A modern, sustainable training centre of national importance for the ÖFB, the Austrian Football Association, is being built in Vienna's Seestadt district. In the near future, the men's and women's teams of the national selection teams will be able to train at this attractive location and play matches in front of around 1,000 spectators. The aim of this project is to realise a prestigious and highly functional overall concept that meets the complex requirements of the ÖFB in accordance with economic, ecological and design criteria.
The basic concept can be seen very clearly in the urban arrangement of the buildings and functions. All the buildings are arranged around the central theme of the project - the football match. Three differentiated, independently usable buildings are arranged around the main pitch:
- the office on Seestadtstrasse with prestigious offices and access for media and training participants.
- the small stadium - a two-storey grandstand structure on the long side of the competition field
- a building stretching from west to east for external users and greenkeeping in the north of the facility
All three structures are connected underground and have short access and supply routes thanks to their compact arrangement.
The architectural concept aims to emphasise the functionality and usability of each part of the building in terms of design and to make it visible from the outside, as well as to organise the necessary spaces as compactly as possible without compromising their usability.
The façade of the office building communicates with the surrounding city through its differentiated openings and invites visitors and people working inside. The design of the small stadium clearly marks the fan entrances, but is otherwise unobtrusive and celebrates its main function, the stands, towards the pitch..
The main factors of the design concept described above - economy, ecology and design - result in a homogeneous whole for the ÖFB training centre, despite the complex and differentiated functionalities.