Pastoral Care complex by X Architekten, Austria

Created on the site of Austrian steel company Voestalpine’s HQ in Linz, this Pastoral Care complex is the latest offering from emerging architecture practice X Architekten. Designed to serve both liturgical and secular functions for the company’s personnel, it is set in a disused space next to their large industrial estate

(Image credit: David Schreyer)

By Ellie Stathaki

last updated 2 September 2022

in Features

Created on the site of Austrian steel company Voestalpine's HQ in Linz, this sculptural Pastoral Care complex is the latest offering from emerging architecture practice X Architekten. The centre was designed to serve both liturgical and secular functions for the company's personnel and is set in a disused space next to their industrial estate.

The main building incorporates a chapel, meeting and event rooms, offices, workshops and a bar. In order for the building to fit within the surrounding urban and industrial landscape, the architects opted for an abstract contemporary form, rather than using a more traditional ecclesiastical architectural language. The shape was developed further in relation to the area's hilly geography, by 'cutting into and hollowing out the hillside'.

Nestled within an embankment of dark slag-stone and pebbledash, the building is made of concrete and clad internally - as well as externally in parts - in white painted wood in the chapel, event room and bar area. Its main circulation axis leads out to the woods.

Outside the main building sits a wooden shed, containing storage and gardening facilities, as well as a steel carport. A mesh metal 'bell court' (its hollow form is ideal for distributing the sound) is incorporated into the main structure, whose planted roof serves as a garden.

The complex's irregular shape leads to an equally polygonal ground floor plan that arranges the workspaces to the north and the more social and religious areas to the south. Above the ground floor is second level housing guest rooms, an apartment and a youth area. Flexible and multifunctional, the centre features room dividers that allow for a choice of either separating the spaces into rooms or uniting them into a single large hall.

With a shape that cleverly accommodates all the different uses in a homogenous and harmonious space, this centre offers a modern response to the Voestalpine community's need for integrating religious and secular facilities.

large room, crucifix on the wall — The main building incorporates a chapel, meeting and event rooms, offices, workshops and a bar

table in a room — The building is made of concrete and clad internally - and externally, in some parts - in white painted wood

stools, large open floor room — The complex’s irregular shape leads to an equally polygonal ground floor plan that arranges the workspaces to the north and the more social and religious areas to the south. Flexible and multifunctional, the centre features room dividers that allow for a choice of either separating the spaces into rooms or uniting them into a single large hall

hallway — The upper level houses guest rooms, an apartment and a youth area

large bell on the ground — A mesh metal ’bell court’ (its hollow form is ideal for distributing the sound) is incorporated into the main structure

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Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).

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