After successful completion of the course, students are able to students are able to understand cities as pioneers of social change and as centres of political and economic change over the last millennia. They are informed about the urban living space, which is characterised by suburbanisation and structural change and increasingly requires planning to be understood as a dynamic development process. They are also able to work on complex design tasks from the field of urban design independently, systematically and with an original, contemporary design approach based on a precise design language. They have the competence to recognise fields of action in the urban context and to develop corresponding urban planning solutions. The students are able to conduct independent research and collect topic-related basics. They are able to create design concepts and to comprehensively present them in the form of strategy, design and detail plans.
The background:
In view of the rapid processes of social and climatic change worldwide, most traditional housing models seem outdated. Until the 20th century, it was assumed that inhabitants were structured in families, often working and living in the same place for their entire lives. However, the current upheavals in demographic development (birth rate, life expectancy, migration, etc.), in the world of work (restructuring of employment relationships, etc.), in family structure (singles, single parents, patchwork families, etc.) and in social relationships (changing gender roles, etc.) are creating new life models that result in changing life needs and thus require new forms of housing and new urban typologies. The urban population will continue to grow in the coming years.
The challenge:
The increase in urban population offers new opportunities but also leads to a tightening of the housing issue. New and old challenges, such as providing sustainable mobility, securing or enabling jobs and infrastructure, stand alongside the need to redensify existing urban structures
The project:
The Siemensstraße housing estate (1950-54) in Floridsdorf is one of the outstanding examples of social housing and urban development in post-war Vienna. It was highly regarded internationally and at the time of its construction the estate was Vienna's largest municipal housing complex with over 1,700 flats.
Many of the more than 1,700 flats were designed as so-called duplex flats, small flats (approx. 30m²) that could later be combined without great technical effort. In keeping with the demands of urban planning at the time, which aimed to separate work, living and recreation, the estate was laid out in the immediate vicinity of Floridsdorf's large industrial plants with generous open and green spaces, today the potential for redensification and a mix of uses.
The architect Franz Schuster (1892-1972) planned the settlement according to the concept of the "New Neighbourhood", which originated in the Anglo-American world. This was intended to allow the residents to live a relatively independent life and to take into account different housing needs. Separate types of houses and flats were designed for families, single people, war invalids and the elderly, such as the "Heimstätte für alte Menschen".
