Revitalisation Biomedical Technology / Gangoly & Kristiner Architekten

Architects: Gangoly & Kristiner Architekten
Location: Stremayrgasse 16, 8010 Graz, Austria
Lead Architects: Kerstin Wissounig
Area: 11942.0 m2
Project Year: 2015
Photographs: David Schreyer

Collaboration: Ingenos.Gobiet.GmbH
Other Participants: Eva Maria Hierzer, Julia Lainer, Monika Liebmann-Zugschwert, Norbert Schindler

Text description provided by the architects. The revitalisation and conversion of the listed laboratory faculty building into a Biomedical Engineering Centre is a very interesting challenge. Issues of energy efficiency, protection of historic buildings, functionality, economy in construction and operation have to be combined into an overall concept.

The focus thereby is the exposure and the optimal utilisation of the building’s existing structural potential designed by the architect Karl Raimund Lorenz in the mid 1950ies. The façade remains mainly untouched – as required by the authority for protection and conservation of historical monuments. But within the building everything except the main supporting structure and the staircases has been torn down.

Every new non-structural component is selected based on its potential for an optimal atmospheric environment (regarding the design, haptic and climatic features). The material selection combined with the preserved building structure turn into an integral design concept.