After successful completion of the course, students are able to work on complex design tasks in an existing context. Their competence ranges from the recognition of fields of action in the urban context and the development of appropriate urban planning solutions to the solution of technical details for new and existing buildings. Students are able to conduct independent research and collect topic-related basic information. They are able to create design concepts and to present them comprehensively in form of draft and detailed plans.

Vienna continues to densify and so, after the Nord-, Süd- and Nordwestbahnhof, the focus is shifting to the track area at the Westbahnhof. This long infrastructure strip cuts through the Gründerzeit structure of the 15th district and is accompanied along Felberstraße by an interim used strip, whose transformation offers enormous potential and opportunities for complementing the adjacent existing city.

The existing initiative of local citizens for the construction of a Westbahnpark should be taken into account, as well as the desire for a socially and climate-sensitive urban space that innovatively combines open spaces, affordable housing, infrastructure, production, creative and cultural spaces.

To this end, the "Abbruchkante" of the Gründerzeit structure along Felberstraße is to be examined in particular. How can the existing city be conceived further here and a connection to the lower-lying railway area be created? What potential does this jump in level hold for the integration of flexible commercial structures and for the development of a lower-lying urban "free and experimental space"?

So a new urban edge will emerge, whose programming, shaping and insertion into the urban space is to be investigated - for example, the prelude at the Westbahnhof, the conclusion at the Johnstraße junction, but also the bridge into the southern part of the 15th district.
The length of this edge -1 kilometre- also makes it necessary to deal with mobility issues. Here, the existing infrastructure of the railway tracks and Felberstraße offers sufficient potential and points of contact.
At the property level, the desire for resilience, openness to use and mixing will necessitate the development of a correspondingly flexible structure in questions of statics, construction and façade design.

The approach to the place and the topics of housing, production and mobility will take place in a research phase in group work. The conception of the projects will then take place in individual work.

KICK-OFF

Thursday 10.03.2022 09.00

SUPERVISION

Michael Obrist

Max Utech

EXPERTS

Peter Bauer / Department of structural planning and timber engineering, TU Wien

Lowie Vermeersch / Granstudio, Turin

WEEKLY REVIEWS

Thursday morning/afternoon

SUBSCRIPTION

via TISS-Pool with portfolio

MODUS

hybrid

LANGUAGES

german/englisch

The introduction to the design process begins with short tasks, basic analyses and accompanying lectures (group work). The design (individual work) is developed on the basis of plans as well as models in different scales, starting with the urban development scale and ending with the focus scale. A workshop on site is planned.

Proof of performance is provided by active participation in the analysis phase, contributions to discussions in the joint design meetings and the final presentation with (multimedia) project documentation and model.