, in 2005, Heineken sold the property that was no longer necessary for operations.
In April 2005, Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG was founded and took ownership of the development areas of the former Brau Union property portfolio. With its headquarters in Graz, Asset One has been working since June 2005 on the preparation and development of these property holdings, which have grown over several generations. The business strategy Asset One’s central strategy is to find the best possible use for sites in urban locations approved for construction and to work up real concepts in order to generate the best possible value for these sites. There are no property speculators behind Asset One, but rather Austrian investors who wish to develop the property in a responsible manner.
Properties
In 2005, Asset One took ownership of those Brau Union properties in Austria that were not necessary for operations. Currently Asset One possesses over 1.2 million square metres of land. Over 900,000 square metres thereof are approved for construction, located in Salzburg, Linz, Schwechat and above all in Graz. Schwechat Located in Brauhausstrasse is this large 17,375 m2 plot, which has retained its special character by virtue of the old brewery buildings still standing and several thousand square metres of former storage cellar area.
Properties
Salzburg – At the foot of the Rainberg hill
The Salzburger Festspiele constitute a world-class opera event, whilst Salzburg’s historic centre is one of the most beautiful historical monuments in the world. So if one is to build something new, one has to work at the same level. Asset One will only be in a position to delight the people of Salzburg with modern architecture if they are offered something possessing the same quality as the best examples of historical architecture in Salzburg. Working in close cooperation with the city planning office, the historic city commission and the Building and Urban Design Assessment Committee of the city of Salzburg, and supported by kleboth lindinger partners architects’ office, the objectives and conditions for tender for the competition were worked out.
Through the implementation of its demands for quality, Asset One was able to awaken the interest and enthusiasm of architects who would these days be working on projects ten or even a hundred times larger than ours. Alongside careful preparation, one thing helped above all: the opportunity to build on the last free plot in the centre of Salzburg is not exactly uninteresting for a world-class architect. One year after the jury decision over the winning project, construction is now commencing. The ground-breaking ceremony for the Sternbrauerei Salzburg residential project took place on Thursday September 20th 2007. This architectural showcase project, involving an investment of around 50 million Euros, will be executed by the New York architectural office of Hariri & Hariri together with kleboth lindinger partners. Altogether around 80 top class apartments will be realised in six new buildings by the end of 2009. In the renovated original buildings there will be space for five apartments along with office space, restaurant capacity and, according to current plans, the Haus der Architektur.
The Sternbrauerei Salzburg
The two architects Gisue and Mojgan Hariri leave a lasting impression.
This is no ordinary building site container, offerimg new perspectives of an inner city area that has lain fallow for 50 years.
Ernst Scholdan
Alexander Doepel
has been chairman of Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG, managing director of Asset Salzburg Immobilienentwicklungs GmbH and has been in charge of real estate development since February 2005. In addition he is the founder and Managing Partner of DDWS Corporate Advisors and has been advising large companies and financial institutions on matters of transfer of ownership, strategically significant acquisitions and decisions since 2002. Furthermore he is chairman of the supervisory board of Capexit AG, an Austrian private equity group, holder of the position Sparkassenrat at “Die Zweite Österreichische Sparcasse” and a director of two Austrian private trusts.
is chairman of Asset One AG and managing director of Asset One Projektentwicklungs GmbH which is 100 % owned by Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG. As founder and Managing Partner of DDWS Corporate Advisors, together with Ernst Scholdan he has been advising large companies and financial institutions on strategic decisions since 2002. Since 1991 as a fellow partner in Scholdan & Company he handled the largest equity market transactions on the Viennese stock exchange including Erste Bank, BBAG and Böhler Uddeholm. Alexander Doepel is also director and partner at Return Medien und Kommunikations GmbH.
People
Roland Koppensteiner
Christoph Gadermayr
Is chairman of Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG, managing director of Asset One Projektentwicklungs GmbH and managing director of Asset Salzburg Immobilienentwicklungs GmbH, both being 100 % owned by Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG, and has directed operations since the foundation of the company in February 2005. Personally always on the lookout for the creation of the new, and still strongly attracted to pioneering tasks, he was previously director of controlling and business planning at ProSiebenSat.1 in Munich and Berlin. As the chairman of Asset One, he is now precisely in the middle between planning and realising, between profitability and unconventionality, between wasteland and urbanity.
Christoph Gadermayr has been project leader at Asset One Immobilienentwicklungs AG since June 2005 and managing director of Asset Salzburg Immobilienentwicklungs GmbH. Gadermayr has been working in various areas of the property business since 1994 and, alongside his work, completed a degree in law at the Johannes Kepler University in Linz as well as the qualification for state-approved real estate trustees. At Brau Union he was a manager in the real estate area responsible for Upper Austria, Salzburg and Tirol. At Asset One, Christoph Gadermayr is responsible for management of property outside Styria and for individual projects.
Imprint
Publisher Asset One Immoblilienentwicklungs AG Partners Institut fĂźr Markenentwicklung Graz, a branding consultancy. Develops and animates brand personality identity. And closely involved in the development of Graz-Reininghaus right from the start. kleboth lindinger partners Teaching, planning and realising architecture and urban planning since 1995. Have been Graz-Reininghaus development partners since 2006.
Editorial staff Cyrus Asreahan Katharina Karoshi Andreas Kleboth Markus Petzl Michael Sammer Markus Zeiringer Design Gabi Peters Translation Y’plus Susanne Baumann-Cox Peter Cox