The former Eyblfabrik factory has become a multifunctional centre in Stein over the past three years. As well as a food market, the headquarters of the NÖ Hilfswerk (Lower Austrian Aid Association), and a number of apartments, there are also some important cultural institutions based there: ORTE, the Lower Austrian architectural network, ULNÖ, the Independent Literature House of Lower Austria, art to take (Lower Austria Artothek), and a series of Lower Austrian artists’ studios.
The proposed design for the northern facade is intended to present these institutions and the focus of their work to the outside in an artistically sophisticated form.
The project was initially drafted exclusively on computer. The start of the draft design process took the form of a whiteboard sketch produced during a video conference, which underwent further development by means of photomontages to create a more precise image of the facade. The essential elements of this sketch and the photomontages were transformed into the finished structural plan as broad frames, text frames, screen frames, and colour frames, as well as image reproductions and letter logos.
The new term “Kunstmeile Krems” (Krems Mile of Art), the label applied to the Art Hall, the Caricature Museum, and the institutions in the Eyblfabrik already mentioned, was likewise transformed and represented by the logo “Meile” (Mile).
The main load-bearing structure consists of bracket bearers (shaped tubular frames) secured to the facade by 18 adhering anchor elements, to which the other structural components such as the wide frames, screen frames, colour frames and text frames are secured at a distance interval from the facade of 50 – 70 cm. Secured to the text frames in turn are enamelled letters made of perforated metal sheet, and secured to the screen frames are the picture reproductions and the projection surface.
As a result of the differentiated lighting, the facade is intended to keep changing over and over again at twilight and during the hours of darkness. During the day it attracts attention due to the colourful letters and repros.
A projection surface in the area of the main entrance serves, on the one hand, to publicise events, and, on the other, to promote literary texts from the Independent Literature House.
Fotos: Hertha Hurnaus, Margerita Spiluttini