ATP architects engineers

The program for the first comprehensively thematic shopping center in Austria adopted the motto of the cross-border Olympics bid by Austria, Italy and Slovenia. The architecture readdresses and reinterprets the notion of “borders and crossing borders”. The traditional Roman term “Atrium”, overlaid with reflections on the three country theme, is rediscovered in the name of the center and the concept of the plaza. The mall and the INTERSPAR hypermarket are arranged around a glass-covered central plaza (50 x 60 m) which provides Villach with a new urban square. The over-scaled red origami form of the portal marks the entrance and creates an air of ornamentation while incorporating a covered forecourt with open-air stage. The architecture employs renewable materials while the building services design incorporates an energy concept which uses “energy piles” to recover the energy stored in the ground. This results in an annual reduction in CO2 emissions of 500 tons.