1.3 million visitors made the Upper Belvedere in Vienna the most visited art museum in Austria last year. In future, a visitor centre in the form of an underground visitor centre will provide a modern infrastructure for the large number of visitors and help to relieve the 300-year-old structure of the famous baroque palace. 82 projects tackled the challenging task in the competition organised by the Austrian Belvedere Gallery.
We are delighted to have achieved 2nd place in the team with Studio Patrick Pregesbauer, Studio Pietro Maria Romagnoli and Aleksandra Budaeva. The “Fan” design takes up the strictly composed geometric ordering principle of the original overall complex and develops the visitor centre as a circular arch-shaped volume, which is fanned out between the radial axis of the Kavallier wing and the mirror axis of the Belvedere. The project develops an open space for movement, laid out in ramps and terraces, between the entrance area and the staircase to the exhibition areas of the palace. To emphasise the perspective effect of the Visitor Centre, the final end wall is mirrored. “The jury appreciates the spatial qualities of the project and recognises the human dimension inscribed in it, which makes it appear appealing.”