Konrad Merz is a civil and industrial engineer specialising in timber construction. After working internationally, he founded the firm merz kley partner in 1994. With offices in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the firm supports architects at an early stage in successful construction projects. In his presentation, Konrad emphasised, among other things, the importance of early collaboration with architects – ideally already during the competition phase – as the basis for successful designs.

Link to cn dialog :: Delineate space

The Feßlerhaus will remain a defining feature of the site, undergoing careful renovation and repurposing as a children’s home. To this end, it will be gutted, with the striking outer shell of the residential wing remaining intact and lined with wood on the inside. The former farm wing will be rebuilt as an open structure within the cubature of the front building. A shared roof will connect the old and new buildings to form a harmonious whole. The farm building will not be demolished in favour of a clear typology and better lighting. A garden shed divides the outdoor space into a forecourt and a garden.
Competition 2025 2nd prize

Link to the project Children’s House Lauterach

The calm and linear passageway with fire station and maintenance depot seeks balance in the existing environment, while its precise positioning develops an urban order and creates two clear spatial situations on different levels. The design minimises the visible cubature, with the complex programme being resolved in a simple and economical geometry. The maximum focus is on optimising all operational processes. Simple structures and a compact organisation minimise the above-ground footprint, costs and distances.
Competition 2025 3rd prize

Link to the project Fire station and maintenance depot

The new children’s house replaces the existing building as a solitary structure in almost the same position and with almost the same cubic volume, responding to the rising topography with a split-level system. An open stairwell provides beautiful views, and by connecting all levels, it becomes a communication space. The design eliminates the separation into individual floors and thus into individual functions, creating a building that is perceived as a continuous space, a building in which the children grow up and mature from bottom to top. A real children’s house. The design follows the principle of ‘simply continuing to build’, with the existing gymnasium being retained.
Competition 2025 1st prize

Link to the projekt Children’s House Sibratsgfäll

Atelier Andrea Gassner designed the innovative wayfinding system for the retirement and care centre in Widnau, CH, designed by Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten. The tactile orientation system was honoured with the international Joseph Binder Gold Award and was exclusively awarded the renowned Henry Steiner Prize.
Quote from the jury statement: ‘The Henry Steiner Award-winning project is recognised for its exceptional design, which focuses on human relationships and emotional engagement.’

Link to the project: Nursing Home
Link to: Atelier Andrea Gassner

We are delighted that the project planning credit for the construction of a new double multi-purpose hall was approved by a very clear majority at the citizens’ meeting.
The start of planning for a modern, multifunctional hall for sport, culture and community as a central element in the public life of the region with a wide range of possible uses, an improved infrastructure for local sports clubs and space for cultural events, a long-term investment in the quality of life and the future of the municipality.

Link to the project: Double multi-purpose hall Türggenau Salez

The December 2024 issue of HOCHPARTERRE, a publishing house for architecture, planning and design in Zurich, published a report on the Hagen-Haus in Nendeln.

The interview with Roderick Hönig, Anton Nachbaur-Sturm, Patrik Birrer (art historian) and Marcus Büchel (President of the Hagen-Haus Foundation) can be read here.
The issue as EPaper.

The concept is based on the fundamental decision to retain the original building as an identifying element. Well placed and valuable in terms of local architecture, it forms a charming and emotionally charged prelude to the new neighbourhood development as an ‘anchor building’. Two new buildings with gabled roofs and cross gables adopt the historical rhythm of the characteristic roofscape, respect the historical context, follow the local building typology and complement the existing situation as loosely placed solitary volumes and fitting pieces, whose deliberate alignment with the contour lines develops staggered buildings (instead of parallel buildings) along Eggstrasse. The slight fanning out integrates the surrounding existing structures, including the main building, into the structural system. The precise positioning with a slight twist of the new buildings seeks balance in the existing neighbourhood, it creates maximum access to the outside and maximum permeability as well as clear and well-proportioned open spaces, good passageways with connections to existing path structures, a new path connection to the old town (Oberdorfstrasse) and a new centre with a shared open space situation through the participation of all existing and new buildings. In the area of Sonneggstrasse 4, the linear point development will be continued and supplemented with a third building as a replacement structure. Simple structures guarantee economic efficiency and optimal operational processes, while a compact organisation minimises the footprint, costs and distances.
Competition 2025 2nd prize

Chapel of Remembrance
Equinox 20.03.2025

The new multi-purpose hall complements the settlement with a clearly defined solitary structure at an appropriate distance from the school complex and with maximum preservation of the open cultural and landscape space. The precise positioning seeks a balance between a solitary effect and a sense of belonging to the residential area and school complex, creating an address on Rheinhofstrasse. Moving away from the existing buildings creates independence and generates good permeability of the open spaces. The stacked volume with its asymmetrical flat pitched gable roof evokes distant memories of large-volume agricultural typologies.
Competition 2024 1st Prize

The official opening will take place on November 8, 2024, and the open house will be on November 10, 2024, from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.

More information
Project

Our project “From Cemetery to Paradise Garden” acknowledges the changes of time on Liebfrauenberg in Rankweil and invites visitors to experience a little bit of “Heaven on Earth” – a place where they can actively engage with and experience the present, the past, and the future. The new design aims to transform the cemeteries into spaces that can also be discovered as places of blooming life.

Project
More information / Folder / Felder Grafikdesign

Exemplary Construction in the Lake Constance District. Award for Meckenbeuren Sports Hall

In the decision-making process, the jury considered various criteria, including the exterior design, dimensions and proportions of the building structure, the formation of interior spaces, the arrangement of rooms and their functionality, the appropriateness of the materials and means used, constructive honesty, sustainability, and the integration into the urban context and environment. This award is the result of the committed collaboration between clients and architects. The award ceremony and the opening of the traveling exhibition will take place on February 3, 2025.

Project: Meckenbeuren Sports Hall

The ED-Awards are annual awards for outstanding European design. The Atelier Andrea Gassner, Feldkirch, with the support of innovative clients Cukrowicz Nachbaur Architects, Bregenz, and former mayor Christa Köppel, Widnau, has developed a completely new wayfinding system with differently structured handrail profiles for the construction of the nursing home in Widnau. The design’s “attention to detail” was awarded the European Design Award 2024 in Gold in the category “Signage & Wayfinding” on Saturday, July 1, 2024, in Naples.

In institutions such as hospitals and care facilities, people with limited cognitive abilities often move around, for various reasons. As cognitive functions decline, the emotional level becomes increasingly important. In addition to the traditional orientation system, the design concept by Atelier Andrea Gassner (Christopher Walser, Andrea Gassner) includes a tactile orientation. Long-tested and also manufactured in Vorarlberg, turned wooden handrail profiles with different textures are assigned to each floor and residential area. They look good, are visually and, above all, haptically distinguishable by their use. In the entrance area, there is an overview of the different handrail textures with the following accompanying text: “At my age, seeing and walking are not the same as they used to be. That’s why I also rely on my hands to support and find my way. The different textures of the handrails in this building are a great help to me. I can feel with my hands where I am and thus understand the way.”

Almost simultaneously, this design work received international recognition through the ADC Award 2024 – Silver in the category Design for Good/Product Design, which was awarded to Atelier Andrea Gassner on May 14th in New York.

Neuer vai-Vorstand gewählt
Bei der 25. Vollversammlung vergangenen Mittwoch, den 22. Juni 2022 wurde eine neuer Vorstand gewählt.
Obmann Stefan Marte und Stellvertreter Ulf Hiessberger wurden in ihrer Funktion bestätigt.
Neu begrüßt wurden Nora Heinzle (Kassier-Stv.), Martin Assmann,
Andreas Cukrowicz, Anna Hilti und Andreas Postner.

Der Innsbrucker Gestaltungsbeirat sellt sich vor
Eine Veranstaltung mit Wolfgang Andexlinger und den neuen Mitgliedern des IGB

Der Innsbrucker Gestaltungsbeirat, kurz IGB, wurde nach intensiven Diskussionen von der Stadt Innsbruck im Jahr 2013 eingerichtet. Für die Stadt, im Speziellen für die Stadtplanung, ist der Beirat eines der wichtigsten Instrumente, um Baukultur im Stadtgebiet weiter zu fördern. Seither waren die Mitglieder des IGB schon mehrmals im aut und haben über ihre Herangehensweisen gesprochen und sich der Diskussion gestellt.Im Jahr 2021 gab es wieder einen der regelmäßigen Wechsel bei den Mitgliedern des Beirats und so sind nunmehr die Architekt*innen Andreas Cukrowicz (Vorsitz), Kornelia Gysel und Bernd Vlay sowie die Landschaftsarchitektin Marie-Theres Okresek (Stellvertretung) die Hauptmitglieder und damit die agierenden Köpfe des IGB.

In guter Tradition soll der regelmäßige Dialog im aut nun auch mit den Neuen weitergeführt werden. Dabei sollen Meinungen und Haltungen zur Architektur und zum Städtebau sowie formulierte Strategien und Entscheidungen sichtbar gemacht und diskutiert werden, um den gemeinsamen Austausch weiter zu fördern.

Die Veranstaltung wird durch Eingangsstatements von Wolfgang Andexlinger, Stadtplaner von Innsbruck, sowie durch den Vorsitzenden des IGB Andreas Cukrowicz eröffnet.

Diskussion
Dienstag 31. Mai 2022 20:00
aut. architektur und tirol
Lois Welzenbacher Platz 1
6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Link Veranstaltung

Photo ©IKM/Dullnigg

With a vocational secondary school, a secondary school, a triple sports hall and a zone for special classrooms and administration, the individual areas of each school and each function are thematically and spatially combined into a separate building in each case. Each building has its own address, its own character and its own identity. Each structure is recognisable and has its own personality. Like four friends, the buildings stand together in a circle, pursuing the idea of a small village. Together they define a centre, a village square, a common focal point represented by the entrance hall and assembly hall.

Competition 2021 1st Prize

Wir freuen uns mit dem Projekt Bischofsgrablege in Rottenburg am Neckar Preisträger beim Hugo-Häring Landespreis 2021 für vorbildliche Bauwerke in Baden-Württemberg zu sein.
Der Bund Deutscher Architekten BDA – Landesverband Baden-Württemberg – verleiht seit 1969 im Abstand von drei Jahren den Hugo-Häring Landespreis für vorbildliche Bauwerke in Baden-Württemberg an Bauherren und Architekten für ihr gemeinsames Werk. Mit dem Namen Hugo Häring bekennt sich der BDA zur Tradition des „neuen Bauens“ und der „modernen Architektur“ und ehrt den 1882 in Biberach geborenen Architekten.
Der Hugo-Häring-Landespreis ist ein zweistufiger Preis; das Auswahlverfahren erstreckt sich über zwei Jahre.

1. Stufe: Hugo-Häring Auszeichnung:
Die Hugo-Häring-Auszeichnung wird auf regionaler Ebene in den fünfzehn Kreisgruppen des BDA Baden-Württemberg vergeben.
2. Stufe: Hugo-Häring Landespreis:
Der Hugo-Häring Landespreis wird auf Landesebene verliehen.
Die Preisträger werden aus den in der ersten Stufe ausgezeichneten Bauten ausgewählt. Es können mehrere gleichrangige Arbeiten gewürdigt werden.
Zum Auszeichnungsverfahren 2020/2021 wurden 679 Bauwerke eingereicht, von denen 130 eine Hugo-Häring-Auszeichnung erhielten.
Aus diesen wählte die Jury im September 10 Bauten für den Hugo-Häring Landespreis aus.

The Mainau 2040 Masterplan competition includes a large number of different functions and buildings, all of which contribute to the same strategy: the sustainable further development of Mainau as a cultural treasure. The island is already listed as a monument of special importance. The focus was on the careful use of resources in harmony with nature in the sensitive region of Lake Constance as well as on aesthetic-cultural sustainability. The highlight and landmark is the new Palm Cathedral, which forms the new focal point of the island. The self-contained building, which was developed especially for this location, consists of four barrel-like glass volumes. These contain event and exhibition facilities, a restaurant and a jungle playground. Four differently shaped, elegant structural elements – evocative of floral structures – createimpressive spaces and are the unique selling point of the new building, responsible for its high recognition and identification value.

Competition 2021 1st Prize

The Bishop’s Burial Vault in Rottenburg was honoured with the Hugo-Häring-Auszeichnung 2020 BDA Kreisgruppe Neckar Alb.

link

The Sparkasse Bank Headquarters Singen was honoured with a Hugo-Häring-Auszeichnung 2020.

Developed as a subtle addition to the historical ensemble of freestanding buildings, this new office mediates between two linear urban structures by assuming a parallelogram-shaped footprint. At the same time, tracing the street, the addition spatially redefines and sharpens the flow of Marktgasse while increasing the prominence of neighboring existing buildings. Three gable elements of equal size facing south take up the historical rhythm of the characteristic roof ridge landscape. The formation of a single transverse gable towards Landsgemeindeplatz makes the building recognisable and asserts the location of the courtroom as the most important room of the building.

Competition 2020 1st prize

The Bishop’s Burial Vault in Rottenburg was honoured with the 3rd prize at the 2020 GEPLANT+AUSGEFÜHRT award. The competition shows and awards examples of exceptional architecture in combination with exceptional craftsmanship. It is the only architectural competition which does not only honour the architects but also the work of the craftsmen.

The Bishop’s Burial Vault in Rottenburg was awarded with a recognition at the State Award for Building Culture Baden-Württemberg 2020 on 30th March 2020. The prize was offered by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing of Baden-Württemberg.

The competition for Munich Concert Hall attracted renowned architects from all over the world. We are delighted to have won the first prize in this challenging field of 206 applicants and 31 submitted projects.  >Further information

Competition 2017 1st Prize