New urban building block for Linz: Competition win for Sparkasse OÖ’s Urfahr Campus
Our design proposal by the Klinglmüller | HENN | a-stud.io consortium was selected as the winning entry in the competition to transform Sparkasse Oberösterreich’s Linz-Urfahr location. The proposal, which was chosen for realization, adds a sustainable new building alongside the tower, creating a distinctive ensemble for the new Campus Urfahr.
Since 1979, the Sparkasse Oberösterreich office tower, with its distinctive, seemingly floating glass cubes, has shaped Linz’s Urfahr district. The new addition will provide contemporary workspaces for employees of Sparkasse OÖ’s BusinessCenter while opening the site to the surrounding community.
Located north of the Danube River, the campus sits in a lively residential and cultural neighborhood between the Bruckner Tower and the LentiaCity shopping center. The new building is positioned to the south of the existing high-rise, drawing on its architectural language and responding in scale to the surrounding buildings.
Fredrik Werner, responsible partner at HENN, says:
“The placement of the new building on the site was key to our design. Three staggered volumes, arranged like a string of pearls, extend across the full length of the site and connect with the existing urban edges. This creates an intuitive connection between the existing tower, the new addition, and their context. Together, old and new form a sculptural ensemble.”
