Design 1 - From industrial heritage to cultural heritage

Karina Brünner
Mario Stefan

Since the dawn of industrialization, the area around what is now the Johann Puch Museum in Graz has been shaped by manufacturing, transportation, and commerce. Where bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles were once manufactured, workshops, infrastructure, and large-scale ensembles have remained along Puchstraße, the Mur River, and the Mühlgang canal. This area is an expression of a long history of industrial use – and at the same time a place where questions of transformation, resource management, and urban development arise.

Ecological limits make it clear that the future of our cities does not lie in unlimited growth, but in the ability to rethink what already exists. With its traces of industry and the coexistence of commerce, traffic, and green spaces, the area surrounding the Puch Museum offers an exemplary test field: here, we can examine how an industrial urban space can be developed into a regenerative neighborhood that combines ecological resilience, resource efficiency, and social sustainability.

In this course, we want to tap into this potential and further develop the Puch district on an urban planning scale. The aim is to link the existing qualities—paths, transport axes, open spaces, and commerce—and create a new neighborhood. At the same time, opportunities for redensification should be exploited. The location should be viewed as a networked system in which sustainable, climate-conscious, and socially balanced design is integrated.

Site visit: October 2, 2025

Presentation: September 25, 2025, 9:45 a.m., HS E, Kopernikusgasse 24/1st floor