Firm： smartvoll

Type： Government + Health › City Hall Community Center

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2020

SIZE： 10,000 sqft - 25,000 sqft

BUDGET： $1M - 5M

Photos： Dimitar Gamizov (30), Jörg Seiler (9)

The citizens of the local community chose a construction site in the heart of the village to be the new community center in Grossweikersdorf. The town hall, citizen service, clubhouse, and a medical center are all united under one roof—an administrative building with functions that are particularly important for the cohesion of a village community that enlivens the town. The row of houses was broken through and the new building rotated 90 degrees. As a result, the entrance area on the main square develops new open spaces such as a children's playground and new path into the center. Instead of 10 percent publicly accessible space (common in Austria for such a project), all citizens of Grossweikersdorf now have an additional 60 percent public space available.

While the offices of the community workers can be found on the left, seating stairs lead up to the large conference room. The wood itself brings a human scale to this project through its tangible surface, smell, and the atmosphere. The new community center is single-story, barrier-free, and demonstratively without thresholds. From the main square you can see through the generous openings directly into the heart of democratic decision-making.