Justizgebäude Salzburg

On September 30, 2019, the justice building in Salzburg was awarded the “Architecture and Sustainability” state prize for its outstanding renovation and extension. This prestigious project was planned by the renowned architectural firm Franz und Sue ZT GmbH and realized by the client BIG Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft m.b.H. Our team was responsible for the implementation of the structural design and building physics for this outstanding project.

Particularly noteworthy: for the first time in Austria, a listed federal building was awarded klimaaktiv Gold as part of a refurbishment project. The new building was also able to set standards for sustainable construction with a klimaaktiv Silver rating.

Historical heritage meets modern requirements

The Salzburg Justice Center is a listed building that houses the district court, the provincial court and a prison. Over the decades, numerous structural elements were added, which were removed in the course of the refurbishment in order to restore the original condition of the historic building fabric.

In the newly created inner courtyard of the building, an innovative five-storey office and administration building in a Y-shape was built, supplemented by an underground archive. This new structure combines modern architecture and sustainable construction with the requirements of a contemporary justice center.

Old building

The listed building was supplemented with new structures through local demolition and partial gutting and the existing building was upgraded to meet the requirements of current building regulations. Particular challenges included securing the building conditions, ensuring fire protection and the acoustics in the courtrooms.

New building

For the construction of the underground archive, it was necessary to underpin the foundations of the existing building with anchored DSV columns up to 10 m deep. The new archive components in contact with the ground were sealed with bentonite mats as a so-called “brown tank” against pressing water

There is a spacious passageway between the courtyards on th first floor. The new 4-storey building spans a width of up to 14 m here. Steel components with steel tension rods were therefore installed along the edges of the façade. These transfer the loads to the main girders on the roof. From there, the back-suspension loads are transferred via the walls and columns into the foundations. The suspended glass façade had to be taken into account in the deformation calculations for the overall system. Particular attention was paid to this calculation due to the deflections to be expected in the long term.

Building physics

Class C was achieved in the energy performance certificate for the listed existing building. Due to the listed status, the thermal measures are limited to insulating the newly constructed floor slab and the renovated or newly constructed ceiling to the roof space as well as renovating and sealing the historic box-type windows.

The focus of the planning for the new buildings is on an energy-efficient envelope. Energy class “B” was achieved for the Y-shaped office building and extension. The acoustic design of the conference rooms and offices was particularly challenging.