Pyramidenkogel observation tower

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Pyramidenkogel observation tower
Klagenfurt 3
Image of the object
Lookout tower (June 2013)
Basic data
Place: Keutschach am See
State: Carinthia
Country: Austria
Altitude : 847  m above sea level A.
Coordinates: 46 ° 36 '32.2 "  N , 14 ° 8' 41.5"  E
Use: Broadcasting tower , observation tower
Accessibility: Transmission tower open to the public
Owner : Pyramidenkogel Infrastructure GmbH & Co KG
Tower data
Construction time : 2012-2013
Construction costs : 8 million euros
Client : Pyramidenkogel Infrastructure GmbH & Co KG
Architect : klaura + kaden + partner
Building material : Wood and steel
Operating time: since 2013
Total height : 100  m
Viewing platform: 70.56  m
Total mass : 800  t
Data on the transmission system
Last modification (antenna) : 2013
Waveband : FM transmitter
Radio : VHF broadcasting
Position map
Pyramidenkogel observation tower (Carinthia)
Pyramidenkogel observation tower
Pyramidenkogel observation tower
Localization of Carinthia in Austria

The Pyramidenkogel observation tower is an observation and transmission tower at 851  m above sea level. A. high Pyramidenkogel south of the Wörthersee in Carinthia , Austria . It is located in the municipality of Keutschach am See . The owner is Pyramidenkogel Infrastruktur GmbH & Co KG, a subsidiary of the municipality of Keutschach am See and Kärnten Tourismus Holding GmbH

history

Wooden tower (from 1950)

In 1950 a wooden observation tower was built on the Pyramidenkogel. Even before that there was a kind of high seat on 3 pines. The transport of materials for the wooden observation tower was carried out by carts of horses and oxen, as there was no road to the summit at that time. Most of the parts were pre-assembled on the floor and brought into position with pulleys. In total, this first tower was 27 meters high. In addition, the Pyramidenkogel transmitter was built in 1957 . In a building next to the observation tower, which was built in 1968, remnants of this very first observation tower could still be seen.

Old lookout tower (1968–2012)

The old observation tower with its tower height of 54 meters was built in reinforced concrete between 1966 and 1968 according to the plans of the architect Gustav Wetzlinger (1924–1992) . The first - irregular pentagonal - viewing platform at a lifting height of 43 m was reached with an elevator in the round tower shaft . The lift cabin held 16 people, the travel time was 24 seconds at a conveyor speed of 1.7 meters / second. Two smaller, higher platforms were accessible via a staircase. All three - polygonal - platforms offered the visitors space on approx. 250 m². A transmitter mast was attached to the top platform . In 2007, 105,000 visitors were counted at the tower. The cost of renovating the existing observation tower was estimated at 7.5 million euros, so a new building was planned.

  • Old tower with an external spiral staircase

  • Old observation tower from a great distance

  • Entrance with elevator door of the old tower

  • Transmission antennas on the old lookout tower

  • Old lookout tower from an aerial perspective

  • Demolition of the old tower 2012 (0:24)

New observation tower (2013)

The wood and steel construction in detail, still without lighting (October 2013)

Architecture competition

The design by the Klagenfurt architecture firm Markus Klaura and Dietmar Kaden and the structural engineer Markus Lackner won an architecture competition .

The new lookout tower on the Pyramidenkogel is structured several times and partially ventilated and can be seen through in places. The envelope is formed by a screw from mutually twisted ellipses. Vertical, flat, but curved, contoured posts made of glued wood extend up to two viewing platforms, one on top of the other. Below is a slightly recessed glazed viewing and event room, on top of which there is still a mast with antennas. The tower integrates a vertical lift for people with a relatively transparent shaft, a slide in the form of a coiled tube and carries a platform from which a Flying Fox cable car can be used or a piece of free fall can be experienced. A few years after construction, the tower was retrofitted with color-controllable lighting for the scaffold-like facade. The uprights are made of wood , the ellipses of steel elements . The total height of the tower is 100 meters. There is a function room at a height of 70 meters; a slide for adults and children from 130 cm height, which, according to the operator, is the highest building slide in Europe. The expectations for the new tower are up to 200,000 visitors per year. The construction costs were estimated at 10 million euros, but after intensive political discussion this was reduced to 8 million euros. Against the votes of the ÖVP , SPÖ and GEL (Green Unit List), the BZÖ- dominated municipal council decided to build the new building. The Green Unit List suggested the more cost-effective conversion of the existing tower into an “energy tower” with a power plant function and that it should remain the property of the municipality of Keutschach.

With 100,000 visitors annually and at the current higher prices, the new building is expected to pay for itself in an undisclosed time, but it has turned out that the number of visitors has already been significantly higher in the first half of the year since it opened.

The slide was advertised as the highest slide in Europe with a height difference of 52 m and is actually the highest building slide in Europe. Indoor, but not in a building, but in a wide shaft that was blown up for a vertical lift, the slide "The Slide" has been running in Graz's Schloßberg since 2019 - at 64 m higher and with a one-time change in the direction of the slide's curve.

Planning history

According to initial plans, the old lookout tower should be demolished in autumn 2008 and the new lookout tower built by summer 2009.

In January 2008 it became known that the financing of the new observation tower had been delayed. The demolition of the old, desolate observation tower was postponed to the period after the summer season 2008, with an uncertain time of the start of the new construction.

In July 2009 it was announced that the new building would have been delayed due to political reasons, but that the tower would be blown up in autumn 2010 and then the new building would be erected by April 2011 as a complete implementation of the winning project without any compromises, as decided by the local council becomes.

At the municipal council meeting on December 16, 2009, a vote was taken on the partnership agreements of the establishment company, the associated notarial acts, the management contract, the super-certificate and operational management agreement, as well as the support agreements in the triangular relationship between the State of Carinthia , the municipality of Keutschach and the establishment company. On February 18, 2010 the contracts between the municipality of Keutschach and the state of Carinthia for the new observation tower were signed, which adhered to the July 2009 dates. It was agreed that the planned costs of 10 million euros would be shared between the municipality, the construction company and the state.

Critics and opponents of the new building complained that the state of Carinthia could indirectly enforce decisions to the detriment of the municipality of Keutschach (share 49%) due to the majority shareholder in the Kärntner Tourism Holding (KTH) (KTH) (51%), as the municipality of Keutschach would later be solely responsible for the later maintenance would have to arise.

In a municipal council meeting on April 30, 2010, a majority of the Keutschach councilors rejected the municipality's loan liability for the construction project. This delayed the demolition planned for September 2010 and the subsequent new building for an initially unknown period.

In August 2011, a variant of the new building was decided at an extraordinary meeting of the provincial government of Carinthia , which should cost only 8 million euros. After discussions about the start of construction in spring 2012, it was decided to blow up the tower in autumn 2012 and then to start the new construction. Thus, the last opening day was September 30, 2012. The demolition took place on October 12, 2012 and was clearly visible and audible.

Construction and opening

New observation tower under construction (March 2013)

The observation tower, 100 meters high, including antenna, is the highest wooden observation tower in the world with eleven levels, including six observation platforms. (The tallest wooden tower in the world is the completely wooden transmission tower in Gleiwitz .) After seven years of planning, the foundation stone was laid on October 31, 2012, in the form of a time capsule made of metal in concrete with a letter and a 2 euro coin. After eight months of construction and a total cost of around 8 million euros, the tower was opened on June 20, 2013.

The basic building designed by the architects Markus Klaura and Dietmar Kaden with 700 m² gross floor area (with restaurant) forms an ensemble with the tower. This consists of 16  glulam piles that carry the vertical forces. These are stiffened by 10 elliptical steel rings and 80 diagonal struts. The highest building slide in Europe is integrated with a height of 52 m, an incline of 25 °, a 120 m length of the helix and a slide duration of around 30 seconds. Steel anchors reaching 20 m deep into the rock fix the foundation plate with a volume of 350 m³ and a mass of 800 t.

In the first few days of operation, the lift got stuck twice - with passengers - for about 1 hour each time. Too short a time to test the lift was criticized. On the afternoon of August 7, 2013, the lift stopped on the ground a third time. The reason was a defective control rope, the observation tower could only be reached by stairs from August 8th to 9th. On August 14, 2013 it was announced that the lift ropes had to be replaced and that the lift had to be stopped for these days. Admission was only half that on those days.

Barely 2 months after the opening, on August 17, 2013 - according to eyewitnesses - an Australian and shortly afterwards a Burgenlander (or Lower Austrian) completed base jumps from the railing on the platform at a height of 72 m. The jumping equipment was smuggled in at an emergency exit, both jumpers disappeared undetected, a video of the first jump was published.

Shortly before the anniversary of the opening, 330,000 visitors are reported - a good double as many as the expected 150,000 visitors per year.

The tower has a sprinkler system following the stairs for fire fighting .

Elements and attractions

The observation tower is open all year round, from 10 am to 5 pm in winter, otherwise longer. Smoking is prohibited in the tower. The glazed skybox on level 9 can be rented for private events outside of opening hours.

The ascent can be carried out using a staircase with a continuous left-hand curve leading upwards over 441 steps or alternatively using a lift - included in the entrance fee - in the centrally located shaft to the top viewing platform 12. Only service personnel for the transmitter systems get higher.

The staircase is made in weather-protected areas of the ground floor and the skybox with wooden steps in between where it is more exposed to the weather, but in rough embossed perforated plate. The steps are all 16 cm high. The first is the entrance to the ground floor, which is designated as level "00 - 0.16 m". 10 steps each form straight flights of stairs, which follow one another with kinks. 4 of these 1.60 m high flights of stairs form a standard floor of 6.4 m, which is also recognizable from the outside. Only the 9th floor is glazed all around as a skybox and thus protected from the wind. Level 10 is the oval, the largest of 3 viewing platforms with the upper edge of the floor 64.16 m above the ground. The striking wooden pillars of the tower end at chest height under rain protection caps.

As the two next higher platforms (11 and 12) only follow with a height difference of 3.20 m each, they provide good rain and sun protection for the respective underlying platform. Since the edges of the three platforms gradually recede upwards, you can also see the railing of platforms 10 and 11 up to the zenith of the sky. All three viewing platforms are surrounded by a galvanized steel railing. On the north side, these each have a panorama of the Wörthersee with inscriptions on horizontal panels.

The uppermost viewing platform bears the panels “(Platform) 12 / Tower height 70.56 m / Sea level 919.06 m” ( FOK ) and “441 / Steps done ” and even further to the right: “North / north”.

With an upper exit, the lift has diametrically opposed shaft doors made of clear, cylindrically curved glass. This enables you to get out in one direction and at the same time to get in from the other. In the height area of ​​the tower under the skybox, which is permeated by the wind, the guide rails of the lift run, if inaccessible to people, largely openly visible without any cladding or shaft.

The following data are noted on the originally (as of 2013) "highest covered slide in Europe": "Length 120 m, speed approx. 25 km / h, slide duration approx. 20 s, height 52 m." Slides are available for a fee and are guided individually. You sit on a sliding sheet with a seat cushion, have your feet in the pockets of the sheet, stretch your legs forwards and pull on belt loops with your hands to arch your body and lift your head. The unclothed right elbow receives a skate protector. The slide is made as a closed NiRo sheet steel tube in a downhill left curve and has 20 small portholes at regular intervals on the top for exposure and as an orientation aid. According to the TÜV approval, people are only allowed to slide individually and from 130 cm height. The last horizontal outlet of the slide leads out of the tower torso between two pillars. The slide is operated all year round, but not in rain or damp weather - due to changed friction conditions and the risk of pollution. A slide ride costs € 4, seven (5 + 2) € 20. The measured travel time is displayed, slide photos are offered at a price of 3 €.

On March 18, 2019, the operator's website will still use the words "highest closed slide in continental Europe". In fact, the slide "The Slide" opened on February 20, 2019 in the Graz Schlossberg is the highest indoor slide in the world at 64 m. While the slide in Carinthia follows a steady left curve downhill, the 170 m long slide in the Styrian capital also has changes in the direction of the curve.

On a display board, the envelope of the tower is developed from an ellipse that constantly rotates as it is lifted and compared with the body figure of a rotating dancer. There are two separate staircases for climbing up and down, which wrap around each other like a double helix and surround the spiral slide.

On weekends in May and the following months up to September you can descend from a height of 52 m (platform 8) via the Fly 100 cable car for € 15 . Two steel suspension ropes lead to a soft landing area a little diagonally below the tower on the edge of a car parking lot, so that around 70 meters in altitude are reduced over a 100 m distance. The descent takes place on an audible braking roller drive with a maximum of 2 meters / second (typical travel time 100 seconds) and secured with a rope by a supervisor. The other, also ballasted trolley is pulled up while idling on the pendulum rope, which is only deflected at the top. An additional third fixed rope carries four orange marker balls for safety for air traffic. The start can be done sitting on the jump edge and leaning forward or standing backwards into the rope. This suspension rope is not in operation from mid-September to spring.

FreeFall offers 6m traps in an upright position - for the same price. The start is on platform 8, you put on a climbing harness, climb a ladder, jump off with your feet first, and after 6 m you are braked by the rope and you get back into the tower at platform 5 through a turnstile.

  • New observation tower

  • Top observation platform of the new observation tower

  • Oak stairs of the new lookout tower

  • Stairs to the glazed platform (skybox) of the new observation tower

  • Slide of the new observation tower

  • View from the observation tower to the northeast with Maria Wörth and Klagenfurt on the right edge of the picture

Colorful lighting

On the evening of June 19, 2017, on the 4th anniversary of the tower opening, new outdoor lighting was put into operation. It was developed and programmed by the Klagenfurt lighting technician Hanno Kautz , who also came up with the idea of ​​the slide - in collaboration with the tower architect Markus Klaura. 164 individually controllable LED spotlights, each with three white, red, green and blue light-emitting diodes, are aimed at the radially aligned broad sides of the wooden posts, and some also shine from the top. A helix structure becomes visible by leaving out the places where the posts curve inwards . They were installed by industrial climbers and were actually included in the initial planning, but were saved for the time being for budget reasons. At the opening, the Carinthian-Armenian keyboardist Karen Asatrian played with the Alpen-Adria-Projekt in front of 2,000 guests. In the future, music will occasionally be played with a correspondingly moving light show, or the luminous colors will be selected for the occasion, such as white for the Fête Blanche, red-white-red for the national holiday.

Current

Cable car project

A 2.2 km long cable car construction project from Pörtschach across the lake to the Pyramidenkogel observation tower has been designed since 2016. See: Wörthersee cable car projects .

Transmitter

Antenna mast of the new observation tower

Due to its central location, the Pyramidenkogel observation tower was an important location as a TV transmitter before the large-scale broadcasting facility on Dobratsch went into operation .

Since then the observation tower has only acted as a VHF transmitter. From there, the private radio programs KroneHit and Welle 1 are broadcast, until spring 2012 Radio Harmonie , which has ceased broadcasting, broadcast on the current wave 1 frequency. Some radio services and amateur radio stations also use this location.

The uncertainties about the construction of the new tower and the resulting delays were also partly responsible for the fact that a local DVB-T package planned for Carinthia (Mux C Carinthia) was not allowed to go on air.

A replacement mast in the form of a free-standing steel lattice tower was erected next to the observation tower for a transitional period. The operator of the Mux C central area of ​​Carinthia has now announced that it will use Petzen near Bleiburg as a replacement location . A new antenna with a height of 18 meters was installed on the new 82-meter-high observation tower to broadcast the VHF programs.

Frequencies and Programs

Analog radio (VHF)

Frequency
(MHz) 		program RDS PS RDS PI Regionalization ERP
(kW) 		Antenna pattern
round (ND) / directional (D) 		Polarization
horizontal (H) / vertical (V)
95.2 Wave 1 Klagenfurt WELLE_1_ A562 - 1 D (240-100 °) H
103.7 Krone Hit CROWN HIT A3FF Carinthia 1 ND H

Web links

Commons : Pyramidenkogel observation tower  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Information website. Accessed August 16, 2019.
  2. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from May 21, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (bottom right) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pyramidenkogel-ktn.at
  3. ↑ Long way to the beautiful view. In: Small newspaper. September 28, 2012, accessed December 11, 2014 .
  4. ↑ The Pyramidenkogel observation tower: Technical data ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the website of the operator of the observation tower. Retrieved August 6, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pyramidenkogel.info
  5. ↑ Pyramidenkogel: Good prospects for the new tower. In: Kleine Zeitung , July 23, 2009. (The version of July 23, 2009 is no longer available online, article ( Memento of May 5, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) has been rewritten under a new heading.)
  6. ↑ Pyramidenkogelturm-new: the winning model presented. In: carinthia. ORF .at, 23 August 2007.
  7. ↑ Municipality of Keutschach / Hodiše: Pyramidenkogel: Stay away from the ignition cable! GEL, September 28, 2012.
  8. ↑ The first touch It's time! Graz has accessed its slide from Schloßberg kleinezeitung.at, February 12, 2019, March 18, 2019.
  9. ↑ Financing for Pyramidenkogel tower open. In: carinthia. ORF .at, January 23, 2008.
  10. ↑ The mayor of Keutschach, Gerhard Oleschko ( BZÖ ), made the elections in March 2009 responsible for the delays , as did the opponents of the project, ÖVP , SPÖ and GEL .
  11. ↑ Michael Holliber: Chaos in the local council. ( Memento of the original from November 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: keutschacher.at, December 28, 2009. Accessed July 23, 2010. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.keutschacher.at
  12. ↑ New Pyramidenkogel: Construction start in autumn fixed. In: carinthia. ORF .at, February 18, 2010
  13. ↑ Pyramidenkogel: Good prospects for the new tower. In: Kleine Zeitung , December 15, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  14. ↑ Pyramidenkogel new.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Financing and ownership, p. 1. Plan calculation , p. 2. Document dated March 25, 2010. On the Green Carinthia website . Retrieved July 23, 2010.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / kaernten.gruene.at  
  15. ↑ Setback for the new Pyramidenkogel tower. In: Kleine Zeitung , April 30, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  16. ↑ The new Pyramidenkogel tower is moving into the distance. In: Kleine Zeitung , May 5, 2010. Retrieved July 23, 2010.
  17. ↑ Vanessa Pichler: Pyramidenkogel: observation tower will be built in 2012. In: mein district.at, August 11, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  18. ^ Karin Hautzenberger: Pyramidenkogel: New tower postponed again. ( Memento from November 5, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) In: Kleine Zeitung , April 4, 2012.
  19. ↑ ORF: The last hours of the pyramid tower (accessed on October 12, 2012)
  20. ↑ Foundation stone laid for Pyramidenkogel tower orf.at November 1, 2012
  21. ↑ http://kaernten.orf.at/news/stories/2585057/ Pyramidenkogel: opening date secret, ORF.at May 20, 2013
  22. ↑ http://kaernten.orf.at/news/stories/2583037/ Pyramidenkogel: Ban for "building tourists", ORF.at May 6, 2013
  23. ↑ http://kaernten.orf.at/news/stories/2589472/ Wooden tower opened on Pyramidenkogel, ORF.at June 20, 2013
  24. ↑ Pyramidenkogel observation tower. Info about lift operation. Keutschach am See community, August 14, 2013, archived from the original on August 28, 2013 ; Retrieved August 21, 2013 .
  25. ↑ Exclusive: First interview of the Basejumper orf.at, August 21, 2013, accessed March 14, 2017.
  26. ↑ Two base jumps from Pyramidenkogel , ORF.at, August 18, 2013, accessed September 4, 2013
  27. ↑ Princess Horst: basejump pyramidenkogel August 17, 2013 youtube.com, video (1:04), August 17, 2013, last accessed March 14, 2017.
  28. ↑ One year Pyramidenkogel: Riesenansturm ORF.at, June 19, 2014.
  29. ↑ In the right-hand thread -sense
  30. ↑ In the left-hand thread -sense
  31. ↑ Freizeitpark News NRW: Fly 100 & 120 m slide Onride POV Pyramidenkogel July 10, 2015, accessed March 14, 2017.
  32. ↑ Pyramidenkogel becomes the "lighthouse" orf.at, June 20, 2017, accessed June 20, 2017.
  33. ↑ Karin Waldner-Petutschnig: Carinthian of the day: Hanno Kautz builds with light on the Pyramidenkogel kleinezeitung.at, June 19, 2017, accessed June 20, 2017.
  34. ↑ Elisabeth Peutz: Keutschach: First "light samples" on the Pyramidenkogel kleinezeitung.at, May 31, 2017, accessed June 20, 2017.
  35. ^ License withdrawal MUX C Carinthia (KOA 4.219 / 11-009) on the RTR website , accessed on September 26, 2011.
  36. ↑ Local TV package Mux C Central Carinthia , accessed on August 9, 2012.
  37. ↑ Kleine Zeitung: Lonely peak: the tower is now 100 meters high. Retrieved July 7, 2013 .