okai

Competition for an Office Building at Franz-Josefs-Kai in 1010 Vienna

The project focuses on the corner of a block in downtown Vienna. The building opens inwards to draw in the urban space onto several levels above the access and public functions. Ramps, stairways, office spaces, a restaurant and a Iecture hall gather around a complexly modulated space ot light.
The main access is located at the quayside, below the bar rising up into the first upper floor. Next to the entrance, the space also opens downwards and gives a view into the basement garage. Behind the entrance set off far into the block’s interior, a ramp runs counterwound the garage’s departure ramp to access a bunge on the second floor. In turn, the bunge merges into a lecture room that ascends above the restaurant inserted at ground level. The elevators and porter’s lodge are deliberately placed into the volume’s ,rear’ corner; the lecture hall and the bar provide open air spaces above, while their inclines allow sideward perspectives to the docks and the covers of the surrounding office floors.
Above the lecture hall, the air space in the other stories is graded up to the southwestern fire wall. The floors’ projections and recesses at the quayside, and the projecting ceilings on the southeastern side, provide protection from the sun and invite visitors to step out on the balconies, preventing flashovers and lending the glass facades a body and plasticity.