A landmark project completed as part of a waterside revitalization project – our three-part structure, comprising apartments, offices and artists’ studios, woven through, around and over the arched bays of a disused railway viaduct. Our buildings interact playfully with the viaduct, creating new exterior spaces and vistas.
As part of an initiative undertaken by the City of Vienna to revitalize the Wiener Guertel, a neglected urban hinterland which traditionally marked the ‘dividing line’ between indigenous Viennese and immigrant communities, we designed and constructed the Spittelau Viaducts Housing Project.
The development stands at a point where several significant infrastructural elements overlap: The ‘Spittelauer Laende’, one of Vienna’s most important roadways; the Danube Canal, connecting Germany to Hungary, a busy bike path and an unused railway viaduct constructed by Otto Wagner in the 19th century.
We created a three-part structure, containing apartments, offices and artists’ studios, which effectively weaves like a ribbon through, around and over the arched bays of the disused railway viaduct, which is a protected structure. The new buildings interact with the viaduct in a deliberately playful manner, generating many different exterior and interior spaces and vistas – their impact heightened by the surrounding infrastructure.
A number of viaduct arches were converted into bars and restaurants, others transformed to carry a service zone which ultimately melts into the banks of the canal, forming a lively public space.
Spittelau Viaducts was conceived to extend Vienna’s social housing provision and as a ‘beacon’ project to attract and inspire further developments in this area. Future plans included the creation of pedestrian and bike connections to the University of Business and Northern Train Station.
Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid with Edgar Gonzales, Douglas Grieco, Paul Brislin, Patrik Schumacher
Woody K.T Yao, Markus Dochantschi
Christina Beaumont, Adriano de Gioannis, Markus Planteu
Wassim Halabi, Garin O’Aivazan, James Geiger, Clarissa Matthews, Paola Sanguinetti, Peter Ho, Anne Beaurecueil, David Gomersall, Maha Kutay
AXIS Ingenieurleistungen (Vienna, Austria)
AGP Engineering ZT GmbH (Vienna, Austria)
Pfeiler Dr. Ziviltechnikergesellschaft GmbH (Graz, Austria)
