Regional Court St. Pölten

The Golden Mask

The extension and renovation of the St. Pölten courthouse includes a newly developed addition for office use. From an urban design perspective, the new building closes the gap between the historic courthouse and the adjacent correctional facility, forming a coherent addition to the listed building. The contemporary extension is designed to appear as a confident and independent structure while at the same time respecting the historic context and mediating between modern and historical architectural languages.

The three floors of the existing building are connected barrier-free to the new five-storey volume while maintaining the same eaves height. The new structure primarily accommodates office spaces for the Higher Regional Court, the public prosecutor’s office and the district court. The square directly in front of the existing building is redesigned as an attractive urban space with areas for public use and an integrated underground garage.

The design concept divides the program of the extension into served and serving spaces, resulting in two separate building volumes. The main building contains only office spaces and the official library, while the service building accommodates the staircases, elevator, restrooms and server rooms. This separation increases the flexibility of the main building, while the secondary structure plays an important role in providing barrier-free connections to the historic building and mediating between old and new. A glazed architectural joint in the form of the circulation core articulates both connection and distance between the structures. The separation of the two functional volumes is further emphasized by deliberately differentiating their appearance and materiality.

Overall, the new building adopts certain characteristics of the historic structure while maintaining its own distinct and contemporary architectural expression. The natural sheen of the chosen material gives the building a warm and pleasant character, which continuously changes with the daily and seasonal variations of light, bringing the building quite literally to life.