Aluminium meets wood: The agricultural centre Maishofen: When a slightly pitched roof helps preserve the landscape

The agricultural centre in the Salzburg Pinzgau region is not a typical new construction, which becomes clear when you first see the impressive structure. This is largely due to the generously perforated, front-mounted façade with its delicate wooden pillars that extend across both storeys. One might also think of veiling and openings when you stand in front of it. Completed in 2016, the building was nominated both by the Rosenheimer Holzbaupreis 2020 and the highly endowed Constructive Alps 2017, which is why PREFARENZEN decided to chat with the architect about the project.

Everything began in 2014, when sps÷architekten submitted their designs to create a joint office building (district farmers’ chamber, machinery ring and cattle breeders’ association) to the competition. Despite the pitched roof, they won against four other contestants with a building that should be realised in a wood and clay design with a flat roof. Yet particularly the flat roof resulted in such vehement protests within the community that there was no other option than to comply with the rather conservative and tradition-conscious client. This resulted in a slightly inclined roof and a superimposed PV system. But Simon Speigner mentions a thoroughly positive side effect of this “lost” debate: “In retrospect, it actually wasn’t disadvantageous for the interior and the entire spatial experience, even if the idea behind the flat roof was that the historic livestock auction hall behind it would have been more visible.” The architect is pleased that everything looks like there will be a second building phase for a separate building for the cattle breeders’ association, as this was also part of the original plan.

The architect, who occasionally spoke in an earthy Salzburg dialect throughout the entire interview, responded to the question what made him decide to use aluminium for the realisation of the 800 m² large roof surface as follows: “We’re very conscious of the fact that everything we bring into the cycle during ecological construction eventually has to be discarded or brought back into the cycle. In Maishofen, we plastered ecologically sustainable clay, realised a large part of the building in wood and placed an aluminium roof on top of it. At present, we’re ahead of others in this respect or stand out from conventional construction. However, looking ahead, there is certainly still a lot that can be done!”

The tinsmith Martin Rathgeb notes retrospectively that the execution of the slightly inclined roof with the product Prefalz P.10 anthracite was the only logical cladding for a wooden construction in Maishofen, as this material choice in the Pinzgau region – “the land of metal roofs” – is very common. The practicability and durability of the PREFA roofs have proven themselves time and again, which the PREFA object consultant for the Salzburg region and neighbouring areas of Upper Austria, Peter Kopp, explains as follows: "The reason for this is the ideal carrying capacity of the standing seam roof, which is why snow masses in winter do not constitute a problem.“ In addition, it is easier to deal with the closely connected issue of melt water backlog. Peter Kopp concludes: “The fact that it is produced from secondary aluminium is clearly one of the main reasons why an architect like Simon Speigner, who is well-versed in sustainability, chose to work with Prefalz.”