Together with the multi-professional team on site and the architects from TP3, we attempted a kind of architectural family constellation. For the Cölestine nuns of the “Order of the Most Holy Annunciation”, this was a contemplative place where the nuns lived according to the Rule of St. Augustine and were recognizable by their sky-blue (cölestinus) cowls. If you got to see them – the place was self-contained.

Emperor Joseph II ordered the opening and today we are once again faced with this historic task of opening these walls. At that time, the convent became a public, free “normal school for girls”. However, the barriers were not yet completely dismantled; new ones were erected: The ensemble slipped into its first ambivalent role. It becomes a prison and a theater. Uses could hardly be more contradictory: an introverted and extroverted place in one wall, two sides of one façade, two perspectives under one sky.

Exactly 150 years after Joseph II’s decree to open the monastery, the world theater of Austrian history finds a tragic stage here. And it is once again a Joseph who becomes a link in the history of the place: The 26-year-old Schutzbündler and socialist worker functionary Josef Ahrer is sentenced to death on February 17, 1934 on the basis of proven false testimony and hanged in the Berggasse prison yard. Ahrer’s last wish, a pork schnitzel and two bottles of beer, is fulfilled. At 11.28 pm, Josef Ahrer is hanged by executioner Wurm. Anton Hain, the court physician, did not determine that death had occurred until 11.45 pm.

Departure instead of escape!

In this place of lack of freedom, of confinement, of imprisonment, a place of

• Freedom of art and science,
• Freedom of research and thought,
• Freedom of education and entrepreneurship and
• Freedom from want and fear

emerge. The historic site begins the next chapter in its history.

Wandelgang – a chain of fortunate circumstances

Steyr has always been a symbol of trade, crafts, industry and reformation. Skillful architectural interventions link the production chain within the monastery walls. The contemplative, collaborative and constructive power flows again through punctuations. There are places for reflection, growth, experimentation and presentation. The production chain becomes complete. A chain of fortunate circumstances.

Through openings and perforations, the enchanted place is once again in close contact with the people of Steyr, opening its gates and showing us the infinite sky-blue horizon.

We consider the building complex in its entirety, as we believe that, like an organism, it can only live sustainably as a whole. An ecosystem is being initiated that is characterized by a balance of introverted and extroverted as well as serving zones. In concrete terms, this means a mix of gastronomy, publicly accessible spaces and settlement and accommodation options. In this way, businesses and educational establishments are specifically located in a unique location thanks to the special features of the spatial structures. And the most beautiful lecture hall in Austria, if not Europe – the old theater.

The roof of the newly created campus is supported by the pillars of education, training, contemplation, business and science, crafts and gastronomy. A community manager is responsible for the culture of the site and interaction. As a central hub for service and information, this creates an open campus mentality that is based on the long-term thinking of monastic life but celebrates the modern age. A new main entrance in the tower with a glass-roofed inner courtyard is also planned. The three buildings up to the Old Theater will be (re)connected.

What germinates here as an idea in the newly greened and partially roofed courtyards can leave the theater as a patent on the horizon.