PARKLIFE
Located in a park in a densly populated suburban settlement of Vienna, sourrounded by giant tenement blocks dating from the 70ies, the institution “Parkbetreuung” is concerned with kids, who spend their afternoons unattended in the park. A team of pedagogues keeps the kids busy with suggestive activities in and around a wooden barrack, which has been used by the institution already for fifteen years. While the barrack offered many small rooms for individual activities, a big, weather-protected, heat-able hall for collective activities was missing.
24 students of the design.build studio have designed and built “PARKLIFE”, as a freestanding extension to the existing social facility. PARKLIFE is a useable sculpture and works as a landmark, stage and tribune. Broad stairs form a sheltered, heat-able auditorium, which is used as a room for various activities, from workshops, to concerts, performances and film screenings. The stairs lead up to a cosy alkoven with a big bay-window, facing the sports-field of the park. Underneath the stairs a fully equipped wood-workshop is integrated into the building. With a drawbridge the workshop opens to the affiliated adventure playground, where the kids - under supervision of instructors - can build simple wooden constructions like huts and raised stands.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The base was constructed with cross-laminated timber from Austrian company KLH. We covered the timber with a rubber-like, two-component poly-urethane foil, which was sprayed onto the wooden construction.