Fernwirksame Massarbeit Precision work with a strong impact

摘要

A shimmering facade with a complex geometry makes the Backaldrin extension by x architekten into a landmark. The Kornspitz, a dark bread roll, is probably Backaldrin's most popular invention. The family business specialises in baking agents and additives and is represented in more than 90 countries. Around 600 different raw materials are processed in more than 700 recipes. The company headquarters is in Ästen, just ten minutes drive east of Linz. Around the old mill a sizable conglomeration of buildings has grown up. To the north is the west motorway, the warehouses and production facilities are located to the south, the offices are bright yellow. In 2003 a glazed foyer was added on the west side from which an auditorium clad in mirrored glass extends in the form of a quarter circle. Lectures about baking mixes are given here. Students, apprentices, bakers and customers are among the regular visitors to the works. The company founder Peter Augendopler loves bread and collects everything that has to do with it, from folk art to paintings by Albin Egger Lienz. He toyed with the idea of building a museum and organised an invited competition. This was won by x architekten, but the museum was never built. However, Backaldrin needed more office space and a new innovation and technology centre (ITZ). In two bakeries the ideal conditions for new kinds of bread and baked goods were to be tested and special customers' wishes examined, x architekten attached a U-shaped building to the eastern office wing. "This formulates the typology for any future extensions" explains Max Nirnberger. To the east there are still reserves of land for building. As the result of this form all the rooms on the first floor are flooded with light from both sides, the circulation space never becomes boring, and in the courtyard defined by the new building there is a protected terrace that gets the evening sun. The action of air bubbles in dough and the structure of bread crust provided the theme for the external facade. Covering what was imagined as a soft, swelling and subsiding surface with a material that has strong technical connotations and sharp edges can be seen as a reference to the industrial aspect of production. Triangular areas of polished stainless steel form the facade that pushes forwards and back.