TANIA MARQUES ARCHITECT

The building is located in a courtyard surrounded by the Hofburg and the Nationalbibliotek of Vienna. The new multifunctional space is a new building that complements the actual library, in order to hold new activities that nowadays have no room in this 18^th century impressing building, such as lectures, art exhibitions and concerts.

 

The new room is conceived as an undergrounded box that is divided in three different spaces by large panels that can be lift to the outside, not only changing the inside space but also the outdoor. These two panels are covered on the outside by two large glass boxes. Another different glass boxes (used on the outside as street benches and cultural panels) are settled on the courtyard reflecting the surrounding classic buildings façades. Depending of the position of the panels, lifted or down, we can see through the glass boxes different areas of the undergrounded multifunctional space. A new magic atmosphere is create inside and outside the undergrounded room, as the classical art of the old buildings and the contemporary art of the new room become linked by these glass boxes.

 

The interior space can be defined as three big tubes at different levels, connected between ramps inside tunnels, which lead you to a lower level, giving the sensation of going deeper into the big room. The visual connection between these different levels also depends on the two walls that divide the space. The space can be adapted for the different uses, changing from a fragmented space to a lofty big single room, from an undergrounded box to a linked space to the outside.

 

Concrete, glass and metal are the main materials in this project. The undergrounded building is made of concrete walls and a lightweight slab that allows the free space required by the multifunctional space.

The inter-medium level platform is hanged from the ceiling by steel turnbuckles. Several panels are hanging below it in order to be used as exhibition supports or as an acoustic ceiling for special events.                             

The moving walls which divide the space are made of lightweight aluminium and are moved with a lift system that has its motor on the upper part of the glass boxes.

 

Only glass construction solution is used for the two main boxes of the moving walls. All the other boxes of the exterior are made of glasses with different opacity and keep inside them metal panels of different sizes fixed on the ground that can be used as support for art. Every element is part of the multifunctional place as it makes it a changeable space where different things can happen.