Image: Volker Weihbold
Dancing villages, modular climbing halls, neighborhood apps and urban residential buildings with agricultural land: The entries for the Immotopia Innovation Award 2023 were bursting with creativity. On Wednesday, the Oberösterreichische Nachrichten and the housing and revitalization company Compact, together with their partners, honored young people from Upper Austria for their creative ideas on the subject of living, architecture and the use of space.
“As a company in the construction industry, it’s important for us to know: What concerns young people when it comes to architecture? How do they imagine their living space in the future? That’s why we offered this prize,” said Johann Amerstorfer, Managing Director of Compact, the is part of the Holzhaider Group.
The prize is aimed at pupils and students who were able to submit their concepts individually or as a group. A jury then evaluated the projects and selected three main prize winners and four special prize winners (see boxes on the right). The jury was made up of representatives of the sponsors, architects and experts from the Education Department of Upper Austria. In addition to a certificate and an award, the winners also received prize money: the winners of the main prizes received 2,000 euros, and the special prizes 500 or 1,000 euros. In addition to the Holzhaider Group, this was made possible by the supporters of the event: Hypo Oberösterreich, Energie AG, J. Brandstetter Bauträger Beteiligungen and Strasser Steine.
Architecture as teamwork
As a keynote speaker, Siegfried Atteneder, jury member and professor of architecture at the University of Art and Design Linz, spoke about current developments in his field. “The days of the lone wolves designing buildings from the ivory tower are over. High-quality architecture is teamwork and includes the urban environment as well as ecological and economic factors,” said Atteneder. For him as a master builder, the award is instructive, said Johann Brandstetter: “The submissions show that the participants have great empathy and an awareness of social problems. Today, that is often neglected,” he said.
Klaus Kumpfmüller, General Director of Hypo Oberösterreich, presented the main prize in the Digital Support category. “It’s very impressive to see how young people see digitization as an opportunity. We want to encourage this creativity,” he said at the award ceremony for the winners of the HTL Leonding.
Johannes Artmayr, Managing Director of Strasser Steine, was particularly impressed by the idea of sustainability in many of the entries: “It becomes clear how important ecology is to young people. This award is a good opportunity to honor this commitment.”
The winning projects would point in the right direction, said Gerald Herrmann, Head of Sales at Energie AG: “The winners thought about digitization and sustainability, including in terms of energy supply, right from the start – that’s where we have to go.”
special prices
Due to the numerous top-class entries, four special prizes were awarded for Immotopia 2023. Here the winners:
With the “Flexlive” project, the timber construction team at PTS Schwanenstadt came up with modular housing boxes for young skilled workers that can be taken with them when they move.
Christina Kraxberger developed the project “The Dancing Village”: A residential complex with rotating towers, where not only common areas but also the view are shared.
Benjamin Altrichter wrote the comic “Out of town? Never!”, which provides suggestions for a family-friendly inner city.
Paul Daubek-Puza and Christina Kraxberger developed modules for “Modular Urban Climbing” that make vacant spaces in the city usable – for example as a climbing hall.
New living concepts
Wiener Strasse in Linz stretches between residential areas, water forest and industry.
For a vacancy on the street, art university student Julien Reinhart has planned a multi-part building complex – with small apartments and maisonettes in needle-like towers, court studios and large shared apartments. Ideal for mixed use with commercial space, offices and living space.
digital support
The “Nochba” app by three HTL Leonding students – Sandin Habibovic, Martin Hausleitner and Arsham Edalatkhah – connects neighbourhoods: people can ask for support from the area and make appointments. Automatically translated chats break the language barrier.
Sustainable living
Daniel Schöngruber from the Kunstuni secured the main prize in the Sustainable Living category. He dedicated himself entirely to redesigning Linz’s Kapuzinerstraße and even developed his own type of building, which, in addition to offices and apartments, also enables agriculture in the city.
Source: Nachrichten
