EUROPAN 11 

Urban development (housing, social and health center, hotel and commercial facilities)

Location: Vienna, Austria

Client: Vienna City Council

State: Competition. Finalist

Year: 2011

CONCEPT

The Europan site  of Vienna is located in Hietzing, the 13th municipal District of Vienna: a very populated urban area with many residential buildings; and also a very green district containing large areas of the Vienna Forests. By studying the surroundings of the site we can discover two types of urban fabric:

- THE HISTORICAL STREET. The eldest streets in the district are recognizable by its physiognomy. These are defined by a line of buildings at both sides. These constructions were originally developed at the edge of old paths that later became main streets with the feeling of a city center. Lainzer Strasse, Speisinger Strasse, Hetzendorfer strasse, Faassangartengasse, or Hietzinger Hauptstrasse are some examples of this kind of street.  

- THE GARDEN CITY. The rest of the district is dominated by isolated buildings surrounded by green spaces.

This proposal expects to solve the conjunction of both city models, taking the best of them: the urban scale and activity of the historical street and the open and green spaces of the garden city. We consider that it is very important to resolve this issue at the site, a crucial point of the urban fabric, where the continuity of Lainzer Strasse and Speisinger Strasse has been broken by the train tracks.

The main objectives of the project are:

- Restore the continuity of Lainzer Strasse and Speisinger Strasse not only in a visual way, but also in a mobility and a typological way. On one hand the proposal allows people to walk or cycle from one side to the other of the train tracks through a flat or a very gentle slope (less than 4%) avoiding the use of stairs. This is possible by the topography of the site. On the other hand, the proposal creates the continuity of the historical street´s typology, introducing activity with: commercial facilities, a civic center, a fitness center, etc. The proposal expects to create a STREET-PLAZA, integrated in the urban plot, where people of the district can meet. The kind of street shown in the painting Kirche am Hof Vienna (1892) by Rudolf Von Alt.

- Generate the continuity of the green areas. The proposal tries to dedicate the biggest possible area to green spaces. A natural space, open to people of the district to enjoy. A BIRCH FOREST as in Gustav Klimt´s painting Birkenwald (1903).

- Integrate all the mobility facilities in the site. Nowadays the train tracks are a cut in the district. The train station is vital in the proposal, because we try to reconvert it into a connection element of the district and for the district with the city. Also related to the other facilities.

- Create a landmark in the suburb, that identifies a new activity point in the area. By fulfilling the preview points the site becomes itself a sight in the neighborhood.

PROGRAM

The site has been divided in three plots, one at the south of the train tracks, and the other two at the north, divided by the Lainzer Strasse (and the underground canal). The northern east plot, the biggest one, contains most of the new street. To favor a greater activity around it we dedicate this area to the public uses of the required program. The other quieter plots are dedicated to the housing program. The northern one to the Golden Age housing complex, and the southern one to the general living subsidized housing. None of the buildings are more than four stories tall, not exceeding 12 meters in height.