ViennaTheBigThree - MQ-DC-Gasometers
Situated in three utterly different urban locations, three large-scale projects form a virtual triangle through their links to the U1 and U3 Underground lines and provide an easy, clearcut overview of both contemporary and historically influenced architecture in Vienna.
01MuseumQuarter1990-2001
Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Wien
Ortner & Ortner, Manfred Wehdorn
As Austria’s biggest cultural complex, the MuseumsQuartier set within the revitalised ensemble of the former imperial stables dating from the 18th and 19th centuries constitutes an urbanistic axis that links old and new cultural spaces of Vienna through its modern implants, multifaceted institutions, squares and open spaces.
Accessibility: The open-air zones are publicly accessible, while the individual museums are accessible during normal opening hours
A walk from the MuseumsQuartier to the historic city centre leads through the Imperial Palace or Hofburg (J. E. Fischer v. Erlach, J. L. v. Hildebrandt, G. Semper, C. Hasenauer and others, since 1279) – a complex encompassing numerous courtyards and a widely ramified network of individual buildings and wings that has evolved organically since the Middle Ages.
02Donau-City1990-1999
Wagramer Straße, 1220 Wien
Margarethe Cufer, Hans Hollein, Adolf Krischanitz, Hermann Czech, Arata Isozaki, Roman Delugan, Gustav Peichl, Heinz Neumann, Michael Loudon, Wilhelm Holzbauer
After the covering of the Danube riverside motorway, this site, which originally had been singled out for the aborted Vienna-Budapest World’s Fair of 1995, was envisioned by the development company WED to become a new urban expansion area. Since 1998, intense construction activities include housing estates and office towers in this satellite centre efficiently linked to Vienna’s city by the U1 Underground line.
Reachability: U1-Kaisermühlen - Vienna Int. Centre
Accessibility: The open-air zones and churches are publicly accessible, the lobby of the Tech Gate Tower is publicly accessible, model of Donau City on 1st floor
03Simmering Gasometers 1995-2001
Guglgasse, 1110 Wien
Coop Himmelb(l)au, Martin Kohlbauer, Rüdiger Lainer + Partner Architekten, Manfred Wehdorn, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Jean Nouvel
In 1981, the four cylindrical former gas reservoirs and their abutment cones were placed under monument protection. The 1995 housing/mixed-use concept for revitalisation was implemented by 4 architects/teams with different design approaches. Gasometers A, B and C are linked by a continuous commercial zone.
Client: GESIBA, GPA WBV, SEG, GCE Gasometer Kino Center, GSE, Investconsult Gmbh
Building type: Mixed use
Reachability: U3-Gasometer
Accessibility: The shopping arcade is publicly accessible
The Entertainment Center (2001) by Rüdiger Lainer connected to Gasometer B by a bridge houses a multiplex cinema as well as several bars and restaurants. Its façade cladding done in coloured glass panes produces eye-catching light effects under any weather conditions.
