architek[tour] tirol – guide to architecture in tyrol

In the centre of Natters, a health and social centre was built for the population of the surrounding villages with a residential home, a daytime care facility, a medical practice and a separate house for "assisted living" that is connected by a covered bridge. By dividing the building into two parts, it was possible to realise volumes that were compatible with the locality and to create outdoor spaces with different qualities.

Erecting a residential building along the Südring near the Grassmayrkreuzung presents a difficult challenge. Raimund Rainer reacts to this starting situation with several structures of varying heights that run along the street. Closing the existing block perimeter development off on three sides, they function as a soundproof wall in the south. An additional, free-standing structure, which the majority of the apartment living rooms are oriented towards, was placed in the quiet inner courtyard.

Environmentally-conscious thinking and acting have been strongly emphasized in the community of Karrösten for many years. The village house itself, which houses the village office, a multipurpose hall, as well as a nursery school and apartments, did not meet this requirement at all. The renovation concept, which resulted from an architecture competition, not only brought the existing stock from the1960s up to a passive house quality regarding energy efficiency, but also improved the whole spatial structure around the village office, which was relocated as the connecting middle point on the ground floor.

Based on town planning considerations, the new secondary modern school building was designed so that together with the polytechnic and nursery school, it would create an integrated spacious premises. The inside of the "passive house” school is flooded with light. The school’s central hall opens up into a space illuminated from above, around this an open staircase providing access to the class and group rooms.

This cultural centre – the name literally translates as "greenhouse” – was planted in the city centre in the 1980’s. The hermetic octagonal structure made out of dark Lecca stones was to symbolise the stubbornly provocative mind of the then young and ever-belligerent impresario. Since then, the building was enlarged and also, in a way, "opened”, by Reinhard Honold, in 2001, and has become, together with the events staged there, a well-established part of the city’s cultural life.