Berger+Parkkinen Architekten

Keystone in the municipal utility area.

The Paracelsus Medical Private University (PMU) in Salzburg was founded in 2004. In 2017, the curriculum was expanded to include the study of pharmacy. The new institute building for pharmacy (House D) represents a continuation of the north-south directed volumes of the buildings of the STADWERK Life Sciences Campus area. The new city body thus consolidated, with the Institute of Pharmacy as the keystone, provides a connection along Gaswerkgasse to Mülln, where a recognisable connection between Salzburg's old town and Lehen is established across the railway embankment.

The concept of the laboratories and institute rooms is a continuation of the PMU (House C) on the opposite side of the street, which was completed in 2013 and also planned by Berger+Parkkinen. A particular challenge lay in the question of how the new building could interpret or accommodate the special feature of the PMU (House C) and the three sister buildings of the STADTWERK Life Sciences Campus, the undulating mirror undersides of the cantilevered buildings. The answer was to adopt not the form, but the concept.

Urban typology of a columned hall

The idea of a semi-public basement floors is continued in the Institute of Pharmacy (House D) with the construction of the urban typology of a large columned hall. The centre of this large hall is an amphitheatre. Surrounded by glass walls, it forms the transparent heart of the building. The massive arches and pillars span the entire ground floor and connect the various areas of the auditorium, seminar rooms, foyer area and staircases. The glass walls allow all parts to merge into an open space.

Typologically, the ground floor resembles a three-aisled “basilica”, whereby the western row of columns follows the sloping line of the old ground boundary. Thus resulting in the entrance hall taking on a conical shape through a series of different arches. The conical course of the projection to the forecourt is also created. This small incline opens the strict system of the pillars and creates a formal connection to the architecture of the Paracelsus Medical University (House C). This dynamic is particularly emphasized by double-high arches in the area of the staircases, which make the transition from the pedestal to the floors legible from the outside.

As with the Paracelsus Medical University (House C), the two main staircases are of great importance. In particular, the large staircase is planned as a three-dimensional communication space. All laboratories are located on the upper floors and determine the internal structure of the building with its functional, large corridor depths. Lecture and practice rooms as well as offices for scientific staff and administration complete the programme.

A clear withdrawal of the building in the east from the 3rd upper floor appears like a diagonal reflection of the western withdrawal of the arcade to the forecourt. These recesses regulate the scale of the building and enable precise integration into the context. At the same time, these two situations offer the users of the building welcome open spaces in the form of an arcade and a terrace.