Visitor Center

Planning Date: 2024
Usable Area: 4000m2

Architecture: Mina Yaney
Structural Engineering: Bollinger+Grohmann

For the European competition which was initiated by the historic Belvedere Museum in Vienna, the brief  was to develop an underground visitor center. The challenge here was to design within a historical and highly protected building ensemble.

For us the most important question was: How can an underground architecture be developed which appropriately integrates the highly sensitive, baroque, and heritage-protected context while simultaneously proposing a contemporary design ensuring an economical and efficient organization of functions and visitor flow?

The powerful and dramatic aesthetics of the Baroque, is translated into an „invisible“ spatial experience. The new Visitor Center thus reintroduces „Baroque as an Experiential Space“

A gradual underpass leads from Prinz-Eugen-Straße to the underground Visitor Center. This forms a large-scale architectural continuum along the west-east axis, integrating itself into the overall existing complex.

The Visitor Center consists of an elongated tract measuring approximately 130 x 30 meters. This allows for a column-free, continuous corridor of 130 x 9 meters, serving as a connecting element between various functions and as urban corridor connecting the public space with the museum.

Key Features of the Design:

1. Spatialization of Baroque Axiality:
   The large scale and symmetrical structure of the Belvedere and the public square are extended underneath the ground and architecturally translated.

2. Efficient Organization of Visitor Flows:
   A linear sequencing of functions along the new urban corridor ensures an economical and effective onboarding system. This enables a reduction of business, restaurant, and museum signage to a minimum, as required by the BDA.

3. Multifunctional Urban Corridor:
   The approximately 1500 m² „red carpet“ serves not only as a foyer but also as a multimedia gathering, interaction, and event space. This allows for flexible and versatile usage options.

4. Reenactment of the „Baroque“ as an Experiential Space:
   The unique architectural continuum forms the basis for a contemporary interpretation of the Baroque as spatial experience, creating a cohesive yet diverse perceptual layer.
   
   

The new Visitor Center combines historical sensitivity with contemporary design and logistic efficiency. By integrating baroque principles into the underground spatial structure, a versatile, sustainable, and functionally optimized architecture emerges – one that respects the historical heritage while opening up new possibilities for spatial utilization.

Structural engineering:
In order to create this approximately 25 to 30 meter wide section, a steel composite ceiling with I-profiles and a reinforced concrete layer connected by head bolt dowels will be provided. The profiles are multi-field beams that are divided into three approximately equal fields in order to keep the overall height small despite high loads.

The supports form longitudinal partition walls or reinforced concrete beams, which are also used for horizontal bracing. The majority of the structure is located at a safe distance from the existing masonry, but walls in the entrance area of ​​the castle and in the cavalier wing on the street side must be removed to allow access. At these points, support beams made of hollow steel girders are provided, which secure the structures above in their final state, but do not disturb the visual integrity of the structure.

During construction, particular attention is paid to using low-vibration and low-impulse compaction methods when excavating and producing the foundations in order not to disturb the historical components. During the construction period, continuous settlement measurements must be carried out to monitor the existing structure.