Building sights in Austria
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Fernwärme
The Fernwärme is a typically Viennese brainchild. Inside this is mostly a mundane incinerator. Outside it is a visual bonanza of colours topped by a glistening chimney stack that culminates in an Arabesque golden bulb. It’s the work of – you’ve probably guessed by now – Friedensreich Hundertwasser and is best admired not from the cool distance of a train or tram. Inside, in the foyer, free exhibitions are put on by or about local artists while, each summer, open-air concerts are held in the yard – including some in conjunction with Jazz Fest Wien. With luck, you can jag a tour and find out more about this wonderfully pimped rubbish dump.
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B
Karl-Marx-Hof
Opposite the U4 Heiligenstadt U-Bahn station, architecture fans and neo-socialists will be excited to find one of the crowning achievements of Red Vienna: the Karl-Marx-Hof. Stretching for almost 1km along Heiligenstädter Strasse, this colossal housing project in pale pink and yellow was built by Karl Ehn, a student of Otto Wagner, between 1927 and 1930. It originally contained some 1600 flats, plus community facilities and inner courtyards. In 1934 it was the centre of the Social Democratic resistance during the civil war, and has since been restored.
reviewed
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C
Gasometer
These four round, brownstone gas containers, measuring 75m tall and each big enough to house the Riesenrad, supplied gas to the city from 1899 to 1969. Today they have been redeveloped into 615 apartments, a students’ hostel, an adjacent event hall and a cinema, but it’s the fairly average shopping complex that predominates. Four different architectural groups were involved in this project for urban renewal, one for each gasometer and each with an atrium.
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