Innsbruck is not only the amazingly beautiful capital of Tyrol, but also a very special city in terms of both historical and modern architecture.
Eduard-Wallnöfer Platz, also called Landhausplatz, only confirms this thesis. This square, the largest in the city and located in its very center, is notable for the fact that it houses the extremely "dominant" building of the government of the state of Tyrol (which gave it its second name), built during the time of National Socialism, as well as four monuments, one of which there is an impressive arch. By the way, they are very often ranked among the monuments of fascism, although in fact they were erected in memory of those who died for the liberation of Austria from it. A garage was built under the square back in 1985, and because of the lack of amenities, both locals and tourists just passed by.
Today Landhausplatz is a landmark of Innsbruck, a favorite leisure spot for the townspeople. What made people suddenly fall in love with this square?
The reason for the change is the project of its renovation, carried out by a young architectural bureau
LAAC Architekten in collaboration with Stiefel Kramer Architecture. It is worth mentioning that the LAAC office just overlooks the Landhausplatz. From my point of view, in such a situation, they certainly did not have "the right to make a mistake." And the architects did an excellent job with the task, having developed an economical, functional, stylish project.
It was quite obvious that both the government building and the monumental monuments to the victory over fascism were completely out of scale with a person and created a tense, unpleasant atmosphere. In addition, there were no "points of attraction" on Landhausplatz, and the townspeople had no reason to come and spend time there.
The architects brought the concept of modern urban space to life, creating a wave-like “sculpture” of 9,000 m2 from concrete slabs. The new relief of the square is such that, while preserving the historical heritage, it makes the scale of the monuments much more human. They are integrated into the “body” of this “sculpture” and are surrounded by trees, a fountain, benches, lanterns, and drinking fountains. The concrete surface rises in places, moving from the textured "pavement" to the smooth polished ledges-seats. The trees in the square are either "implanted" into these seats, or planted next to them.
Due to the undulating relief, the square can be used as a skate park, which, of course, attracts many young people there, and people of other ages are happy to read surrounded by greenery, albeit few, look at the streams of water in a fountain or sit in a cafe, admiring the wonderful view of the renovated Landhausplatz.
A part of the square has been left in front of the State Government Building so that it can be used as a stage for various city events.
Technical issues were also taken into account: rain and any other water flows into the gaps between the plates. It should be noted that the slabs on Landhausplatz reach a size of 100 m2.
The atmosphere of the square is formed not only due to the many people who come here and the comfortable scale of the monuments, but also due to the very competent work with color, light and texture. Monolithic monolithic concrete gives the project integrity, and the relief - a certain contrast, setting the interaction of light and shadow. In the dark, the lighting emphasizes the architectural design of the Landhausplatz.
The example of Landhausplatz once again shows that to achieve a high result, grandiose financial investments are not at all necessary: a creative approach to the task and the openness of the customer (in this case, the city authorities) to new, even non-standard solutions is enough.
This project is also good in how skillfully it handles such a complex topic as the architectural heritage of National Socialism. As the government building, made, as I have already mentioned, in the best traditions of the architecture of that period, and the monuments erected in honor of the liberation of Austria and, ironically, designed in the same style, completely lose their "imperious" character, dissolving in the relief of the modern, very comfortable area. Losing their monumentality, they also lose their dominant position in the urban landscape, becoming part of the ensemble.
There is a very correct philosophy in this. Instead of destroying the architecture of the totalitarian era or completely ignoring it, pretending that there will be nothing terrible from its existence, you can simply deprive it of power, thereby gaining an unconditional victory over it.
