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COMPETITION PLENARSAAL, Vienna, 2008.
Design entry for the Austrian parliament, finalist.

CONCEPT
After the proclamation of the Austrian independency in 1945, the destroyed assembly hall had to be quickly refurbished. Nowadays the assembly hall is well known as an important example of Austrian postwar architecture due to frequent broadcasts in public television news. The assembly hall always had some shortcoming - eg no natural lightning, no supply of fresh air and was non handicapped accessible. The competition asked to improve these shortcomings and the general working conditions within the strict preservation rules.  We designed a completly new concept for the hall including a public area for visitors, a cafeteria at the rooftop and the use of the existing courtyards. The nonrewriteable history of the austrian parliament can as well be interpreted as the possibility to combine the historic halls of the parliament with its contemporary counterpart.