Kronaus Mitterer Architekten

A Pioneer Project of Circular Economy
The Nordwestbahnhof Education Campus is the first building block of the large inner-city urban development area. The former railway site will be transformed into a new district for working, living and recreation. Our project creates an educational center for the future while referencing the industrial past of the site through its materiality. In this way, the campus becomes an identity-forming anchor point for the new urban quarter. From 2028 onwards, more than 1,000 children are expected to attend kindergarten, primary school, secondary school or music school here.

A Staircase to the Park
The education campus is based on a tooth-like staggered arrangement of building volumes. Towards the northern street, a generous forecourt is created, while protected garden areas are arranged to the south. In terms of height, the new educational building forms a structure that steps down towards the green center: to the east, a five-storey building wing connects to the existing urban structure and gradually steps down towards the green center to a single-storey volume. This creates an attractive landscape of open-air terraces, allowing movement from the uppermost level across the outdoor spaces down into the garden.

A Sustainable Campus
The education campus is conceived as a pioneer project of circular economy in educational architecture. The building is based on a robust and economical structural grid of columns that allows a high degree of flexibility for future spatial adaptations. A prefabricated façade system made of timber frame elements enables easy modification or dismantling. A ceramic façade was selected as the building envelope. In addition to referencing the former brick halls of the Nordwestbahnhof, ecological and economic considerations were decisive: bricks are 100% natural, made from clay that is ecologically extracted from dedicated clay pits, which are subsequently renaturalized.