Spittelau Viaduct

The Austrian market, which has long been saturated with average properties, is increasingly orienting itself towards the non-mass customer, as Vienna continuously proves to us at every step. The leader of this effort is the company SEG, which is located in the first cylinder of the Vienna Gasometers, for whose reconstruction it is responsible. Its motto “more than just m²” suggests a lot. They have apartment buildings designed by offices such as Coop Himmelb(l)au, delugan_meissl, and their latest bold realization is a project by the first lady of world architecture Zaha Hadid, which is to be completed in December of this year.
Her first building in Vienna stands in an incredibly complicated location. A narrow plot, busy multi-level traffic in close proximity, the presence of famous history and remnants of nature. Zaha attempted to extract the maximum from the handicaps without losing her dynamic handwriting. Along one side, there is a four-lane road, along the other the Vienna Donaukanal and cycling path. Just before the plot, the local U-Bahn dips underground, and amidst all this, on the remaining piece of land, stands the historically protected city railway by Otto Wagner.
In 1994, the city of Vienna commissioned Zaha Hadid to develop a study as part of a large project to reconstruct both banks of the Donaukanal, aimed at revitalizing this area. Three bodies undulating over and around the railway viaduct had to wait a long nine years for their realization. The reactions between the external form and internal arrangement created numerous connections that intensify the experience inside the building. Zaha's goal was to create urban tension where historical and modern architecture collide and to provide an environment for a fulfilling urban life in an area that had previously lain fallow. The author herself named her project "torn leaf", which stretches in many directions and “creates volumes”. The idea of connecting the Donaukanal with the urban structure resulted in many other revitalization projects along the river.
Spittelau Viaduct will offer rentals (for a period of 6-24 months) of 17 traditional apartments (62-142 m²) and 12 one-room studios (32-68 m²). Tenants will also have the opportunity to use rooftop terraces. In the monumentally protected structure of the city railway, there will be restaurants and shops for public use. An interestingly designed pedestrian and cycling bridge just above the river will eventually be complemented by another bridge crossing the busy road, connecting the project with the neighboring campus of the economic university.