Innsbruck Austria
The outdoor sport destination Innsbruck is nestled between high mountains, leaving little space for the Tyrolean capital to expand.
Cooperation with Build-in-Wood
The city of Innsbruck is officially one of seven Early Adopter Cities of the Build-in-Wood project.
To this point, Innsbruck signed the letter of commitment, participated in the Welcome Webinar and provided critical information on the status of timber as a building material, related projects and challenges to be addressed.
Innsbruck's first workshop took place in October 2020 and was attended by ~20 stakeholders. The second workshop ("Area-based planning and scenario development") was held in September 2021.
The Challenge
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compact, high-density urban area with little undeveloped land
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valley-location constrained by mountainous landscape
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Traditional / outdated perception of timber as material for "wood cabins" not urban housing
Build-in-Wood Focus
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Densification, adding new stories on existing buildings,
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Simplification of legislation and building codes (fire, acoustics)
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Implementation of timber-positive tendering in public sector
Project status:
Workshops completed
Key Build-in-Wood Partner
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proHolz Tirol
Wood Association
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rtd Services OG
Consultant
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URBASOFIA
Urban Planning Agency
Innsbruck is looking forward to collaborating with Build-in-Wood to create a new era of timber constructions while protecting our climate and strengthening Tyrolean economy.
Georg Willi, Mayor of Innsbruck
Recent news
About Innsbruck
The first signs of human settlement date back to the early Stone Age and since then Innsbruck has been continuously populated. The city’s name translates as “Bridge over the River Inn” and was first given in the 12th century. Three centuries later, Emperor Maximilian made Innsbruck his imperial residence and thereby raised the city to European relevance.
Surrounded by mountains of over 2.000m, Innsbruck hosted the Olympic winter games twice, in 1964 and 1976.
Nowadays, the Tyrolean capital is the 5th largest city in Austria (~130.000 inhabitants) and is a thriving holiday location and student city.
Past and present
Innsbruck in winter - snow capped "Nordkette"
Innsbruck divided by the river Inn in front of Karwendel mountain range "Nordkette"
Old Town / City Center
Innsbruck in winter - snow capped "Nordkette"
Innsbruck and wood
As Tyrol is vastly covered with forest areas (41% of the state’s surface), there is a strong tradition of building with wood. Especially in surrounding mountain villages, wood is the prevailing building material. Because of the long building tradition and passed-on expertise over generations, the local timber industry performs to exceptionally high quality standards. Most of the businesses are family-led and reach from global players to one-man-shows.
Even though new materials have their share, around 30% of all built volume (above ground) in Tyrol today is wooden. With this percentage, Tyrol is well above the Austrian average.
While the state of Tyrol is strong in low-rise timber construction, there is a huge potential for taller constructions to claim their part.
