Image: Steindl
“A sensitive location that shapes the appearance of the city”: This was heard several times in advance when it came to the urban planning considerations for the Salzstadel area on the Obere Donaulände.
Today, the plans for the future use and design were presented for the first time to the design advisory board. Although he did not object to the planned use of the hotel, he rejected the project in its entirety. According to the tenor of the members, this does not provide the “high-quality” solution that this important location on the Danube needs.
Instead, the advisory board recommended an architectural competition “in the interest of the public”. Whether there will actually be such a thing was not certain tonight.
It is a pity that the client did not follow the recommendation of a competition made by the city from the start, which was apparently not aware of the implications of this project for the appearance of the city of Linz, said planning councilor Dietmar Prammer (SP). The urban planning requirements for the location were not taken into account in the draft.
Motel One as operator
The developer on the Salztstadel site plus the neighboring property is W & H Ehrlichen Entwicklungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH (as part of RealGruppe Immobilien), the design presented yesterday goes back to Stögmüller Architekten ZT GmbH.
This stipulates that the old Salzstadel, which is not a listed building, should be demolished to make room for the new hotel building. As reported, there is already an operator in Motel One, which also has a location on the main square. The plan would have been to erect four buildings as a kind of row of houses, the tallest of which would have been seven storeys high.
Lorenz Potocnik (Linz+) said that it would be wrong to just pass the buck on to investors. The building site is very important and unique for Linz, the city planners have failed to develop an urban concept for the area from the Römerberg tunnel to the Nibelungen Bridge. The bad design and the lack of ideas behind the project presented today is also a symptom of this urban planning vacuum.
The first structure (coming from the Römerberg tunnel) was to have two storeys in order to create a kind of forecourt. The complex should have accommodated a total of around 150 hotel rooms and a restaurant. The planners also put forward the “vision” of a panorama lift and footbridge connections for the barrier-free development of the castle, but this was not part of the actual project.
In today’s advisory board meeting, however, the green light was given for the Mengerstrasse project, that at Landstrasse 97 is a case for the planning visit.
Source: Nachrichten
