Identified for its minimalist inside design merchandise, the IKEA Metropolis Middle Vienna Westbahnhof options an exterior designed to resemble the model’s well-known shelving. Native agency querkraft accomplished a design that will combine the constructing into its surrounding neighborhood, with hostels and public areas filling out the constructing’s program along with the shop. A rooftop terrace is accessible to the general public from the bottom stage, no buy required.
IKEA requested that the design of the shop mirror the corporate’s intent to be a “good neighbor” in Vienna, with a constructing that not solely options public areas, but additionally meets excessive efficiency requirements in a dense city setting. On the floor stage, a void permits occupants to view all ranges of the constructing whereas bringing daylight into the inside. The floorplan was formed by a ten-by-ten meter grid or prefabricated, strengthened concrete columns, permitting for long-term flexibility within the inside program.
The constructing’s exterior is fashioned by a grid that’s impressed by IKEA’s shelving items, with “4.5-metre-deep, shelf-like off-set-zone run[ning] across the constructing,” as described by querkraft proprietor Jakob Dunkl. These areas present daylight, contemporary air, and, most notably, house for bushes. Dunkl additional added that it was essential to render the constructing’s inside seen from the outside, with giant glazing along with the balcony areas. The outside body was constructed with metal beams–with corrosion class C3 and coated RAL 9016 matte–joined with miter-cut connections rigorously designed for a exact facade. The constructing’s pores and skin is a collection Brucha panels in galvanized profiled steel-tanks–which coat the load-bearing concrete body–and triple-insulated glazing from Schüco, which has particular anti-reflection coating on the bottom flooring.
The incorporation of 160 bushes within the constructing’s design was a part of an “purpose to go greener,” with Dunkl likening the end result to a “three-dimensional park.” Querkraft labored with Kräftner Landschaftsplanung and Green4cities—two Vienna-based panorama corporations—who drew inspiration from Swedish nurseries. The bushes have been imported from Northern Germany, first to a nursery close to Vienna to acclimate to the local weather, after which to the location. Dunkl mentioned that IKEA requested bushes that will not merely be normal, however ones that will have “one thing particular to point out.” As a result of added depth of the balconies, along with the rooftop, extra bushes may very well be positioned on the web site than would have in any other case been doable solely on the bottom space. 9 months after their arrival to the location the well being of the bushes was reevaluated, with six needing substitute, beating expectations from a difficult set up course of throughout COVID.
Other than wanting to include pure parts into the facade for look, the bushes—notably as soon as they’ve grown for just a few years—will help in cooling the world surrounding the constructing. Noting the issue of overheating in lots of city environments, querkraft sought to chill the constructing’s facade in summer time months with a purpose to cut back warmth emissions in a single day. The bushes additionally handle the Metropolis of Vienna’s City Warmth Island Technique Plan, which names planting as a main measure. Grates on the platforms additional assist to mitigate warmth, with modeling projecting a 1.5℃ lower at avenue stage in complete.
Development started throughout winter 2019, with a stoppage in February 2020 as a result of outbreak of COVID. Except for the pandemic, the constructing’s web site posed distinctive development challenges, with restricted accessibility. A tramway to the south, and buildings on the north and west sides of the location left the east aspect as the one entry zone, notably complicating the necessity for a crane to raise the bushes onto the constructing. Concrete pouring was accomplished shortly, with a complete 2,500 sq. meter story going up without delay, at a tempo of 1 story per week. Querkraft labored in “steady dialogue” with the principle contractor, sustaining cost-efficiency all through the undertaking and dealing collaboratively to succeed in the ultimate facade design and development particulars.
Architect: querkraft
Location: Vienna, Austria
Completion Date: August 2021
Exterior Glass: Schüco
Galvanised Profiled Metal-Tank Panels: Brucha
Bushes: Grünbau jakel GmbH
Structural Guide: Thomas Lorenz ZT GmbH
Native Constructing Website Supervision: Weiner Dipl-Ing. Markus ZT GmbH
Panorama: Kräftner Landschaftsplanung; Green4cities
Constructing Physics: Ingenieure P. Jung ZT GmbH
Wind Consolation: Weatherpark GmbH
