New Gallery and Casemates

The project is a result of a competition held in 2016 that set the task of making the casemates, an ammunition storage structure of the medieval fortress accessible to the general public in the form of a new cultural centre/exhibition venue for the small city of Wiener Neustadt.

The project deals with the issue of reconstruction and integration of historical layers into the life of the city – the historical complex, hidden for a long time, can be experienced and understood in its entirety while accepting a new programmatic definition.

The area in front of the casemates is conceived as a gently sloping public square that connects the level of the city to the semi-submerged level of the old structure, receiving visitors with a horizontally glazed ground floor. The visitor is then led through the maze-like – almost ‘piranesian’ structure of the old casemates, that has been transformed into an exhibition venue for the city.


New multipurpose hall – a kind of Kunsthalle space, lit from above, happens at the end of the subterranean promenade, it provides a natural, contemporary conclusion of the complex.

A gentle slope connects the space of the casemates back to the level of the Stadtpark, thus finishing the topographical outline of the complex – from the city, through subterranean historical layers of the fortress – back to the surface of the city and the green park.

The discipline of intervention is stressed through the material definition of additions – the brick world of the historical structure is complemented and revealed through the cast concrete materiality of new additions – making the new and old visibly differ, yet appear united.

Project Gallery