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| Sun 12 Oct 2008 |
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Tag: Austria
These items have all been tagged with the tag "Austria", You can see other tags in the Tag Cloud| Zaha Hadid – Nordpark Cable Railway |
| 2008-01-16 00:05:44 |
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After designing the prize winning Bergisel Ski Jump, the city of Innsbruck invited Zaha Hadid back to design four new stations and a cable-stayed suspension bridge for the Nordkettenbahn – the city’s cable railway system. Continuing their global contribution to the seamlessness between computer generated design and construction, the ZH Architects studied glacial formations and ice movement and translated their ideas with similar design technologies used by the automotive and aircraft industry to achieve varying degrees of movement and circulation in structure. Residents and visitors can now embark trains in the city’s centre at the new Congress Station and reach the summit of Seegrube Mountain in 20 minutes. Each progressive station crosses the Inn River and then ascends the Nordkette Mountain terminating 863 metres high at the Hungerburg Station. Passengers then transfer to cable cars that travel to the top at 2,300 metres. ZH Architects’ signature fluidity in design was carried through here with the innovative use of doublecurvature glass in construction. The design could not be actualised without inventive production methods such as CNC milling and thermoforming. Each unique station looks at though winter melted down the mountainside flowing freely across the new suspension bridge and into the river. By Andrew J Wiener |
| Wolkenturm, Grafenegg (Open Air Stage) |
| 2008-01-14 00:13:26 |
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In Austria, a country perhaps most known for its music, a new event is occurring. Not far from Vienna in the rolling hills of Grafenegg, the first annual International Music Festival took place last year. Concerts have long been played in the area, but some remarkable architectural additions have dramatically transformed the rural setting. Just last year saw the inauguration of the open-air Wolekenturm – or Cloud Tower – with its miraculous roof thrusting skyward beyond the level of the surrounding trees. The architects excavated a natural depression in the landscape and inserted a stage and tiers of seating. The connection between the audience and nature is obvious – but perhaps most notable through a window at the back of the stage that allows a direct view to the valley and changing colours of the sky in the distance. The second Grafenegg International Music Festival will be held 21 August to 7 September 2008. By Andrew J Wiener. |
| LICHTBLICK CAFE - Austria |
| 2007-06-25 03:14:09 |
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If decidedly unfashionable cuckoo clocks, Tyrolean kitsch and yodeling form your memories of Austria, update your impressions next time you are in Innsbruck. It is hard to not look up in Innsbruck, the provincial capital of Tyrol, with the Nordkette Mountains hulking all around. But focus a bit lower and zero in on the new Town Hall. The Dominique Perrault-designed building is on the Old Town’s (Altstadt) main artery, the 17th century Maria-Theresien Strasse. Go up to the rooftop Lichtblick Cafe (also by Perrault) and marvel at the magnificent 360-degree views. The place is fashionable, sleek and definitely void of Alpen-kitsch. The walls are floor-to-ceiling glass and the roof is a translucent membrane allowing daylight through. At night, the entire cafe looks like a large glowing lighting fixture in the sky. The 54-year-old Perrault is highly regarded for his ability to allow landscapes to be transformed but not interfered by his buildings. His notable upcoming projects include the EWHA Women’s University in Seoul, Korea (2008), the new Mariinski Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia (2009), and the Olympic Tennis Centre in Madrid, Spain (2009). By Tuija Seipell. |
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