Karl-Heinz Klopf :
Nebel

The management of Schloss Orth, where the information centre for the Donau Auen National Park was established, wanted a new design for the Tournament Courtyard in the course of the conversion carried out by the architects noncon:form & MAGK synn. The artists invited to submit concepts were expected to address the theme of water as well as to take the national park into consideration – appropriately for the setting. The brief was to create an attractive and playful symbol, but one that also had utility value. Karl-Heinz Klopf presented a very reduced concept that nevertheless promised to create an overwhelming atmospheric impression. His design envisaged a surface with a small elongated pond of water in the centre of the courtyard, clad in course gravel from the Danube set into concrete. Jets set into the pond continually emit a thin mist that envelops the courtyard to create an impression of weightlessness that contrasts starkly with the solid walls of the castle. The effect evokes images of fairytale-like dreamy Danube wetlands in the minds of the visitors. The fine steam creates a transitory space with new acoustic and tactile qualities, but also a defined closed one because as soon as the jets are switched off, the pond can be used as a place to hold events or as a refuge. The initiators considered mist, which evokes a feeling of calm and tranquillity to be an unsuitable expression of the Danube, which is very choppy along the stretch by Orth.
(Katrina Petter)