The project

Right next to Linz main station, crouched between the railway lines and Waldeggstrasse, is the derelict industrial site of the “Post-City”. The post office handled its logistics for Upper Austria on a total usable area of 80,000 m². After it moved to another location in 2014, the former postal distribution center has been empty for years. Since then, the area has had various temporary uses, including serving as a location for the Ars Electronica Festival and as refugee accommodation. Today it is one of the largest urban development projects in Linz. Another major topic in Upper Austrian state politics are the plans to establish a new technical university for digitalization in Linz. The prestigious theme of this university is intended to make the city of Linz a contemporary international player for digital transformation and to have a beacon character. The postUNI project combines the two topics into a potpourri of current social and ecological relevance. Instead of demolishing the old postal distribution center and occupying the area with new residential and commercial towers, the existing building will be put to new use by a Digital TU Linz and the area will be carefully densified. This means that a large part of the gray energy installed can continue to be used and considerable resource and energy expenditure for a new building project can be avoided. The inner-city location at the transport hub is ideal as a university location and offers direct connections to city institutions. Linking the concept of adaptive reuse with climate-friendly mobility and the construction of new green spaces represents a possible answer to the most pressing questions of today: How can we counter the consequences of parasitic overexploitation and grow into a post-growth society?

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