Architecture and landscape. These two terms are often perceived as contradictions that are difficult to reconcile. Architecture displaces landscape, consumes space, and is often a foreign body in the flow of the landscape. This is particularly painfully apparent on the outskirts of towns, which are occupied by commercial areas that are not the right size for the given size and often have rather unimaginatively designed large buildings, warehouses, and transport infrastructure.
An ambitious project developed by the Linz-based architectural firm Arkform in close cooperation with the landscape planning firm Tomhimmelgrün (St. Marienkirchen/Polsenz) is taking a stand against this widespread practice. To be fair, however, it must be mentioned that the investment volume for the Loxone campus, which will be completed directly near Kollerschlag in 2023, is likely to significantly exceed the budget of a “normal” company settlement.
This is due to the heterogeneous objectives of the project, which is unusual for Upper Austria. The technology company Loxone was founded in Kollerschlag in 2009. Its core business is smart building automation (energy efficiency, security, etc.). The Upper Mühlviertel is not exactly Austria’s Silicon Valley. Despite this, or perhaps precisely because of this, Loxone stuck to the Kollerschlag location (around 1,500 inhabitants).
The establishment of the company with around 250 employees in a rural area enabled a relatively free development of the architectural design and a structural-symbolic concentration of the various company departments in a sophisticated building complex. In addition to research, administration, production and storage, there are at first glance unusual functions such as a seminar center, hotel and the elaborate catering. All tasks and areas that are necessary for production technology and representation are bundled in the new campus in the middle of fields and forests.
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Image: Photo Stoebich eU
Source: Nachrichten
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