VARENA, Vöcklabruck

Sustainable and close to nature
With its strong focus on sustainability, the center offers space to recover away from the bustle of everyday life. With its recyclable natural building materials and innovative technical systems, VARENA is sustainable and reduces CO₂ emissions significantly compared with similar objects equipped with conventional technology. VARENA was awarded BREEAM-in-use certification in 2013 and, as Austria’s best-rated existing building, was a pioneering green shopping center for the entire DACH Region.

Landing
Positioned on a low site within the town of Vöcklabruck, the center has a reserved appearance and remains a visual teaser at the eyelevel of passing motorists. This effect is created by a complex, apparently woven “facade of sails,” which takes in the atmosphere of its colorful and glistening lakeland surroundings and reflects the constantly changing colors of the sky.

Light and water
A roof of white-printed glass creates a lakeshore feeling within the center, with its constant interplay of daylight, sunshine, and shadows. Ceiling panels made from special highly-polished aluminum generate reflections and deflect the light, enabling heavy elements of the wooden roof to disappear. The weightlessly homely quality of the white-varnished laminated timber beams form a friendly sky that floats high above the shoppers.

With its functional and emotional features, the elegant interior of the shopping center promises a richly-varied experience to visitors, who find themselves on a square and a lake and in a warm lounge, all at the same time. The most recent and most immediate feature of the square: a fountain from which water silently rises five meters before falling deep into the garage like a refreshingly roaring and colorful waterfall.

Design and added value
The location at the gateway to the Salzkammergut offers excellent transport connections to transregional customers while also guaranteeing a memorable shopping experience to visitors to the beautiful tourism region. The architecture of the center is based on the design guidelines for the buildings of the SPAR Group (Zimbapark, ATRIO) that were developed by ATP. The broad “butterfly mall” offers a fantastic shopping experience across 32,000 m².