SHORT SUMMARY (ev. mit Anker zum runterspringen, quasi eine Navigation)
What happens when a forgotten place regains meaning?
The former railway station at Landungsplatz in Ebensee is one of many buildings across Europe—rich in history, yet left behind by time. Once a place of arrival and departure, it now stands still—quiet, unused, but full of potential.
As part of the EU project DECORATOR, it became the starting point for a co-creative journey. Students, citizens, designers, and local authorities came together to rethink the space—sustainably, collaboratively, and with a deep sense of atmosphere and place.
This page documents that process in a compact and self-explanatory way. It also presents five design ideas showing how the station could once again become a meaningful place in the daily life of the town and its people.
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Rethinking How We Build – DECORATOR & the New European Bauhaus
DECORATOR is an EU-funded cooperation project in the Danube Region with an ambitious goal: to make the construction sector more circular.
This does not only apply to materials—but also to planning processes, digital innovation, and regulatory frameworks.
At the heart of DECORATOR is the belief that circular transformation must connect the technical, social and cultural dimensions of building.
The project therefore brings together partners from design, policy, technology, and education across multiple countries.
The work is guided by the New European Bauhaus values:
- Sustainability – reuse of resources, lifecycle thinking, and energy efficiency
- Participation – co-creation with local actors and diverse stakeholders
- Beauty – human-centered design that creates identity, quality, and atmosphere
These principles are not only reflected in the project’s activities, but also form the foundation of the DECORATOR Model—a guiding framework that translates the New European Bauhaus values into practical approaches for circular construction.
It offers a structured and holistic approach to implementing circularity on the ground—through local demonstrators, pilot projects, and forward-thinking policy recommendations.
Learn more: The DECORATOR Model: A Guiding Framework for Circular Construction
A Town in Transition – Ebensee’s Search for Identity
Ebensee is a town in Upper Austria’s Salzkammergut region—known for its lake, industrial heritage, and strong community.
It has long been shaped by industry—salt production, chemical plants, and heavy labour formed the backbone of its economy for over a century. As an industrial town nestled between lake and mountain, Ebensee was closely linked to extraction, production, and working-class culture.
In the last two decades, the town has undergone deep structural changes. With the decline of traditional industries, population loss, a shrinking public life, and a search for new identity became central challenges. Young people moved away, many buildings fell out of use, and spaces once filled with labour became silent.
But change is underway. In 2024, Ebensee participated in the European Capital of Culture “Bad Ischl – Salzkammergut”, hosting art interventions, performances, and collective experiments. These opened up new narratives around care, community, and spatial imagination.
Against this backdrop, DECORATOR explores how circular building and participatory design can become tools for local regeneration—not only physically, but culturally and socially.
ev. Downloads, alte Fotos, Zitate
The Railway Station at Landungsplatz – A Space Between Transit and Potential
Just 50 meters from the town center, nestled between the Traunsee and the foot of the Feuerkogel, stands the railway station “Ebensee Landungsplatz”.
While the station continues to serve daily trains, the station building itself has stood empty for years. Built in 1971, it replaced an older structure from the opposite side of the tracks. For decades, it played a central role in local life—connecting people, industry, and tourism. Today, it still features bus stops, parking, and a public WC, but the building itself is unused.
In 2024, during the Salzkammergut 2024, the station was temporarily revived. Art installations, performances and workshops transformed the rooms into an interdisciplinary cultural space—with projects by international and local artists.
These moments revealed the building’s potential—not just as transit infrastructure, but as a space for public life. The municipality now supports its interim use as a social and civic space—creating room for participation, experimentation and dialogue.
Galerie: ÖBB Pläne, alte Fotos, Landungsplatz im Fasching
The Process: From Serendipity to Structured Co-Creation
PLACEHOLDER – INTRO PROCESS
From Idea to Prototype – The Participatory Design Process
1) Spring 2025 – Project Kickoff
Sometimes it takes the right constellation of people to unlock the potential of a place. In Ebensee, it was a combination of local openness, regional momentum, and shared curiosity that made the pilot possible.
The Creative Region Linz & Upper Austria brought the location into the EU project DECORATOR as Pilot 4, and began shaping a process that would connect circular building, local knowledge and civic imagination.
In collaboration with the Kunstuniversität Linz and its platform basehabitat, the project was integrated into the architecture curriculum as a semester project (Fall/Winter 2025/26).
2) Summer 2025 – Framing & Research
From the start, the municipality of Ebensee, the ÖBB, and local cultural actors from “Aufbruch Salzkammergut” were involved. Together, they helped define the scope and framework for temporary reuse.
Before the design process began, the team conducted a stakeholder analysis and reviewed existing material and history, including an architectural walk of Ebensee.
3) Autumn 2025 – Fieldwork in Ebensee
Throughout the semester, five student teams developed prototypical reuse scenarios for the station—envisioned for a period of five years.
The participatory process was accompanied by the architecture office nonconform, who facilitated citizen and stakeholder involvement.
Workshops, interviews and co-creative sessions brought together citizens, stakeholders, and local experts to share needs, ideas and experiences.
The students also conducted an in-depth building survey, created floor plans, and documented the site through photography and video. They visited the municipal office, the town museum, and went on a guided walk through Ebensee with a local expert from Aufbruch Salzkammergut.
Additional site visits to nearby companies in the fields of construction and industry helped contextualize their ideas within the regional economy.
4) December 2025 – Midterm Review
The students developed a model for the Landungsplatz based on the point cloud, as well as a schematic of the resulting reconstruction.
Parallel to their fieldwork, the students began developing first design concepts, which were presented in Linz to a group of advisors from Creative Region, nonconform, Aufbruch Salzkammergut, architects and professors.
5) Winter 2025/26 – Design Refinement
Based on the feedback, the five prototypes were further refined and finalized during the winter months.
6) January 2026 – Internal Final
The results were internally presented at the end of January at the Architekturforum Linz.
Before the design process began, the team conducted a stakeholder analysis and reviewed existing material and history, including an architectural walk of Ebensee.
7) March 2026 – Public Exhibition
In March 2026, the results were shared with the public in the form of an exhibition in Ebensee.
Project #1 – KLEINES GEMEINDEHAUS
by Lea Knoch & Silva-Maria Schulz
The project transforms the vacant railway station at Ebensee Landungsplatz into a “small community house” — an open, low-threshold place for civic life. Instead of proposing a fixed final state, it understands architecture as a gradual, collective process rooted in reuse, participation, and adaptability. The station becomes a shared space shaped by and for the people of Ebensee.
What is the new use?
The former station building is reimagined as an open civic house that offers space for meetings, shared work, cultural events, and self-organized programs. Rather than defining a strict program, the design provides a robust and flexible spatial infrastructure that can be adapted over time. Ideally supported by a local association, the building becomes a platform for community-driven activities and everyday use.
How does the space feel?
The atmosphere is intentionally open, inclusive, and evolving. Large, flexible interior spaces are complemented by transitional zones that can act as showcases, storage, or extensions of the main room. A large curtain element structures the interior, allowing different uses while supporting thermal separation. Outside, the building opens itself toward the town and the lake, strengthening pedestrian movement and making the station a visible and welcoming place once again.
What is reused or rethought?
Sustainability is understood as building further with what already exists. The history of the building remains visible and is consciously continued. Materials from partial deconstruction are reused or reinterpreted, creating a material collage where old and new enter into dialogue. Regional, sustainable materials such as wood, hemp, and lime are combined with targeted energy upgrades like roof insulation and window refurbishment. In a second phase, recycled materials are used to construct a new waiting shelter, built collectively and almost entirely from reused components.
Project #2 – MATERIALCAFÉ
by Friderike Schmidt, Emma Vogel & Elisabeth Lohbreier
MATERIALCAFÉ places the reuse of resources at the core of its concept: What already exists becomes the starting point for new construction and community use. The design combines a repurposed café inside the station with an open, covered market structure made from reused materials. It invites the people of Ebensee to actively shape circular economy in their town.
What is the new use?
The former station building becomes a MaterialCafé through minimal intervention, including a café space, kitchen, storage, toilets, and an event cellar. At its core is a material exchange shelf where people can leave or take reusable items—building parts, books, and more. Outside, the market band provides shelter and space for weekly markets, local information, bike parking, and social interaction.
How does the space feel?
The market band frames the plaza between the station and the town hall. Its open roof structures orient toward either the tracks or the street, creating zones that are flexible, shaded, and welcoming. The atmosphere promotes community ownership, informal use, and self-organization—with a balance of utility and charm.
What is reused or rethought?
The entire project is built on the idea of resource reuse. Instead of designing from scratch, it collects and recombines what already exists—materials from households, industry, and abandoned buildings. Circularity is not just a goal here—it’s the very foundation of the design, both in material logic and in community empowerment.
Project #3 – IN EBENSEE – ZSOMMKUMMA
by Armin Brandstätter & Theresa Dinauer
The project ZSOMMKUMMA approaches the Landungsplatz station not as an isolated building, but as part of a wider urban fabric. Three central public spaces in Ebensee—the Landungsplatz, market square, and theatre park—are spatially reconnected, atmospherically enhanced, and reprogrammed. Inside the station, a multifunctional furniture element enables community cooking, cultural events, and shared use.
What is the new use?
The station building is reimagined as a social and cultural gathering place. A large piece of built-in furniture structures the interior into two zones: a quiet side for yoga or therapy, and an active side for music practice, workshops, and shared meals. Surrounding this are redesigned public squares that offer spaces for markets, performances, and informal encounters.
How does the space feel?
The intervention creates spaces that are open yet sheltered, calm yet social. The market walkway adds a sense of intimacy to the town square, while also buffering it from traffic. The central furniture acts as a spatial filter—creating zones while remaining playful and multifunctional. It includes details like a children’s loft, a coffee bar, and an extendable kitchen island, inviting people to gather and participate.
What is reused or rethought?
Rather than building anew, the project works with and around the existing. Gabion baskets filled with demolition rubble from the site form the rear wall of the new market structure. Instead of removing streets or parking, these are reorganized to create safer pedestrian areas and support local businesses. The whole concept is designed for temporary, low-impact, and flexible use.
Project #4 – FERNBLICK
by Isabel Mieke & Támi Forgó
FERNBLICK transforms the busy Landungsplatz in Ebensee with a striking vertical intervention: a 16-meter-high tower that offers sweeping views of the lake and mountains. It restores visual access to the natural beauty of the area and houses two artist residencies, providing both public experience and cultural production. The tower becomes a new landmark—and a long-term cultural impulse for the town.
What is the new use?
A tall observation tower is constructed on the site to offer open access to panoramic views of Ebensee, the Traunsee, and the surrounding Alps. The tower includes two artist-in-residence studios, where international artists can live and work on temporary projects, embedded in the local setting. This dual program connects public experience with artistic creation.
How does the space feel?
The tower rises above the layers of infrastructure—railways, streets, buildings—and reconnects the site with the wider landscape. It creates a sense of vertical openness, inviting visitors to climb and rediscover the beauty of their surroundings. The design is both iconic and accessible: a place of reflection, perspective, and quiet inspiration.
What is reused or rethought?
Instead of reworking the existing building, the project reclaims the visual and cultural potential of the site itself. It reframes the location through elevation and minimal footprint, introducing new spatial and social relationships. With its long-term cultural function and low-impact footprint, the tower reimagines how a landmark can be both public infrastructure and artistic platform.
Project #5 – KINDERSTEIG
FERNBLICK transforms the busy Landungsplatz in Ebensee with a striking vertical intervention: a 16-meter-high tower that offers sweeping views of the lake and mountains. It restores visual access to the natural beauty of the area and houses two artist residencies, providing both public experience and cultural production. The tower becomes a new landmark—and a long-term cultural impulse for the town.
What is the new use?
A tall observation tower is constructed on the site to offer open access to panoramic views of Ebensee, the Traunsee, and the surrounding Alps. The tower includes two artist-in-residence studios, where international artists can live and work on temporary projects, embedded in the local setting. This dual program connects public experience with artistic creation.
How does the space feel?
The tower rises above the layers of infrastructure—railways, streets, buildings—and reconnects the site with the wider landscape. It creates a sense of vertical openness, inviting visitors to climb and rediscover the beauty of their surroundings. The design is both iconic and accessible: a place of reflection, perspective, and quiet inspiration.
What is reused or rethought?
Instead of reworking the existing building, the project reclaims the visual and cultural potential of the site itself. It reframes the location through elevation and minimal footprint, introducing new spatial and social relationships. With its long-term cultural function and low-impact footprint, the tower reimagines how a landmark can be both public infrastructure and artistic platform.
Learnings & Outlook
Resources & materials used
- ARCHITEKTUR SPAZIERGANG EBENSEE
Project partners
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