Impuls Center IP.TWO

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Vienna Ring. Its nobility and dimensions correspond to the public and state institutions standing nearby. The outer ring was developed later and primarily serves cars. Everything here flows perhaps even quicker. Its significance for the city is comparable, yet it is not a place for pleasant urban life. This is also realized by the architects from BKK-3, who placed a habitable sculpture, Grashopper, on the sidewalk in front of the building less than a year after the completion of IP.TWO to improve the current situation a little.
The list of projects by Viennese architects Sumnitsch and Winter is not extensive. With each project, they go deep below the surface and want to enjoy it in the office as much as its future tenants. The same applies to IP.TWO - the second impulse center. The first project of this kind was created two years earlier on the outskirts of Vienna. The external expression, internal layout, and overall fulfillment of the building significantly differ from its surroundings. The second center, built on a much more lucrative plot, also endeavors to continue the development of previous production courtyards (Werkhof) and look at administrative typology anew. Flexibility is generally required from today's office buildings, which usually means only wide distances between columns to avoid obstacles in efficiently placing work desks. Rational thinking and sterile spaces lead to a situation where tenants know each other only through doorbells at the entrance and reserved parking signs in underground offices. After work, no one sees a reason to stay in this one-dimensional and limited world.
The IP.TWO building on Vienna's Lerchenfeldergürtel demonstrates that office buildings can be approached quite differently without having to elevate investment costs to astronomical heights. The administrative and commercial center IP.TWO offers its inhabitants much more than just infrastructure. The concept of flexibility is understood here both contextually and formally – in terms of functional adaptability as well as elastic form. Multifunctionality lies in the combination of public, communal, and private operations, thereby achieving communication among all users of the building. The entrance area is designed as a cream-colored landscape, where the street smoothly transitions into the interior, and then the terrain laid out in triangles continues to the courtyard behind the building. The entire entrance area gives an airy and representative impression and lets one forget the dusty and noisy world outside the doors. On the half-floor, there is a publicly accessible café, which can be accessed via a gentle ramp featuring integrated furniture (the authors named it bays or ears of wild animals). A glassed-in and fully equipped conference room on the ground floor is available to all tenants.
According to Johann Winter, the defining theme was undoubtedly the city ring – an inhospitable place on a broad axis in the revitalized strip close to the center and the urban railway. The site is enticing in many ways. The office building can clearly sense the urban power field. The outer environment is much more conspicuous in the interior than in classic facades divided by openings. Sightlines also play a significant role in the interior. The entrance doors are made of glass. This gives even the smallest rental units a sense of belonging to the whole. Even more impressive is the "spine" of the house. This operational and socially communicative part serves as a central light well bordered by belt-shaped window sills of the circulating corridors. Thanks to the light well, offices can be naturally ventilated and protect themselves from pollutants from the city ring.
When BKK-3 advocates the idea of "putting an end to gray concrete and working in color,” why is their building on the Vienna ring black? Logically, they have come to the sad fact that regardless of what color the building has, the local polluted air will ensure that the façade soon turns gray and later black. They therefore released development phases and designed a direct black façade. The resulting crystalline form is not a result of their whim or a desire to irritate their surroundings at any cost. The initial intention of the city was to completely occupy the plot with multi-story garages. During considerations of how to make the traffic ring more attractive, it became clear to everyone that it should serve a more important function. The full height of the building could have extended another fifteen meters towards Grundsteingasse, but then it was necessary to adapt in height to the lower buildings on the street. To avoid this notch, Sumnitsch and Winter decided not to "go hard over the corner" but to create a gentle transition. To further improve the sunlight exposure of the neighboring building on the city ring, they left a green strip in front of the building and aligned their design with the receding façade of the adjoining structure. The resulting space served for the later installation of the urban sculpture Grashopper, representing a small oasis in the traffic chaos.
Of course, a fearless builder was required for the unconventional design. This was achieved by Prisma Holding AG, which has already shown that it is unafraid of innovation in many projects in Vienna and Vorarlberg. They adhere to the motto that distinctive and above-standard architecture will always find its customers.