Nordpark Cable Railway
Subscribe now to instantly view this image
Subscribe to the Architects’ Journal (AJ) for instant access to the AJ Buildings Library, an online database of nearly 2,000 exemplar buildings in photographs, plans, elevations and details.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
Congress station
Werner Huthmacher (website) Download Original
Four stations along the cable railway tracks leading up to Innsbruck’s northern chain of mountains, to give tourists access to high slopes and connect local villages.
Adaptation to the specific site conditions in various altitudes while articulating a coherent overall architectural language is critical to this design approach.
Two contrasting elements ‘Shell & Shadow’ generate each station’s spatial quality. A lightweight organic roof structure floats on top of a concrete plinth.
The artificial landscape functions as a relief in which various movements and circulations are inscribed. Looking at the roof shell’s fluid shapes and soft contours, one might be reminded on natural phenomena such as glacier movements.
Data
- Begun: Dec 2005
- Completed: Dec 2007
- Floor area: 2,500m2
- Sector: Transport
- Procurement: Public Private Partnership
- Address: Norpark Cable Stations, Innsbruck, 6020, Austria
Materials 
Professional Team
- Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects
- Project architects: Patrik Schumacher, Thomas Vietzke, Zaha Hadid
- Client: Innsbrucker Nordkettenbahnen GmbH
- Planning advisor/local partner office: Malojer Baumanagement/ILF Beratende Ingenieure
- Structural engineer: Bollinger Grohmann Schneider ZT
- Main contractor: Strabag
- Lighting consultant: Zumbotel Lightning GmbH
