The new headquarters of the service providers Markas in Bolzano were integrally designed with BIM by ATP on the basis of its winning scheme from a realization competition of 2016. The tower, which plays an important role in the cityscape, is characterized by a well-proportioned volume that, unusually, is capable of growing downwards.
“Our basic idea was to make use of both the maximum permitted height of 40 meters and the overall potential volume in our design in such a way that the building contains reserve volume for further expansion”, explains Paul Ohnmacht, Head of Design at ATP Innsbruck. “If we had merely designed a conventional tower of the same height with the current permitted volume then this tower would have been too slender and the floor plans would have been uneconomic.”
Hanging gardens
The energy-efficient office building is publicly accessible via a generous forecourt. A “garden level”, which is designed for break times and events and connected to the canteen on the next floor via a spiral stair, floats at a height of 14 meters above several “open floors”. This marks the beginning of the actual office building on the floors above. The mild temperatures of South Tyrol mean that one can also work amidst this greenery.
A load-bearing structure that creates both space and light
One prerequisite for this column-free and, hence, extremely flexible open-office concept are the massive V-shaped façade elements, which combine with the central technical and circulation cores to form the load-bearing structure. The intersections of this hybrid, reinforced concrete and cast steel structure support the entire building. This special façade concept offers the offices huge interior flexibility and a daylighting illumination factor of over 2. By using the full permitted height in this way it was possible to offer the workplaces a panoramic view of the surrounding mountains and the picturesque setting of Bolzano.
Green workplace
The energy-efficient office building is approached across a generous public forecourt with trees and a pool of water. An open and intensely planted “garden level” – a biological air conditioning unit and oasis of calm that lends its unique quality to several floors of the building – floats at a height of 14 meters above several “vacant” floors. A spiral staircase rises from this richly planted garden to the staff restaurant, which marks the real starting point of the building volume. The garden contains a total of 1,800 new plants.
A structural concept that creates space and light
The special, V-shaped façade structure facilitates a flexible open-office concept and high levels of natural light. The 485 windows ensure that 58 % of the usable space enjoys a daylight factor of over 2.0. For those few days with little sun the entire building is equipped by tunable white LEDs, whose color changes throughout the day according to the natural lighting rhythm.
Certified Klimahaus
The combination of a switchable low temperature system in the form of heating and cooling ceilings and controlled mechanical ventilation, which supplies conditioned air according to need via floor outlets and convectors, ensure an excellent spatial climate and user comfort. The intake of outside air from the planted and shaded external areas, where the air is much more suitable than at roof level, is particularly efficient. Further energy efficiency measures include the automatic solar protection and the use of a heat pump with an annual degree of effectiveness of 141 %.
Due to the combination of the high quality design and the sustainable building services concept, the Markas headquarters has already received a number of awards: In 2019, the office building received Klimahaus A Certification and was also the first building in Italy to be awarded WELL Gold Certification. The headquarters received the German Design Award in 2021, and now, in 2023, the Austrian Green Planet Building Award.
Austrian Green Planet Building Award
Energy efficiency and the supply of renewable energy are the focus of the Austrian Green Planet Building Awards (AGPB). The award transfers the objectives and strict criteria of the Austrian climate protection initiative klimaaktiv for the construction and real estate sector onto the international stage and honors work carried out internationally by Austrian design offices, consultants, construction companies, and production facilities in the area of sustainable building.
AGPB is a joint initiative of the Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology and ADVANTAGE AUSTRIA.
