MAYRHOFEN STATION 2018 -

The Mayrhofen Interchange is conceived as a contemporary building yet archetypical in attitude, logic and expression. With its large pitched roof expanse, the building presents itself with a signalling effect, mediating between its surroundings and distinguishing between two plus one realms: the compact Hub, the Forecourt and the Square. The Interchange’s infrastructural complexity is undeniably in contradiction to the scale of the small mountainous. Thus it is intentionally compact in order to create a new, generous public space for the community: An integrated mobility centre, connecting different types of transport and access: train, bus, car, taxi services, bicycle as well as pedestrian transfer to the cable car infrastructure and the town centre allowing them to seamlessly overlap and interact, with no type receiving priority.

The station building is conceived as a shed, catering for very functional criteria while meeting all programmatic requirements and technical specifications. The building unfolds deliberately recessed from its context in order to respond in scale and gesture to the open landscape beyond. A choice and effort to keep the building visually reserved and as simple and straightforward as possible. Below the expanse of the diaphanous, thin roof an array of programmes, situations and events are overlapping while the circulation across the two main levels of the train station below and the bus terminal above is continuous and comprehensive. Maximizing the potentials of an articulated section, a topographically depressed situation is avoided through a system of levels -tribunes and programmed ramps. In terms of its public gesture, the scheme prescribes two new public spaces: the ‘Forecourt’, as a threshold, arrival platform, meeting point and space of flow for Mayrhofen and the ‘Square’ as the town’s new civic core. Each space differs in character and intention: the ‘Forecourt’ is about direct wayfinding, a fluid space for access, mobility and communication while the ‘Square’ contributes to an urbanity in-the-becoming.

In terms of constructional and material language, the new infrastructural building combines standardisation and prefabrication with the context. Its base is prescribed as a pre-stressed concrete structure which supports an elegant truss system above allowing for an impressively wide span timber enclosure for the bus terminal while achieving lightness, transparency and natural lighting. Selected materials –all locally and carefully sourced- create a bold effect that imprints this new urban space as a striking yet familiar image.