Other denominations
Thermenkongress
Original use
Exhibitions/congress hall
Current use
unused / vacant
Architects
Gerhard Garstenauer
Others
Gemeinde Bad Gastein [Municipality of Bad Gastein] , Building Owner
Concrete by reinforcement
Concrete is a relatively brittle material that is strong in compression but less so in tension.
To increase its overall strength, steel rods, wires, mesh or cables may be embedded in concrete before it sets. This reinforcement, often known as rebar, resists tensile forces. By forming a strong bond, the two materials are able to resist a variety of applied forces, effectively acting as a single structural element .
Construction method
In this case, the concrete can be made by mixing the components directly on site, or it may be transported from a production plant in concrete-mixer trucks.
This method has the disadvantage of leaving the concrete exposed to the elements while it is setting. Whereas, with other methods, the environmental conditions can be controlled during setting, providing greater control over the outcome, with cast-in-place concrete a series of tests and protocols are necessary to verify its final strength.
PRECAST ON SITE:
In larger and more complex construction projects, a concrete production plant may be installed on the construction site or nearby. The precast elements are moved into place once they have reached their maximum strength. This reduces transportation costs and ensures the concrete will set in the same environmental conditions as the building site. This may be more necessary with structures that combine cast-in-place concrete with prefabricated elements.
PRECAST IN FACTORY, WORKSHOP:
Any concrete element can be manufactured ahead of time and transported to the site once it has set. In this case, the control over geometry, appearance, finish and strength can be as strict as necessary. It can also be ensured that the pieces will be exactly identical to one another.
Prefabricated elements can be of any type: from façade panels and pavements to decorative elements (such as cornices or capitals) and structural elements (columns, slabs, beams, etc.).
These elements may be part of a commercial catalog or specially designed for a specific project. A series of pieces may also be sold as a coordinated and interconnected system to build a complete structure or even an entire building.
Architectural concrete
- textured walls
- wooden formwork finish
- stamped concrete
- exposed aggregate concrete, colored concrete, etc.
Structural types
Beams are the horizontal load-bearing elements of the frame. Columns are the vertical elements of the frame and act as the building’s primary load-bearing element. They transmit the beam loads down to the foundations.
One might argue that the behavior of any concrete structure using columns and beams is consistent with that of a three-dimensional mesh. In this case, however, we are referring mainly to unique structures, in which the expressiveness of the structure is also highlighted in the finishes.
State of Conservation
Description
Bad Gastein, in the province of Salzburg, is a spa resort that serves one of the most important ski areas in the Austrian Alps. For centuries, it has been one of the most popular tourist destinations in the region, due to the attractiveness of its alpine landscapes and its significant cultural activity, which reached its height during the Belle Époque.
Although it may have lost some of its splendor, today Bad Gastein is still a tourist attraction, with large cultural institutions, spas and hotels, both antique and modern, which sit perched on the steep slopes of the valley, where the complex topography invites unique architectural solutions.
This is the case of the congress center, with a green roof that is, at the same time, a public square and an entrance to the building, with a program that is housed on the floors beneath, generating a series of large stacked terraces that extend above a steep drop and open out towards the landscape.
The building’s unique layout puts its architecture on the scale of infrastructure, with huge concrete pillars and a Brutalist aesthetic that contrasts with the delicate 19th-century buildings that surround it. On the entrance level, four geodesic structures, which house a cafeteria and support services for the public space, are the only elements of the building visible from Bad Gastein, since the rest of the volume can only be seen from far-off places lower down in the valley.
The building was closed in 2007. In 2013, it was bought by an investor and, since then, access to the public spaces of the upper terraces has once again been allowed. There is a plan for the building to house a cable car station in the future. The building received an award from the Austrian builders’ guild in 1973.
Austria
Kaiser Franz Josef-Straße 4
Land Salzburg (Bundesland), St. Johann im Pongau (District) 5640 Bad Gastein
Commission
1968
Completion
1974