Page 124 - AIT0922_E-Paper

VERKAUF UND PRÄSENTATION • RETAIL AND PRESENTATION INNERE WERTE • INNER VALUES

Foto: Edeltechnik Kluckner/Marschall

... Details der einstigen Nutzung sensibel integriert ... • ... details of the former use were sensitively integrated ...

Fotos: Edeltechnik Kluckner/Marschall

Foto: Zumtobel

Die historischen Lüster im Kassensaal wurden reaktiviert ... • The historical chandeliers were reactivated, ... ... und durch zeitlose neue Elemente stimmig ergänzt. • ... and complemented by timeless new elements.

T he building now known as the “Haus am Schottentor” was built between 1909 commodate closed assortment areas, the checkout zone and the in-house bakery, the
“Market Kitchen” and convenience areas. The design of the counters in Black Inox
and 1912 to a design by the architects Ernst Gotthilf (1865–1950) and Alexander
Neumann (1861–1947) as the main building of the Wiener Bankverein. Due to its archi- along the perimeter of the octagon is reduced to leave as much of the space with its
tectural vocabulary, the building embodies a fortress to protect the assets managed ornamentally laid marble visible as possible. In the centre, underneath the ceiling
within. From 1934 to 2002, it housed the Creditanstalt-Bankverein, then the Bank Au- dome, the counters are accentuated with oiled olive wood. The staging of the approxi-
stria headquarters. In 2017, the entire building was converted for new use. The teller mately 1,750 square metres of retail space is a holistic interplay of architecture, furni-
hall was taken over by Austria’s leading hypermarket operator Interspar for use as a ture design and goods presentation, whereby the presentation techniques were con-
grocery shop. The interior unfolds hierarchically from a central octagon with two ad- stantly refined and coordinated with the furniture design in order to finally develop the
joining and elevated main aisles; these are each complemented by two flanking, lower appropriate lighting. Numerous furnishings were specifically designed, since standard
side aisles. Pillared architecture, marble and archaic-looking atlases stooping to sup- corporate shopfitting solutions were often unsuitable. To facilitate orientation and vi-
port the ceiling represented the rigour and security of banking. One of the main tasks sual connections, the heights of the furnishings in the front nave and in the octagon
was to disperse this structural message and transform the space into a trendy, urban are low, so that the entire salesroom can already be perceived from the entrance area.
inner-city shop. Discussions with the Federal Monuments Office soon made it clear The original chandeliers in the teller hall dating from 1912 were replaced by replicas
that exciting contrasts and dialogues between old and new would not be supported, back in the 1930s and later by modern fluorescent tubes. The new lighting concept has
but that preference would be given to the conservation philosophy of monument pro- been restored to its original appearance on the basis of historical pictures and equip-
tection. Thus, the same-level continuous stone floor in today’s salesroom is the only ped with state-of-the-art LED technology. In the side aisles, the lighting is supported by
architectural change to the former teller hall, whose raised side aisles once housed the artificial light, which automatically supplements the daylight entering through the hi-
offices. For the sake of clarity in architecture and design, but also for better orientation, storical glass ceilings. The developed brightness and attention hierarchy ensures opti-
the goods were to be assigned to the zones and spatial typologies determined by the mal customer guidance all the way to the checkout zone through precisely positioned,
existing architecture. The high central space is therefore mainly used for fresh food and clear instore communication. Thanks to the intensive cooperation between the client,
special assortments. In the central octagon, these goods are also offered at counters, the group-affiliated shopfitting company and the architects, the magnificent building
just as at the fresh meat counter at the end of the long aisle. The four side aisles ac- on Vienna’s Ringstrasse now shines in a lively urban splendour.

124 • AIT 9.2022