Building Further Instead of Demolishing

The Wienerfeld West housing estate, located in the far south of Vienna, was built in the early 1960s and continues the tradition of the modest post-war settlements. Today, these developments offer qualities that are rarely found in contemporary housing: low density, good living quality with through-apartments receiving daylight from at least two directions, and extensive green spaces with a beautiful stock of mature trees.

Together with Sozialbau, a model was developed to make these settlements attractive for young families by enabling a greater variety of apartment layouts, creating barrier-free access, and adding communal spaces and infrastructure for contemporary use—such as e-car sharing, a community house, a kindergarten, etc. Naturally, the project also explored meaningful densification without altering the existing qualities and character of the settlement.
The aim of the study was to develop a new zoning plan for the area that preserves the strengths of the site while allowing for improvements.

We would like to thank Adolf Krischanitz for the wonderful collaboration on this project.