SCHLOSSMUSEUM LINZ 2006 -

The Castle as an Acropolis: The Linz Castle, an object over the city, becomes a visual and structural component of a new cultural system that incorporates the Lentos Museum and the Ars Electronica.

A public platform with urban galleries: The scheme proposes a platform over the existing buttress wall, a transparent public building linking the two interior courtyards. A belvedere with magnificent, unobstructed views. Between permanence and transition, a structural system made of stone and wood.

Interior courtyards: The courtyards are conceived as differentiated, multi-functional, public nexuses. The large courtyard being hermetically enclosed with the museum entrance as its focal point. The small courtyard partly open, partly enclosed, anticipates to become the ‘meeting’ place with breathtaking views.

A space structure: The structure preceded and defined the spatial organization. The repetition of the structural frame, delineates the main hall of the museum, grand and public in character. Prefabricated concrete fins resonate and accentuate the tectonic form.

Exhibition enclosures: The new building volume becomes a subtle juxtaposition to the sequential monotony of the Castle. Nevertheless, it achieves unity and association to the old, in terms of programmatic function and users’ orientation. A fluid space without corridors unfolds as an interplay of differences: closeness to distance, smoothness to articulation, transparency and continuity to darkness and enclosure. The museum designed as a generous performance space and equipped with state-of-the-art technologies caters for the diverse needs of its varied publics.