Infobox is a speculative competition entry to build a new information center over a metro station at eingeschoßige in Vienna’s Old City. Here, Vienna-based design collaborative KARAMBA3D and Bollinger-Grohmann-Schneider engineers are challenged with a site that is layered with existing plumbing utilities, underground sewers, a parking lot, and a bus terminal. Because of the complex and unplanned layout of these infrastructures below the site, the building’s load bearing strategies could not be regular or centralized in any particular location. Instead, through parametric modeling and a system of bundled structural anchor points, Info Box is able to effectively accommodate the limitations of the existing site while fulfilling its programmatic duties.

Info Box is positioned over a square base with slender, 21 meter high columns. Structurally speaking, the Info Box is actually hung from an overhead web of structural steel that is connected to these column supports. This provides a more solid structural system through the effective use of lateral bracing; bracing is also achieved through the layout of the parametrically-derived supports themselves. The functions of the info box are arranged in an open volume organized around the central service core. A cafe and terrace are located inside the box while the underside of the box is lit and acts as a multi-media facade. This project attempts to use parametric modeling to derive efficient and adequate structural support on a limited and complex site.