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Students of Vienna University of Technology present innovative concepts for the Croatian port city in an event at ATP Vienna

Vienna 23^rd January 2019 – A principle that applies to life in general also applies to knowledge transfer: 'It's all a question of give and take'. An initiative from ATP and Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) embodies a best practice example of this principle – and this initiative should be intensified in future. As part of the "Delta" seminar, students of the Institute of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture accepted an invitation to a discussion with experts in the offices of ATP Vienna, not far from the TU.

"The cooperation between universities and companies is extremely important and extremely fruitful for both sides. Cooperative projects between research and business ensure that students retain the valuable link with reality while companies such as ATP enjoy access to the often unbridled creativity that is found at the university”, reports Robert Tomic. The lecturer at TU Vienna is also a team architect at ATP Vienna and, hence, knows both sides very well. He makes use of the synergy effects in both his teaching and his practice.

This was also the case of "Delta" – the fifth in a series of "design project" seminars at TU Wien initiated by Robert Tomic together with Christoph Luchsinger (ETH Zürich). The task for the students was to develop an urban design & architectural concept for the long overdue revitalization of the man-made "Delta" island in the Croatian port city of Rijeka. The concept should then be handed over to the city.

The integrated preliminary designs developed during the summer semester were presented before the sharp eyes and open ears of ATP's experts. Head of Design and ATP Partner Dario Travas, structural engineer Martin Krautgartner and architect Birgit Reiterer praised the "revolutionary thinking of the students" and the "realistic und realizable ideas for the urgently needed development of the city," which is suffering economically due to constant emigration.

At the end of the intensive round of feedback the students were given a guided tour of the various studios in ATP's offices. This gave them the opportunity to see from close up how the company's architects and structural and building services engineers work together integrally under the same roof.

"The students were greatly motivated and highly impressed by the visit to ATP's offices. The feedback from ATP's experts inspired them to keep working hard so that they can really implement their projects for Rijeka in 2020”, says Robert Tomic.