MISSION CLINKER BRICK SLIP: VORALBERG FACADES GET A FACE LIFT 

Already nominated for the “austrian brick and roof award” last year with a STRÖHER clinker brick slip facade, the firm Aichner Architekten Dornbirn have now become serial offenders. On the Garnmarkt in Götzis, Aichner Architekten continues with the slip facade design, and they are not just providing a “facelift”. They are really making a big statement about clinker brick slips by playing with the possibilities for Austrian facades.

There are Spanish fiestas and piano music in the open air. A distinctive motto “People need people”, a remarkable initiative “Living together in Götzis” and a clear understanding of individual responsibility and civic courage. Everything is here, and no fear of the new. Not even of new facades. And the Austrian market town only has 10,994 inhabitants.

If you are interested in architecture, it is quickly obvious that Vorarlberg architects have long enjoyed a pioneering role in the interpretation of classic materials and their integration into new contexts and facade design concepts. With the completion of the third construction phase, the Garnmarkt in Götzis now presents the most positive embodiment of what the German politician Walter Wallmann once yearned for: “Architecture should express what a town has to say”. Götzis wants diversity and community. A look at the buildings around the Garnmarkt reflects this. Many aspects that define life and make it worth living come together here in a single space: living, working, feasting, learning, playing, shopping and enjoying culture, across all the generations, from sheltered housing to adult education and childcare, thoroughly blended and well linked up. While even in Germany an increasing number of community and small town centres have turned into ghost towns, Götzis has turned itself into a model town for high-quality market town living, so that there is little temptation to up sticks. Especially as here - and unlike in a “city” - 200 public underground car park spaces are available, free of charge. That‘s an environment worth living in.