New roof top element Nibelungengasse
The building adjoins the Akademiehof designed by Roland Rainer and Gustav Peichl and forms the second half of the block between Friedrichstraße, Nibelungengasse und Makartgasse. The design for the new element at roof level is based on an approach that endeavours to form a synthesis between the architectural language of classic modernism as employed in the Akademiehof and the historicism of Romano und Schwendenwein.
The existing building block derives its character from the horizontal layers of the variouis cornices and the rhythm of the window surrounds. Starting from an analysis of this existing fabric the following principles for the attic conversion and new roof-top element were formulated:
The principle
- Horizontal layering by means of cornice-like roof elements that can be read as wings but also as a folded roof.
- Giving these elements a rhythm in the long direction that makes visible a flowing movement derived from the existing pediments and cornices above the windows.
- Reduction of the new building volume in the area of the corner bay by lowering the wing and by recessing the façade.
- The top floor is characterised by a continuous horizontal wing that clearly terminates the building against the sky.
The new roof top element is stacked back from the existing fabric so as to precisely formulate a clear separation of old and new and to avoid blurring the proportions of the existing building. It functions as an interpretation of a kind of hipped roof.
