Vorarlberg Museum, Bregenz, Austria
The extension of the Vorarlberg Museum in Bregenz combines a historic listed building with contemporary architecture. A defining feature of the new building is its textured fair-faced concrete façade, featuring 16,656 three-dimensional concrete blossoms. To realise the façade design, RECKLI developed custom-made formliners that enabled the precise reproduction of the artist's concept.
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ProjectVorarlberg Museum
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LocationBregenz, Austria
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Application
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ArchitectCukrowicz Nachbaur Architekten
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PhotosHans Peter Schiess, Adolf Bereuter
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Category
Extension with a distinctive concrete façade
Façade
The extension of the Vorarlberg Museum has added a striking museum building to the city centre of Bregenz, combining a historic structure with contemporary architecture. Designed by the architectural practice Cukrowicz Nachbaur, the existing museum building was renovated, extended and complemented by a new addition. The defining feature of the new building is its textured fair-faced concrete façade, whose surface design was realised using custom-made RECKLI formliners.
The approximately 1,300 m² façade consists of precast fair-faced concrete elements featuring a total of 16,656 concrete blossoms. The façade design was created by artist Manfred Alois Mayr. The bases of standard PET bottles served as the template, their characteristic shape being transferred into concrete.
PET bottles as the template for the façade structure
To realise the façade design, RECKLI developed project-specific elastomer formliners. Due to the geometry of the individual elements, the structure could not be produced directly from a milled negative mould using conventional methods. Instead, positive models were first created from selected PET bottle bases and arranged on carrier boards according to the design specifications. These models then served as the basis for manufacturing the formliners.
The arrangement of the individual structural elements follows a parametrically developed system. By combining different primary and supplementary formliners, the façade design could be realised efficiently without creating a recognisable repeating pattern. The result is a continuous surface structure extending across the entire building envelope.
Fair-faced concrete with high execution requirements
The production of the façade elements placed high demands on both materials and execution. The structures project up to 45 mm from the concrete surface and required consistent, highly detailed reproduction. A specially formulated self-compacting fair-faced concrete was used to ensure the reliable casting of the complex surface geometry.
In combination with the RECKLI formliners, a precisely executed concrete surface was created that faithfully reproduces the design concept. The three-dimensional effect of the structures changes throughout the day as the light shifts, giving the museum façade a different appearance from varying viewpoints.
Architecture and concrete surface as a unified design concept
The extension of the Vorarlberg Museum demonstrates how the façade surface can become an integral part of an architectural concept. The custom-made RECKLI formliners enabled the efficient and precise realisation of the complex surface structure, showcasing the design potential of textured concrete surfaces in contemporary museum architecture.
