a+t architecture publishers

This section of the Technical University of Graz is made up of three entities: the  Institute of Information Technology, the Secure Information and Communication Technologies Foundation and the Information and Computing Systems Institute.

These are four wall-to-wall grouped blocks, grouped on a parallel alignment with an open passageway which divides them in two lengthways. They are three-storey buildings which form an ordered framework of an open campus with small streets and squares acting as public spaces which link the paths. The exposed concrete of the facades and the alienated aluminium metalwork on the outside add movement to the facades through the contrast of matt and shiny surfaces. The irregular height of the spaces does not correspond to the number of storeys and creates the sensation of small-scale appropriate for the compression of free space produced between the blocks.

Photos taken by a+t, available under request.

Riegler Riewe
I.T. Institutes of the Technical University
Inffeldgasse 16
8010 Graz, Austria 1998

North-west facade of the Information Systems Institute

The shiny reflections of the glass and aluminium contrast with the matt surface of the concrete

Inner street with the linking bridges between blocks. A work of art made from a bent blue tube runs across the central space into the buildings

The material of the facade allows the block to meet the ground with no change in texture or finish

The bridges between blocks connect the upper storeys and leave the ground floor free

In the centre of the group a small square is formed as a meeting space

The open areas between blocks are paved with gravel and contain different species of trees

Colour is reduced to elements of vegetation and a work of art which runs through the central void

Rest area with trees

In transit zones, gravel is replaced with a rough-finish concrete base

The square openings are integrated into the large spaces rendered with the exterior face of exposed concrete

Some spaces have a louvered outer protection system