HTL Bau Informatik Design Innsbruck
Rather than conventional classrooms, the graduating classes here are given a hybrid of studio, open-plan office, and creative laboratory—a setting that enables self-directed, cross-disciplinary learning and prepares students for the transition into professional life.
Since the 1970s, the HTL in west Innsbruck has combined technical and design education. As with many schools, there had been an acute shortage of space here for years. The compact, single-story rooftop addition expands the classroom wing by 1 600 square meters, providing the final-year students with an open learning landscape that feels more like a studio or shared workspace than a traditional school. This is entirely intentional: Many of these young people will enter the workforce only months after graduation, and this environment prepares them not just academically but also atmospherically.
The focus is not so much on sheltered retreat but rather on an open spatial structure that functions as an interdisciplinary creative lab. Three homerooms are arranged at each narrow end of the elongated block, while two large seminar rooms of about 300 square meters each occupy the long sides. Mobile, sound-absorbing furniture elements allow these contemporary workspaces to be subdivided into zones of varying sizes. The four corners of the story remain open, light-filled areas with seating landscapes, and a small rooftop terrace provides access to fresh air. Transparency between disciplines is encouraged throughout; there are spaces for presentations, small exhibitions, and islands of technical equipment.
The expressive roof structure lends a dynamic character: Like a sea of wooden waves, the louvered roof spans the space largely without supports. This creates a uniform lighting situation and conceals the precisely engineered soundproofing, which is particularly essential in the extra-high rooms. Surfaces of white fir lend warmth to the otherwise industrial atmosphere, while the dark, folded façade of anodized aluminum distinguishes the addition clearly from the existing structure with a ribbon of windows. A calm, refined volume, the rooftop extension brings a touch of elegance to the otherwise heterogeneous industrial setting.
[ Federal Higher Technical College and Research Institute for Construction, Informatics, and Design, Innsbruck ] Architecture: ao-architekten ZT GmbH. Client: BIG Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft m. b. H., on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Structural engineering: Alfred R. Brunnsteiner ZT GmbH. Procurement procedure: Open, single-stage design competition with implementation (above EU threshold). Planning and construction period: 2016–2021. Usable floor area: 1 600 m² (Extension). Address: Trenkwalderstraße 2, 6020 Innsbruck, Tyrol.