St. Nikolaus Community Cultural Center, Ischgl (AUT)

With 1,600 inhabitants and more than 11,000 guest beds, Ischgl is one of Austria’s most important tourist destinations. For much too long, however, there were hardly any places of retreat for the local people, meeting places for clubs and rehearsal rooms for Ischgl’s very active brass band. In 2013, all of that changed with the construction of a community cultural center. The competition winners, parc architekten, were commissioned with "designing an identity-forming building that befits the self-confident and successful Ischgl of today.” The center, built flat into the slope, encircles the new village square and has allowed the creation of a bandstand with excellent acoustics. Seat-steps on the side lead to a pathway over the roof, which is covered with plants. The architects placed a great deal of importance on harmoniously integrating the center into the townscape; only photographs can adequately show how successfully this was managed.

The lighting-design firm Christian Ragg was responsible for illuminating the project. Outside it was not only the plaza itself that had to be lit, but also the surrounding streets and old parsonage (the Pfarrhaus). The designers opted for the ewo system from amongst several possible suppliers. Why? Because our modular technology offers a solution to the project’s complex requirements. Light points were needed that can illuminate different sides without revealing a preferred direction. For this project, ewo’s CN luminaire with cover glass was used for the first time. It allows for up to eight LED light units – within a single model of luminaire—to be combined with variables in radiation characteristic, beam angle and light color. The citizens of Ischgl are especially pleased with the pleasant warm white (3,000 K).

The lighting designer, Christian Ragg, tells us about the initial skepticism of the architects as regards the form of the pole luminaire in the area bordering the square. "They were very pleased afterwards, though, because not only is the lighting effect very good, but the luminaire is also so unobtrusive that it does not get in the way of the architecture." We are happy that were able to contribute to the positive development of Ischgl’s townscape for the local people.