HYPO ALPE-ADRIA CENTER FOR HYPO BANK KLAGENFURT, AUSTRIA
John Enright was Project Designer and Project Architect for Morphosis Architects. Situated approximately six kilometers east of the city center of Klagenfurt, Austria, where the expanding city meets more suburban and agricultural regions, the Hypo Alpe-Adria Center negotiates the complex boundary between rural and urban typologies. This urban edge condition, as seen in many contemporary cities, is populated by a mix of open parking lots, over- scaled commercial developments, and homogeneous suburbs. By drawing inspiration from both the geo- logically rich landscape and the contorted paths and plazas of a small village, the concept integrates the qualities of both rural and urban experiences. The majority of the program (event center, commercial space, offices, housing) is housed in a low-rise building that emerges from the ground, pro- viding a conceptual link to the nearby rural landscape. Street axes are pulled through the building complex to organize the site. The southern end of the site abuts
the busy Volkermarkt Strasse, where a large canopy invites the public into the bank and events center. The northern portion of the site utilizes open gardens and commercial space to transition into the neighbor- ing suburban context where the bank headquarters is located. The five-story mass juts skyward above the low-lying surrounding “landscape” buildings, as if pushed from the earth by the seismic shifting of tectonic plates. The intersection of the separate vol- umes of the building create a central courtyard where natural light reaches down to the branch bank at the ground floor. The circulation core and lobbies are connected at each floor to the main building mass by bridges, which then pierce the louvered façade, creat- ing balconies that overlook the city streets. The Hypo-Alpe Adria is an urban environment which serves its clients while connecting the nearby urban center and surrounding rural landscape through conceptual and physical means.
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