New BODNER Group headquarters Kufstein photos, Austrian office architecture design architect

New BODNER Group headquarters, Kufstein, Austria

6 August 2025

Design: Zechner & Zechner / Grabher

Location: Kufstein, Austria

Photos: Haerdtlein

New BODNER Group headquarters, Kufstein

Refined shell aesthetics as an architectural statement
With its new headquarters in Kufstein, the BODNER Group is not only creating space for its further expansion, but is also formulating an architectural expression that subtly reflects the company’s DNA.

The continuously growing BODNER Group, one of the leading construction companies in the Alpine region, has built its new corporate headquarters in Kufstein. As part of an invited architectural competition in 2020, the architects ARGE Zechner & Zechner – Grabher developed a campus concept that is to be realised in three stages over the long term. The foundation stone for this development has now been laid with the completion of the first component – the centre itself.

Urban planning settings: Open structure with a high quality of stay
The central urban planning idea of the design is to create an open, campus-like structure. Three individual buildings define the ensemble, which is characterised by a staggered arrangement, staggered height development and targeted openings towards the surrounding mountain landscape. The building formation creates a calm, high-quality inner courtyard environment – the heart of the new BODNER campus.

A key component of the urban planning concept is the half-storey car park deck set into the site. When the campus is completed, the car parking spaces will disappear ‘under the carpet’, creating a largely car-free, green campus landscape on the surface.

Architectural concept: shell construction – refined and refined
The architecture of the new headquarters reflects the roots and activity of the BODNER Group – construction itself. The design leitmotif is the ‘refined shell aesthetic’, which takes up the materiality and appearance of a building site, but transforms it through precision and clarity.

Roughly cut ceiling edges, visible formwork structures, blue-painted container boxes as an architectural reference to the typical BODNER construction site infrastructure – all this becomes a means of expression. The rough appearance is contrasted and enhanced by high-quality detailed solutions – e.g. for glazing and panelling.

A central spatial element is the multi-storey atrium with a sculptural open staircase. It not only physically connects the levels, but also functions as a communication space and symbolic meeting point. The container boxes arranged freely in the space serve as meeting booths or retreat zones and reflect the company’s DNA: the construction site as a place for dialogue and decision-making.

The material canon remains deliberately raw and undisguised: Exposed concrete walls, untreated insulating materials on the ceilings, concrete slab floors, lampshades made from formwork panels, lattice boxes with plants. Even the rear wall behind the reception desk is made of several layers of reinforcement mesh.

Office and working environment: openness with structure
The ground floor houses training rooms, meeting zones and a lunch box with coffee lounge. This is where customers are received, training courses are held and employees meet informally.

The four upper floors are dominated by internal areas: spacious team areas with permanently assigned workstations, focus zones, communication areas, shared resources such as printers, meeting rooms and coffee niches. Individual offices are reserved exclusively for the management level.

Special attention is paid to promoting the exchange of knowledge: technicians deliberately work in a team structure, while site managers share an office that is also used as a meeting room.
Telephone rooms, booths for video conferences and meeting boxes of various sizes are available as soundproofed rooms alongside open-plan standing areas and lounge zones for interaction.
The cloakrooms are located at the entrance to the office units; personal, lockable storage units are available directly at the workstations.

The spatial concept, developed in co-operation with M.O.O.CON, follows the principle of promoting openness and enabling concentration. The planning is based on a catalogue of usage patterns and room typologies that are tailored to daily practice.

The separation between corridor zones and work areas is achieved using modular filter systems: mobile partition walls, glass surfaces, drywall elements, planting and semi-transparent expanded metal panels. The acoustic separation is flexible and adaptable, as is the visual control.

Open space concept: the campus as a green island
The new BODNER campus is located in a functional environment between the motorway, main road and adjacent commercial areas. In this heterogeneous setting, the campus is deliberately staged as a scenic antithesis – as a green island that creates a place of tranquillity, encounter and identity with a well thought-out open space concept.

The distant views of the Tyrolean mountains characterise the design idea: the landscape is not imitated, but quoted – in the form of gentle slopes, generous meadow areas, groups of trees and species-rich planting. The result is an independent place with a high recognition value that clearly stands out from its surroundings.
A central design element is the difference in level between the campus plateau and the surrounding area. Spacious staircases and barrier-free paths provide an attractive solution to this transition, both functionally and spatially. The green roof of the car park deck serves as an elevated garden with tree planting, which improves both the microclimate and the quality of stay.

Vertical planting on the façades – in the form of extensive balcony greening with sedum, grasses and flowering shrubs – frames the building and creates green ‘front gardens’ for all workplaces. The natural character of the campus thus continues right up to the edge of the windows and improves the microclimate around the building as well as the quality of stay.

Energy concept: sustainability in practice
In addition to spatial quality and design identity, sustainability plays a central role. The energy supply for the new corporate headquarters is based on an efficient combination of photovoltaics and heat pump technology. On the roof of the headquarters, 320 PV modules with a peak output of 133 kWp produce around 150 MWh of electricity per year – up to 60 per cent of which is used directly in the building. The concept is complemented by heat pumps that utilise both electrical energy and groundwater. The result is a virtually energy self-sufficient building that combines sustainable solutions in construction and operation.

By means of slender constructions, a house was created that has a low consumption of resources. Concrete aggregates were deliberately sourced locally and the prefabricated parts come from the company’s own factory nearby. Even the lampshades in the restaurant were built at the company’s own building yard.

With the new corporate headquarters in Kufstein, the BODNER Group has created a building that is not only a workspace, but also a place that creates a sense of identity. Architecture, interior design, landscape and technology are seamlessly intertwined. The building embodies the company’s values in spatial form – functional, open, sustainable and with a design concept that quotes the building world in a modern and reflective way and is an expression of a self-image: down-to-earth, innovative and committed to building culture.

Text: Zechner & Zechner / Grabher

New BODNER Group headquarters in Kufstein, Austria – Building Information

Architects: Zechner & Zechner – https://zechner.com/en/homepage/

Client: Bodner Group, Kufstein
General planning: Zechner & Zechner / Grabher, Vienna
Structural engineering: Thomas Lorenz ZT, Graz
HVAC planning: IBK Kainz, Innsbruck
Building physics: Dr Pfeiler, Graz
Fire protection: IMS, Weiler
Open space planning: Korbwurf, Vienna
Room programme: Moocon; Waidhofen /Ybbs
General contractor: Ing. Hans Bodner Baugesellschaft