Graz, Austria

Yeswebridge

1. NEW IDEAS FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT AND PRESENTATION TO THE ISSUES
01.a. Territorial conception
The intervention starts at the designated site but the same strategy can be extended to a larger surrounding area towards the center of Graz.
Envisioned is an area that incorporates city services, but at the same time mimics the texture of the surrounding countryside.
We create a common element , a green corridor, that conveys the richness of the landscape and permeates the whole intervention.

01.b. Urban scale
The current site is abandoned, thus there is a need to set forth a new spirit brought about by new programs, additional values and better connections with the surroundings.
The concept solves the problems presented by the challenges of the surrounding transportation infrastructure with a singular element. The transportation fluxes are united through a perpendicularly placed structure that creates a landmark, a reference point in the path of the trains, cars, bikes and pedestrians.
This reference point is defined by a building with two distinctive components to be used for commuter services and create a focus of local activity.

01. c. Mobility system
The Project
The foundation of this proposal is to prioritize citizens taking public or sustainable means of transportation like the bike. This is why these are kept at the street level while car drivers will circulate under ground, with an option to park and connect with the big intermodal building, the bridge-building.
01. d. Public space
The central element is reorganising the site and giving it a new identity. The goal is to reclaim the street level for pedestrian use allowing activities such as walking, jogging, biking, social gatherings or other healthy, social and cultural activities—expositions, conferences, concerts….etc. with an option of being outside or under The Bridge.

The big empty square allows to host all the fans of Graz football team while at the same time the inhabitants of the big wood tower can still go shopping to the mall or the market. The idea of dividing the project into levels, that is, the underground for cars and parking, the street level for walking citizens and the higher areas for commercial, cultural and residential use, allows for the seamless and harmonious coexistence of all activities at the same time.

The connexion with the football stadium is basically a continuation of the green boulevard idea which originates at the street level from the city centre but with the singularity that in this point a big hole has been created.

2.- THE PROJECT AS A WHOLE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE ENVIRONMENT
Focal points use like a big public space, with different and interesting uses.
Free access Wifi connection, sports facilities, green spaces or enjoyable walks are the main attractions of the green corridor that connects with the city centre.

SUSTAINABILITY
The relation of the buildings with their surroundings, their proper establishment on the site, the right strategies for energy saving and reducing CO2 emissions for as long as the buildings would live are becoming more and more important in the architectural sciences. All these factors could be resumed in one fact which is the energetic qualification of the buildings. In order to obtain the appropriate energetic qualification it is most needed to take into consideration from the very first conception of the project a set of measures.

Passive measures:
- The Establishment of the Building on the Site
The building morphology and solar protection system stimulate the optimal exploitation of natural lighting, thus reducing the economic cost. As explained below the right disposition of the building on its site and its relation with the surrounding environment favor optimal passive thermal behaviour.
- Solar protection systems
The building is protected by louvers whose dimension varies in order to get an optimal solar protection depending on the orientation. Towards the south they are wider and being reduced at the north to be showed just as a security element and a exterior enclosure. The enclosures will be layered and they will be made of compact panel with ventilation towards the exteriors and the windows will be double glazed. In this way this construction guarantees thermal and acoustic isolation.
As an additional measure the terraces, with vegetation and direct ventilation with the exterior, functions as a natural system of refrigeration and solar protection. In the same way, the surrounding trees favors breezes capture which together with the crossed ventilation of the dwellings will contribute to the improvement of the building thermal conditions.
- Use of Recycled Building Materials from the Site
For an ideal sustainable construction it is advisable the use of recyclable materials from the site, as well as reducing the generation of waste during the building process, which will mean lower energy cost and low CO2. Likewise all materials in this project will be experimented and first quality.
- Rainwater Recovery:
It will be proposed a recovery system for the rain water in order to be stored in a cistern and reuse in the watering of the open air green areas. The cistern will be buried in the land.
Active measures:
- Solar photovoltaic panels
 Photovoltaic panels and slates produce energy from daylight, not direct sunlight, so they still produce electricity on cloudy or overcast days. The DC electricity produced is normally converted into alternating current (AC) for use in homes and buildings, by an inverter situated in the loft or near a building’s fuse board.
The implementation of this renewable energy system will be gradual according to the needs and the managers’ strategy. The result of a long-term strategy which seeks to reach a generation of energy is positive, that is, to generate more than what is consumed.
- Intelligent lighting system:
The drive for more energy and cost efficient lighting systems is in high demand. Lighting that is not only more energy efficient the traditional lighting methods, but also reduces costs.
The use of control technology, dimming, daylight equalisation, movement detection to schedule power management through control and dimming of lights can greatly improve efficiency going forwards.
Low consumption lamps will be used and also LED light bulbs.
This can mean an important energetic saving and reduce CO2 emissions.
-Building regulations:
The modulation and versatility of the building will also be transferred to the fulfillment of accessibility regulations, adapting all the elements of vertical communication, furniture and joinery to the module type as multiples thereof. Similarly, it has a bike parking area next to the entrance of the building, facilitating the use of sustainable transport systems.

3.- USES
The Public space is the center of the project.
The goal is to create a common space capable of accommodating a wide spectrum of activities. The street level covered by The Bridge could host an occasional marketplace, street exhibitions, concerts, events preceding a football game, thus offering an important common area that will promote community life in the city of Graz.
The grand scale of the common space will allow a combination of activities for the locals as well as visitors, thus the local project will have territorial scale.

The Bridge accommodates different uses that create a new social setting. It will offer various services for users with distinct schedules for Commercial and Cultural activities.

The Parking is a transport hub forinterchange between public and sustainable modes of transport, creating quick and easy connections between different uses right from the underground parking itself to the top floor of the residential building. The ease with which it is possible to change between different modes of public and private transport will make it a reference point for access to the city. The Bridge envisages a change in how the city can be accessed, connecting to the city centre via a green corridor.

The Residential tower—the final element of the structure—creates a visual reference, a symbol, that owing to its size is recognizable from any point of the city and heralds the rebirth of the project site.

The design of the building evokes an image of a wood stack. The apartments are distributed on each floor similar to boards in a pile alternating in a way that allows for variations in the individual floor plans.

The clear distribution pattern ensures the integrity of the structure on each floor and allows for variations to meet individual needs. To meet the wide spectrum of demand we propose four types of apartments (A, B, C and D) with 2,3 and 4 bedrooms and with different terrace sizes. However the distribution pattern allows for many distinct combinations of the four types and for straightforward modifications of the individual floor plans.

The whole building is protected by wooden panels that filter the light and cover all of the exterior terraces embracing the apartments.

Common areas
Each floor contains apartments of different types and sizes that share a common area, thus promoting integration across different lifestyles, household sizes and incomes instead of class segregation. The common areas include indoor and outdoor sections.
Private outside spaces.
All the rooms in the residences have small individual terraces and for each residence there is a large terrace that extends outside the living room.

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