Baukultur Ebensee
Collaborators
Andreas Zohner
Tobias Reisenbichler
Veronika Sandner
Location
Ebensee | Austria
Involved institutions
Municipality Council Ebensee
Agenda21 - Regionalmanagement Oberösterreich
Verein Landluft
AzW - Architekturzentrum Wien
About the Project
Ebensee is a municipality with around 7.400 inhabitants located in Upper Austria. The socio-economic structure in Ebensee, as well as the built environment is historically shaped by its industrial past. Until today, the municipality has been shaped by its industries in its urban morphological form. Nevertheless, historical settlement structures in the town center remain in it´s typical local Salzkammergut Architecture. However, due to the shift in industries and the relocation of the saltworks from the center to the periphery, the municipality today appears fragmented and is strongly influenced by car-oriented developments causing empty storefronts and heavy traffic in the center. This project sought to raise awareness of the heritage embedded in the remaining historic structures, in order to protect the valuable character of the region and to encourage a rethinking of how underused ground-floor spaces could be revitalised within an participatory process. Follow-up Projects
After participation formats like surveys, architecture walks, two exhibitions (AzW Boden für Alle, LandLuft Wanderausstellung) and discussions in the municipal council in Ebensee, another follow up project with agenda21 could be possible to continue with the findings as a base to implement them into a holistic strategy. Workshops and events have been taking place since 2024, in which many interested citizens have already participated. The workshops are being greatly supported and also shaped by a RURASMUS student, who, as part of her thesis, explored possible uses for the town center of the saltworks community. In the RURASMUS project of the European Capital of Cultural Salzkammergut 2024, several students lived for at least one semester in selected municipalities of the Cultural Capital region and engage with specific local research questions there.
Architecture Guide
Due to its historically developed contradictions between being an industrial town, a summer retreat, and an agricultural area, Ebensee possesses a very diverse and rich building heritage. However, much of this has often fallen victim to arbitrary, interchangeable new developments.
As part of an Agenda 21 process, building heritage guidelines for Ebensee are now being developed together with local citizens. These guidelines are intended to serve as a practical framework for the building authority, the municipal office, and the (newly to be established) architectural advisory board, making decision-making under aspects of building culture easier. This architecture guide aims to raise awareness among the citizens of Ebensee about the value of their rich, historically rooted built heritage.The full guide as PDF
The audioguide spoken by Günter Kaindlstorfer