Working in the heart of the city, at the Stadtarbeitsplatz Klagenfurt

The revitalization of the Bahnhofstrasse, formerly a well-frequented shopping street in Carinthia's capital city of Klagenfurt, has been under discussion for quite some time. In the summer of 2022, the time had come: an entire section of the former promenade was closed to traffic and, under the title "Lebensraum Bahnhofstraße", was run without motorized traffic. The Bahnhofstrasse was given a new visual makeover: street painting, furniture and an extensive accompanying program of events and moderated discussions were part of the staging.

An essential part of the newly created area was the Stadtarbeitsplatz, a prototype of a versatile open-air office concept brought to life by Businessbeach makers Melanie Sass-Schweigreiter, Johannes Wouk and Abel und Abel Architektur. The basic idea: the "work with a view" concept of Businessbeach should be brought from the beach to the city. The ideal location would be parks or calm zones where people can also work in a concentrated manner. However, the Bahnhofstrasse in Klagenfurt offered itself as an ideal place to try out the concept.

At the heart of this is the trend that the Corona pandemic has additionally fueled over the past two years: The detachment of the workplace from a specific location. The "modern version of the park bench" is designed to make it possible to schedule short meetings "on the go," or to check one's e-mail between appointments. In addition, the intimacy of everyday office life is broken up to a certain extent: "You often sit alone in the office, work and don't really notice anything else. Then you sit down at the city workplace and suddenly meet other people and also get to see something of the surroundings, the whole life in the city," adds DI Christoph Abel.

An important aspect in designing the Stadtarbeitsplatz was that the tables and seating should be as portable and flexibly combinable as possible. In the best case, the furniture is used to form a circle around a tree, which should also provide shade. The basic shape of the circle can also be depicted in S-shapes, for example, because a city center workplace must be able to adapt well to its surroundings and local conditions.
 

Whether for facades, balconies or outdoor furniture, Max Compact Exterior panels from Fundermax offer architects and planners the necessary design freedom and undisputed quality. Also in the prototype of the urban workplace. "The Max Compact Exterior panel can withstand a lot. This is a great advantage for projects like the city workplace, where the modules are often moved and rearranged, because you can't actually break the panel," says Christoph Abel, explaining the use of the material. Melanie Sass-Schweigreiter continues: "It was great to be able to choose from so many colors. In addition, the material is very easy to clean."

All information on the Stadtarbeitsplatz project
All information on Max Compact Exterior

Photos: Johannes Puch