Prize-Winners: Montanuni Leoben Study Centre and Graz-Puntigam Education Campus

The German Design Council honoured two of our projects at once at the Iconic Awards 2023. The Montanuni Leoben Study Centre was distinguished in the premiere “Best of Best” category, while the Graz-Puntigam Education Campus was named a “Winner” project. The prize was awarded by an international jury of experts at the ceremony held in Munich at the beginning of October. In its explanatory statement for the Study Centre in Leoben, the jury emphasised the “functional form that asserts itself in the existing built fabric”, the continuous bands on the façade, and the concise use of materials in the interior, and added: “With the campus extension, the mining university confidently underlines the role of the Styrian city as a science hub in keeping with tradition.”

Info Event on the Liezen Regional Hospital in Stainach-Pürgg

We have recently completed the preliminary design phase of the Liezen Regional Hospital, which we are realising in cooperation with Maurer & Partner. At an event in Stainach-Pürgg at the end of September, the local residents were able to inform themselves about the current state of planning and ask questions of those involved in the project. Franz&Sue architect Barbara Hohensinn took part on behalf of the working group. She reported on the coordination talks with users, authorities and specialist planners and explained our concept for the new hospital, in which we are placing three buildings of different sizes in the gently rising landscape, taking advantage of the topography. The next step is the design phase, in which the plans will be further deepened.

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Franz&Sue&things done together.

For our summer regulars’ table, we went to the site of the former Vienna Northwest Railway Station. First off, the Tracing Spaces team gave us a guided tour of the terrain with exciting historical insights. Afterwards, we had a barbecue at a great location, the old petrol station. With cool drinks, DJ beats, and live music, we chatted and danced the summer evening away.

Franz&Sue Exhibition Contribution

“Architecture in the book and the book in architecture” is the theme of an exhibition at the AIT ArchitekturSalon in Hamburg, where Franz&Sue partners Christian Ambos and Michael Anhammer also made two contributions. For the show, architects were asked which book had a special influence or still inspires them today. Christian Ambos chose The Poetics of a Wall Projection by Jan Turnovsky, his former professor of housing at the Vienna University of Technology. Michael Anhammer chose Italomodern by Martin and Werner Feiersinger, which accompanies him on journeys with his family and makes him rhapsodise nostalgically about Italian post-war modernism.

Excursion to the Parliament

This time our Stammtisch took us to the Parliament, which has recently undergone a complete renovation according to the plans of Jabornegg & Pálffy and now shines in new splendour. The 40-member Franz&Sue delegation had exciting insights into the built heart of Austrian democracy – from the plenary halls and the library to the visitor centre and the observation deck underneath the new glass dome. Our team was even allowed to take a seat in one of the investigative committee rooms. Many thanks to Harald Wagner from BIG and Rudolf Gollia from the Parliamentary Administration for the expert tour!

At the Trepka Factory

The Trepka company manufactures the façade composite elements for our housing project in Grete-Zimmer-Gasse in Vienna. We recently visited the factory in Ober-Grafendorf. The individual work steps are performed station by station on a circulation line: First, the employees build the formwork into which the rebar is installed, and then the concrete is poured. Once it has dried, the insulation is fixed in between, and another layer of concrete is poured. Finally, the elements are sandblasted to give them a high-calibre exposed concrete surface – then it’s off to the building site.

Construction Work at Frankhplatz

Together with our partner office YF architekten, we are planning the new Vienna U5 stations. The underground outer walls of the new station at at Frankhplatz have already been erected and tunnel construction work started there at the beginning of May. On the occasion of the tunnel tapping ceremony, we had the the opportunity to take a look around the construction site deep underground.

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Building with Prefabricated Concrete Elements in the Social Housing Sector

Prefabricated composite façade elements save a lot of time during construction and enable high-quality and precise processing of concrete. We already employed this building method for our own office project, the Stadtelefant, and now we are following a similar concept for a residential development in Vienna’s 22nd district with a premium quality exposed concrete façade – elegant, honest, and straightforward.

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AzW Publication Shows Award-Winning Projects

We are featured with no less than three projects in the new publication "Best of Austria 2020/21" published by the Architekturzentrum Wien. The anthology shows buildings that were awarded national and international architecture prizes in these two years and also presents the architectural studios behind them. In addition to the Leoben Education Centre and the renovated and expanded Court House in Salzburg, our Stadtelefant office building in Vienna's Sonnwendviertel district is also presented in the publication.

Graz-Puntigam Education Campus

"A school has been built according to our needs and ideas, from the very beginning we have had the feeling that we are moving into our common house, which we have helped to plan and design", says Roland Schadl, director of the elementary school Puntigam. Recently, the largest elementary school in Styria was ceremoniously opened, where we turned a pavilion-like structure into a contemporary cooperative educational campus with plenty of space for education, exercise and leisure. And the special part about it: for the building, we opted for materials such as brick, loam and hemp and a low-tech approach that promises longevity. "

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Montanuni Leoben Study Centre

Glück auf! is an Austrian miners’ greeting of old. After opening the doors to our new study centre at the University of Leoben to students in early October, it was now ceremoniously inaugurated by Federal Minister of Education, Science and Research Martin Polaschek, Rector Wilfried Eichlseder, BIG CEO Hans-Peter Weiss, Styrian Governor Christopher Drexler, and Mayor Kurt Wallner, amongst others. Franz&Sue partners Corinna Toell and Michael Anhammer were also on site to join BIG project manager Gabriele Leitner in a befitting celebration to cheer in the campus’s new hub.

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Competition Winner, Styria

Where clover now grows, the new regional hospital for the Liezen district will rise in the coming years. In collaboration with Maurer&Partner, our design for the 230-bed hospital on a slope provides for short distances, simple orientation, and optimal lighting. And all this “hides” behind just three visible floors and harmonizes perfectly with the rural idyll.

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Anatomy of the Med Uni Graz

We adapted and expanded the former Institute of Pathology for the Institute of Anatomy of the Medical University of Graz. The heritage-listed building, which dates back to 1912, will be enhanced with a new, two-story entrance area including a spacious foyer and also accommodate laboratories, offices, and a library. A subterranean lecture hall for 500 students connects the existing structure with the modern new building. Two dissection rooms with 70 tables, for example, are situated here. In cooperation with the Haus der Architektur, the project manager of Franz&Sue, Thomas Rögelsperger, and of BIG, Klaus Grill, gave interested parties first-hand insights into the project during two guided tours on September 17.

Office Excursion to Graz

This year, our excursion took us to the Styrian capital where we are currently completing two exciting projects. First, the team went to the Puntigam Education Campus, and after a group lunch, they continued to the Institute of Anatomy at the Medical University of Graz. A big thank you to the project managers who presented their designs with so much enthusiasm!

Bratislava Excursion

Our project team, which planned the Institute of Anatomy at Med Uni Graz, has done a great job in the past years. To conclude the project, the team went for a trip on the Twin City Liner to Bratislava, where Pavol Paňák, partner of BKPŠ, gave us a guided tour of the National Gallery, which is currently under construction. With architect Andrea Dilhoffová, we then headed to other stops in the city: the Radio and Television of Slovakia building, the functionalist housing project Avion, the Slovak University of Technology, Freedom Square, and Kamenné námestie. With so much exciting architecture, we will definitely come back soon!

Competition winner, Leonding | Pasching

The internationally active company KEBA needs new office and production space that communicates its corporate culture to the outside world. Our design links the working worlds between office and production, incorporates the outdoor space, and focuses on resource-saving circular economy.

End of the week at the Heurigen

This time, the Franz&Sue regulars’ table included a hike through the vineyards on the Kahlenberg for a toast to the summer up at the Wailand winery with lots of sunshine and good wine. We were rewarded with typical Viennese Brettljause snacks and a stunning view over Vienna.

Kick-off Franz&Sue Academy

In recent years, we were able to deepen our knowledge in a number of specialist areas and gather a lot of experience as a team. Now we would like to pass on this know-how to our colleagues in the framework of an internal training programme and continue learning together. This idea led to the Franz&Sue Academy, which will take place at regular intervals. We also open the floor to guest lectures by experts – such as Ursula Spannberger, who recently presented her Raumwert method in a workshop.

Construction Work at Vienna City Hall Begins

At the future U2xU5 metro station Rathaus (City Hall), the first tunnel construction works for the new U2 metro line to “Matzleinsdorfer Platz” started in June. We visited the old, imposing tunnels, most of which will be preserved and integrated into the new infrastructure. At the Rathaus station, the U2 line will cross underneath the tracks of the fully automated U5 line.

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Short Lecture Evening at BFI Linz

When the Austria-Architects platform was looking for the building of the year 2021 in a reader voting, we reached the top 10 with the Chemistry Lab at the IST Campus in Klosterneuburg – making us now part of “Your Best”! At the finale of the Architecture Days on June 9, our project manager Björn Haunschmid-Wakolbinger provided insights into the design process and told the story of how the building came into being.

Competition First Prize, Vienna

Across from the Generali Arena stadium and close to a major traffic junction in Vienna’s Favoriten district, a ball sports high school is being built, where – in addition to the standard lessons in German, English and math – the focus is on competitive sports. Our design is oriented upon the needs of young athletes and includes a gymnasium that accommodates three courts with a roof garden where students can relax after training.

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Competition winner, Berlin

The working group of Franz&Sue and Schenker Salvi Weber has landed in Berlin! For three quarters of a year, we put a lot of heart and soul into the design for the new building of this great German institution. Looking back on working out two stages and a revision phase for this project, and after several joint competitions, we finally came out the winners for the first time! All the greater is our delight about this prize!

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Administration Building for the European Stability Mechanism and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg

This quarter in Luxembourg City is characterized by EU institutions, security concepts, and heterogeneous architecture. Our design lends the neighbourhood more civic identity with an ensemble that incorporates public space and adds a touch of calm to the urban fabric. These ideas earned us 2^nd prize.

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Exhibition visit

The Architekturzentrum Wien has a colourful new permanent exhibition, and we recently paid it a visit: “Hot Questions – Cold Storage” provides insights into Austrian architecture of the 20th and 21st centuries. Many thanks to curator Monika Platzer and architect Michael Hieslmair from Tracing Spaces, who gave us an exclusive guided tour and engaged in a lively discourse with us!

The New Central Vocational School in Seestadt Aspern

Our design integrates into the heterogenous neighbourhood elegantly and articulates diverse spatial-pedagogical concepts in three clusters for hands-on professional training. Our plan was awarded 3^rd prize by the jury.

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Construction Begins on the Residential High-Rise

Right beside the “Freie Mitte” – the planned wilderness park in the quarter – and right in the centre of the end loop of tramway O, the cranes have taken their positions. This is where our 21-storey residential high-rise is being built. The concrete foundation slab is currently being poured, and the first walls are soon to follow. What’s special about this project is its striking form and the differently designed balcony fronts. Follow the link to see our design.

Renovation and Conversion of the Monument-Listed Orthopaedic Hospital

We set on a journey through the past of this historic building and had a look at what has changed through bygone decades. How do the former operating rooms look today? By how many floors did the hospital grow? And we also dare to peek into the future: Here’s how the hospital rooms will transform into school classrooms. 

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New Replacement Building, University of Bonn, North Rhein-Westphalia

Our design for the laboratory and research building focuses on sustainable timber construction and climate-friendly fabrication. To this end, we developed a sustainability concept together with experts in this early planning stage. The competition jury awarded us 2^nd prize.

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Architecture Conference in Slovenia

The programme of the Piran Days of Architecture, which takes place each year in the Slovenian coastal town, consists of lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and an architectural competition. This year Franz&Sue partner Christian Ambos participated at the international architecture conference as a juror and lecturer. The 2021 theme was centred on the question of what is measurable in architecture. Other lectures were held by architects from Hungary, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, North Macedonia, Spain, and the USA.  

Congratulations to Completion!

We congratulate Katarína Martoňáková and Ajdin Vukovic for their exciting research projects! Katarína’s diploma thesis "Die Stadt und die Trauer" (The City and Mourning) reflects on the relationship of the city and society towards death and how mourning can be localised in contemporary cities. Parallel to his work, Ajdin furthered his studies at the Institute of Anatomy at Med Uni Graz in the field of neurosciences and wrote about innovations in psychological trauma therapy. In "Body as a House" he investigates the role of our bodies in trauma treatment and how architecture can make a contribution.

Lecture at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences

The series “Architektur Umtrunk” of the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering in Wiesbaden kicked off its winter semester with a lecture by Michael Anhammer. He provided the students insights into our work methods and projects – for example, the Salzburg Courthouse, the Leoben School Complex, and the Evangelic Church Campus in Nuremberg.

Residential Project in St. Pölten, Lower Austria

The aim of our new residential project nearby the Government district in St. Pölten, with its eye-catching indented rows of lush green loggias, is densification. But opposed to building a 140-metre-long block facing the city, our strategy was to play with various heights and to fracture the volume into four individual building components. The small-scale articulation of the façade generates an individuality that is embedded in a harmonious ensemble.

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Building site: Headquarters of the Upper Austria Provincial Police Directorate

A command centre to take emergency calls from all over Upper Austria – and it’s under construction at the moment on the premises of the Upper Austria Provincial Police Directorate in Linz. The heart of the three-storey complex will be the 300-plus m² operations coordination room. A glazed bridge connects the new building with the existing – if needed, the headquarters can be topped off with two additional floors. The green atrium offers an attractive space for relaxing during the breaks.

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Office excursion to Lower Austria

Following a pause, we were on the road once again to check out two exciting projects. Franz&Sue partner Robert Diem and project manager Björn Haunschmid-Wakolbinger guided the team through our recently unveiled Chemistry Lab on the IST Campus. After lunch together, the tour continued to the Großweikersdorf community centre where Christian Kircher and Olya Sendetska from smartvoll architects gave us some insights into their building.

Redesign of the University of Klagenfurt Campus, Carinthia

The University of Klagenfurt needed an urban planning concept to accommodate the continual growth of the campus. This included the design of the first new buildings and the organisation of public pathways. We proposed institute and seminar buildings grouped around a central square, which form a nexus for the entire campus.

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Franz&Sue Picnic in the Park

For the longest time we have had to go without get-togethers and parties… Now the team could finally meet up out in the park and spend some laid-back hours together with picnic baskets and a park quiz.

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Competition winner, Vienna

Village im Dritten: Our new residential project creates a space for living and working together. The two-storey parlour – the entrance to the building but also to the city quarter – encourages encounters and communication; numerous communal rooms, open spaces, and a village street of sorts expand the living spaces of the inhabitants. Furthermore, it is they who will also play an important role in the project development and support in the framework of the “MIeTMACHEREI” participatory planning process , and after moving in, in the residents’ advisory board.

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Competition winner, Salzburg

Kick-off for our first hospital! In collaboration with Maurer & Partner, we are planning a new seven-story building on the premises of the Cardinal Schwarzenberg Clinic in Schwarzach. The second-largest hospital in the province of Salzburg was in need of additional space for operating rooms, a pharmacy, a laboratory, and the pathology and psychiatric departments.

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Competition winner, Vienna

The former orthopaedic hospital in Gersthof, with its characteristic historical architecture, will be refurbished from the ground up and adapted with targeted interventions into a contemporary school complex.

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Franz&Sue awarded the Lower Austrian Culture Prize 2020

“This architecture office with its large team and strong network stands for profoundly contemporary and future-oriented architecture and has left exemplary traces both in Lower Austria and around the world.” — Andi Breuss, Lower Austrian Culture Prize jury member

To the eulogy

Campus for the headquarters of the Deutsche Bundesbank, Frankfurt am Main

In the framework of a large-scale redesign and expansion plan, a modern campus is being built for the 5000 employees of the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany. Together with our partner Schenker Salvi Weber, we developed a competition concept that sets a new path between architectural ensemble and individuality.

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Intermezzo with Franz&Sue on Ö1 radio station

Each Sunday, the radio programme Intermezzo on radio station Ö1 invites artists to a conversation. Franz&Sue partners Harald Höller and Robert Diem spoke with Anna Soucek about our office philosophy, the architecture cluster Stadtelefant, and projects that are important to us on a personal and political level.

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Franz&Sue in home office

In mid-March 2020 the Austrian Federal Government announced a nationwide lockdown to combat the pandemic. Our team keeps on working and provides insights into the architects’ daily work in home office.