The square and the streetscape adjoining it were plastered with the old granite slabs typical of Vienna’s city centre to create a homogeneous surface that also clearly highlights the traffic-free areas. Well-balanced square illumination is achieved by positioning luminaires on the roofs of the adjoining houses.

• Bauzeit: 1998-2000
• PlanerIn: Jabornegg & Pálffy
• Client: Stadt Wien, Historisches Museum der Stadt Wien
• Building type: Museums and exhibitions
• Reachability: U3 Herrengasse
• Accessibility: The open-air zone is publicly accessible, while the museum is accessible during normal opening hours
• With its minimalist representation of a hermetically sealed library, the Holocaust Monument by Rachel Whiteread erected before the redesign of the square symbolises the Jewish people as the “people of the Book”. The empty space inside the permanently locked monument embodies the void left by the annihilation of 65,000 Viennese Jews.
• Foto: MA19

Two distinct pavement patterns visually separate the pedestrian zones of Kärntnerstrasse and Graben from St. Stephen’s Square by employing different combinations of stones and different shades of grey. White metal steles illuminate the streetscape, wooden benches encircling magnolia trees invite passers-by to rest awhile on Kärntnerstrasse, while free-standing seats were used for the Graben zone.

• Bauzeit: 2009
• PlanerIn: kirsch zt gmbh
• Client: MA 28 - Straßenverwaltung und Straßenbau
• Building type: Public places
• Reachability: U1 Stephansplatz
• Accessibility: The open-air zone is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The design project submitted by the Spanish architect in the context of a competition provided for a spectacular lighting concept for the tram tracks and pedestrian crossings of this 400-metre-long square. The equestrian statue of Prince Carl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg was to be accented with slim lamp posts. This design was implemented in highly reduced and modified fashion.

• Bauzeit: 2002-2004
• PlanerIn: Alfredo Arribas
• Client: Stadt Wien
• Building type: Public places
• Reachability: The open-air zone is publicly accessible
• Accessibility: U1/U2/U4 Karlsplatz, tram 2, stop: Schwarzenbergplatz
• Foto: MA19

After winning the project competition, the architects referenced the Baroque bridge originally leading to the palace, albeit in thematically modified form, in co-operation with s&s Architekten. The bridge area was closed to parking cars; the central section was designed as a gravelled surface while the lateral sections were planted with grass. Sphinxes and lions heighten the sense of historical continuity.

• PlanerIn: ss|plus architektur
• Client: Stadt Wien
• Building type: Urban planning
• Reachability: U4 Schönbrunn
• Accessibility: The open-air zones is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The park on the area formerly occupied by Vienna’s Northern Railway Station is the city’s biggest new park since the one created for the 1974 Vienna International Horticultural Exhibition and thus a pioneering example of public open space design. The intelligently planned interplay of different sites, zones for play and active movement, bodies of water and groups of trees stimulates manifold atmospheres and moods for social interaction to benefit both local residents and visitors.

• Bauzeit: 2007-2008
• PlanerIn: Hager Partner
• Client: Stadt Wien
• Building type: Public places
• Reachability: U1 Vorgartenstraße
• Accessibility: The open-air zone is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

In the Gründerzeit period, Ilgplatz was a promenade area that, however, soon fell into disuse. With its patterned pavement, the refurbished square invites passers-by to stroll along a water basin; among the imaginatively styled and varied seat designs for different user groups, the Gründerzeit “green ring” re-emerges in modified and contemporary form.

• Bauzeit: 2003-2004
• PlanerIn: Richard Zeitlhuber, Karin Zeitlhuber
• Client: Stadt Wien
• Building type: Public places
• Reachability: U2 Messe/Prater
• Accessibility: The open-air zone is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

In October 2013, Europe’s currently largest new university building was inaugurated next to the Vienna Prater. The campus of the new Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU) comprises 6 buildings covering an area of 90,000 square metres as well as an intelligently designed open space conceived as a “walk-along park” with different stations. The core of this group of buildings designed by leading international architects is the Library and Learning Centre by Zaha Hadid.
Planned as a “green” building, the project is also to serve as a showcase of ecological and economic sustainability.

• Bauzeit: 2009-2013
• PlanerIn: Landschaftsarchitektur, BOA büro für offensive aleatorik
• Client: BIG, Projektgesellschaft Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien Neu GmbH
• Building type: Public places
• Reachability: U2 Messe-Prater, U2 Krieau
• Accessibility: The open-air zones are publicly accessible, while the restaurant/bar zones are accessible during business hours
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

The Monte Laa Park is the heart, meeting-point and central focus of the new residential quarter Monte Laa. Green lawns, sculptural objects, ramps, a great variety of plants as well as multiple levels offer an urban space for recreation and communication on this linear plot. In addition, the park provides the surrounding residential and office buildings with a pleasant and attractive view.

• Bauzeit: 2004-2006
• PlanerIn: Martha Schwartz Partners, 3:0 Landschaftsarchitektur
• Client: PORR Bau GmbH
• Building type: Public places
• Reachability: U1-Reumannplatz, bus 68A, stop: Absbergbrücke
• Accessibility: The open-air zone is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

A street whose negative image has for years been steadily improving was now officially given a friendlier face as well. Between the Gürtel boulevard and the Ottakring Brewery, colourful sitting furniture, plant troughs, young trees, wider sidewalks and continuous cycleways create an attractive setting for vibrant urban street life.

• Bauzeit: 2013
• PlanerIn: Karl-Heinz Schwarz
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U6 Alser Straße
• Accessibility: The open-air zone is publicly accessible