Architecture of the Verbund power plants

01.08.2006 - 31.07.2008
Assigned research project
»Architektur im Verbund« is the first systematic study of power station construction in Austria from the point of view of architecture and its history. Its starting point is an exhaustive inventory of the facilities operated by VERBUND-Austrian Hydro Power AG, VERBUND-Austrian Thermal Power GmbH & CoKG and VERBUND-Austrian Power Grid AG. A total of 169 buildings and facilities have been recorded, documented and analysed. In terms of building types, the study covers power stations (hydroelectric and thermal power plants) and the transformer stations in the high-voltage grid. The inventory of these buildings was made between September 2006 and June 2007, and forms the main section of the book. »Architektur im Verbund« has a broadly based foundation. Understandably, priority is given to the functional processes as embodied for instance in the dams, the power stations or the power houses, but a decisive role in the design of the structures has also been played by the development of building materials and building technology, the desire for prestigious constructions, questions of style and period taste, ecology and the environment, as well as by individual architects themselves. »Architektur im Verbund« has a strong historical dimension. Although, with a few exceptions, they are not monuments in the legal sense, power stations and transformer stations are nevertheless, if only thanks to their size, major features in the landscape, landmarks that give cause for thought and reflect the importance of these constructions in the development of our country. Cultural landscapes. The history of the architecture in the VERBUND is also the history of Austria¿s economic achievements. The Kaprun and Ybbs-Persenbeug power stations became the symbols of postwar reconstruction. The effects of the 1973 and 1979/80 oil shocks or the rejection of nuclear power in the first referendum of the Second Austrian Republic in 1978, resulting in the definitive closure of the almost completed Zwentendorf nuclear power plant, are also reflected at least in the history of the plants. The general sensitisation of the public to ecological aspects, which reached its peak in the definitive termination of the plans for a proposed power station at Hainburg in 1985, also led to a fundamental and radical change in the architectural form and integration of the plants in the landscape. Building materials and building technology are essential parameters of »Architektur im Verbund« if the objective is to be a holistic approach. Power stations are structured nature. The layman in particular is impressed by the obvious mastery over nature that these structures with their dams demonstrate. This is one of the reasons why the power stations constructed in the high mountains have become tourist attractions, and in many cases it was the roads needed for the construction of the facilities that opened up entire regions to tourism for the first time. Up to 350,000 tourists a year make it to the Mooser dam in Kaprun, with around 13,000 people taking part in the guided tours of the plant each year. The VERBUND has always been aware of its cultural function. Architecture is design, is part of the public creation of art. Major engineers and architects ¿ Fritz Haas, Hans Hoppenberger, Ferdinand Schuster, Konrad Aufhammer ¿ have been involved in the creation of the various facilities. In particular, the special form of »serial« design characterised by the functional requirements that dominated the field until well into the 1980s shows the importance of colour and light in the design features of the various plants. Great names such as Oskar Thiede, Giselbert Hoke and Cornelius Kolig were also responsible for the prestigious creative conceptualisation of the plants, the focus of which has always been on the creative dialogue with the main theme of power station construction, »building in the landscape«.

People

Project leader

Project personnel

Institute

Contract/collaboration

  • Verbund - Austrian Hydro Power AG

Research focus

  • Biological and Bioactive Materials: 5%
  • Special and Engineering Materials: 5%
  • Quantum Modeling and Simulation: 10%
  • Energy Active Buildings, Settlements and Spatial Infrastructures: 50%
  • Climate Neutral, Renewable and Conventional Energy Supply Systems: 20%
  • Surfaces and Interfaces: 5%
  • Materials Characterization: 5%

Keywords

GermanEnglish
UmspannwerkElectric transformer station
KraftwerkKraftwerk
ArchitekturArchitecture
BauforschungBuilding research
ElektrizitätElectricity

Publications