The Linz Local Transportation Hub (Application)

Concept:
Date: 2004

A bit of window-shopping in Linz’s brand new underground mall, a pleasant stroll through the park across from the train station and down a lovely tree-lined boulevard—the Ars Electronica Center showed the new Linz local transportation hub in the CAVE one year before its finishing!

A 60,000-square-meter parcel is the site of Linz’s new main train station as well as the Administrative Services Center of the Government of the Province of Upper Austria, and a fully integrated bus terminal. Additional construction creates a streetcar underpass from Goethekreuzung to Bulgariplatz and a new park. The bright, airy new train station concourse featuring a giant glass façade and a roof constructed of steel supports and light bands was conceived by architect Wilhelm Holzbauer. The 1st underground level offers travelers an extensive array of shops, cafés, bars and restaurants. Enclosed walkways provide weather-protected access from here to the train platforms, the streetcar stop, the bus terminal and the new Administrative Services Center.

The new streetcar stop is located on the 2nd underground level. It’s part of a 1,492-meter-long stretch of underground track that is Linz’s longest subway line. A central arrival and departure terminal for all municipal and regional bus lines has been constructed at the Administrative Services Center. A future addition to this facility is the so-called local commuter line that handles all regional light rail traffic such as the Eferdinger Lokalbahn.

The old park across from the train station has been refurbished, redesigned and enlarged by 3,000 square meters. Kärntnerstraße, which has been widened to make way for bicycle paths and bus lanes, has been lined with ornamental cherry trees.

And the venerable train station lions—famed rendezvous point for generations of school-outing participants—found a new home too. Just take a good look around the square in front of the terminal building!

This virtual model of the Linz Hub for the Ars Electronica Center’s CAVE was commissioned by NAVEG and produced by the Ars Electronica Futurelab.