Eduard Wallnoefer Platz (Landhausplatz) Innsbruck

Site conditions Eduard Wallnoefer Platz is the largest public square of Innsbruck, located in the city center. Before the transformation, the square was dominated by the facade of the province of Tyrol's governmental building from the period of National Socialism, and by a large scale memorial that looks like a fascist monument & which in spite of its visual appearance is a freedom monument that shall commemorate the resistance against, and the liberation from National Socialism. Three other memorials are positioned here above a subterranean parking garage. Design concept The intervention aims to compensate for existing misconceptions and to reinforce the monument's historical significance. The new topography of the square shall offer a contemporary unifying and transformative base for the memorials, making them accessible and differently perceptible. The large-scale floor sculpture shall serve as stage for wide ranges of urban contemporary activities and for simultaneous usages by highly diverse protagonists. Materials and Details The surface of the square is realised in modulated slabs (max. 100m2) of elaborated in-situ concrete. Crucial is the appearance of a single material topography, completed by devices like railings, staircases, furniture and almost invisibly integrated infrastructural elements. Tree-hutches, seating accommodation and fountains are constitutive parts of the concrete topography. The appearing surface water drains away within the property. Square Size 9000 m2 Sustainable aspects Cultural Sustainability and Cultural Heritage: A series memorials are integrated into a large-scale urban sculpture that serves as a contemporary public square. A heritage project defines new possibilities for contemporary urban life & and vice versa. Social Sustainability: To provide new forms in public space provokes newly programmed sites. Formerly excluded communities appropriate the central square, followed by negotiations between 'regular' users and new invaders, resulting in a novel mix of usages. The intervention has an integrative impact on a wide range of communities.