December 17, 2008

International Austria. Hadid builds Libary & Learning Center.

The projected campus of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, see site at google map

Libary and Learning Center, by Zaha Hadid

Usually, the Austrian municipality is defending the local 'architecture market' against foreign competitors, thus, international architects rarely enter the competition. Today, the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration choose a different path: An international jury lead by Wolf Prix (Coop Himmelblau), has selected Zaha Hadid (she will do the biggest building – the Library and Learning Center), Hitoshi Abe, NO.MAD Arquitectos and CRABstudio (Peter Cook) for the design of the campus buildings. However, it is arguable whether the architects can meet the limited budget: can you build 100,000m² net areas for 250,000,000 Euro?

interior view of the Libary & Learning Center, by Zaha Hadid

See the competition page of University of Economics for more images.