In 2003, the Spanish architectural firms PLAYstudio and YES studio became the winners of the Europan 7 competition for a project for the development of a 1.14 hectare site located on the outskirts of Vienna - in the Leasing district (23rd district).
Europan is a pan-European competition held every two years for architects under the age of 40. Participants must submit a project that can improve the functionality of the urban environment and transform it in social and economic aspects. At the same time, the project is being developed for one of the sites, which are “declared” for the competition by the authorities of different European cities, and then rejected or accepted by the organizers. About a residential complex in the Netherlands by a Russian architect - winner of the Europan 10 competition, we
recently wrote.
The Vienna section was in line with Europan 7 - Suburban Problem. It was formed on a leftover principle: the area around was gradually built up with infrastructure facilities, and a piece of land on Perfectstrasse 58 was left "for later". This is how a triangular-shaped platform appeared, on the one hand bounded by a busy highway, on the other - by a surface metro line, U-Bahn. In addition to this, the site is crossed by a 110 kV power line (the power line does not cause any harm to the health of residents, experts from the Technical University in Graz have made sure of this). Among the advantages of the area are the proximity of the Perfectstrasse metro station (all buyers of the apartments received an annual public transport pass as a housewarming gift) and the view that opens from one of the sides.
In 2003-2004, at the first stage of further development of the project, the architects - together with city experts, officials and the Austrian representative office of Europan - worked on its implementation in the existing context. In 2006, based on the results of a separate competition, a developer was chosen, it was the Viennese company Österreichisches Siedlungswerk (ÖSW), as a result, the Krottenbach partnership acted with it, and the Mischek ZT bureau was involved in the project support.
It should be noted that after the announcement of the results in 2003, the construction of the complex was postponed several times for "bureaucratic reasons" (including due to long-term coordination with the management of the metro). Finally, in October 2014, a start was made, and in June 2016, the construction of the complex was completed. Over the years, although the project has undergone significant changes, the main idea has been retained, say its authors.
The architects tried to use all the advantages and disadvantages of the site and maximally involve the landscape in the concept. The competition project was called Fallow Land (“
fallow"; plowed land that is left uncultivated for one or more seasons to "rest") - a hint of the fields surrounding the capital of Austria. The farming system has become a kind of pattern for the final form and functionality of the complex, which in its plan resembles a plowed field. The ensemble consists of three "layers": on the very first there are public, semi-public and commercial spaces, connected by small green areas. These are 14 "home offices", 7 shops, as well as a coffee shop, laundry, children's playroom and playground. As conceived by the authors, this level is designed to improve social ties between neighbors and pedestrians who head to the metro station. The residential complex has an underground garage for 82 cars and three motorcycles, as well as parking / storage space for 300 bicycles.
On the middle level, there are two-storey houses with patios, a type of housing that is not at all typical for the capital of Austria, but traditional for the Mediterranean. Basically, they are occupied by duplex apartments, and their roofs are landscaped. “This is a place for those who want to live close to the earth and gaze at the stars,” the Spanish architects explain.
And, finally, for those who wish to live high up, there are four 8-storey towers, whose facades seem to deviate from the power lines, opening up a view of the surrounding space. There are 115 subsidized apartments in the complex, of which 27 are “super-subsidized” social housing. Apartments have two, three or four rooms, their area on average ranges from 70 to 98 m2… It was decided to make the facades lemon-yellow in order to "cheer up" the sleeping area and set a new vector of development for it: this noticeable color ultimately gave the residential complex its name.
