The DC Towers (Donau City Towers) designed by Dominique Perrault will add a decisive accent to Vienna’s skyline. The original design provides for 2 towers obliquely facing each other to create an aerodynamic flow edge while also forming an urban square at street level. With a height of 250 metres, the already erected DC Tower 1 is not only Austria’s highest building, but also a new city landmark. The second, somewhat lower tower is still awaiting construction.

• Bauzeit: 2010-2013
• PlanerIn: Dominique Perrault, Hoffmann - Janz ZT GmbH
• Client: WED
• Building type: Mixed use
• Reachability: U1 Kaisermühlen-VIC
• Accessibility: observation deck, cafe/restaurant during business hours
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

After the covering of the Danube riverside motorway, this site, which originally had been singled out for the aborted Vienna-Budapest World’s Fair of 1995, was envisioned by the development company WED to become a new urban expansion area. Since 1998, intense construction activities include housing estates and office towers in this satellite centre efficiently linked to Vienna’s city by the U1 Underground line.

• Bauzeit: 1990-1999
• PlanerIn: Margarethe Cufer, Hans Hollein, Adolf Krischanitz, Hermann Czech, Arata Isozaki, Roman Delugan, Gustav Peichl, Heinz Neumann, Michael Loudon, Wilhelm Holzbauer
• Client: WED
• Building type: Urban planning
• Reachability: U1-Kaisermühlen - Vienna Int. Centre
• Accessibility: The open-air zones and churches are publicly accessible, the lobby of the Tech Gate Tower is publicly accessible, model of Donau City on 1st floor
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

On the area formerly occupied by the Northern Railway Station, a new neighbourhood – mostly composed of subsidised housing – emerged in several stages around Rudolf Bednar Park, which was completed in 2007. The individual project stages were dedicated to different themes, such as “intercultural housing” or “housing for the young and the young-at-heart”. Individual sub-projects, e.g. “Wohnen mit uns” (Living with Us) or “Bike City”, moreover stand out due to their concepts – in this case, for self-determined housing and housing for urban cyclists. Many renowned Austrian and international architectural studios created designs for this venture, leading to the emergence of a modern and vibrant urban quarter. By 2030, dwellings for a total of 20,000 inhabitants will have been built here.

• Bauzeit: 2008
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U1 Vorgartenstraße
• Accessibility: The open-air zones are publicly accessible
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

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

The ground-floor zone of Bike City and its adjoining wing time2live is entirely dedicated to bike use, wellness and an attractive communal space opening into a spacious residential courtyard. Large lifts, wide corridors, bike garages on all floors as well as in front of flats are likewise part and parcel of the concept.

• Bauzeit: 2006-2008
• PlanerIn: königlarch architekten
• Client: GESIBA, BAI
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U1 Vorgartenstraße
• In 2003, an urbanistic idea competition with the motto “Living by the Park” was organised for the lot adjoining Rudolf Bednar Park. The architectural studio PPAG was awarded the project directly adjoining the park, while königlarch architekten was commissioned to design the adjacent Bike City.
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The magenta glass parapets of the balconies on the south-western building façade provide a striking long side for adjoining Rudolf Bednar Park as well as, due to the ground-floor section resting atop stilts, a “gate” to the park. An unusual trait of the spatial concept for the flats is the development of a sort of “inside houses” extending across several levels and presenting a unique, individual face.

• Bauzeit: 2007-2009
• PlanerIn: PPAG
• Client: GESIBA
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U1 Vorgartenstraße
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The Wien City ship docking station is more than just a pier for ships. Rather, the building creates the missing link between vibrant Schwedenplatz square and the peaceful bank of Danube Canal and thus offers an urban site on the water with a surrounding promenade. The building serves as a canopy for the waiting area of the city cruise ships and the Twin City Liner to Bratislava. Inside the structure, there is a 2-level café/restaurant with a pleasant view of Danube Canal. The interior of the café was designed to recall the Italian espresso culture of the 1950s.

• Bauzeit: 2009-2010
• PlanerIn: fasch&fuchs.architekten
• Client: Wiener Donauraum Länden und Ufer Betriebs- und Entwicklungs-GmbH
• Building type: Traffic
• Reachability: U1/U4-Schwedenplatz
• Accessibility: During business hours
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

This multifunctional building with a hotel and top-floor restaurant was erected on the site formerly occupied by the UNIQA company headquarters and sets a clear signal in Vienna’s Danube Canal area. With its remarkable volume, the striking glass cube blends both prominently and fittingly with the overall cityscape and the historic buildings across the Canal.

• Bauzeit: 2007-2010
• PlanerIn: Jean Nouvel, HNP architects
• Client: UNIQA
• Building type: Hotel and restaurants
• Reachability: U1/U4 Schwedenplatz
• Accessibility: The shopping arcade is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

With the design of a Georgian specialty restaurant, Gregor Eichinger, the doyen of modern Viennese coffeehouse architecture, has once more shown his sure touch. A relaxed and pleasant atmosphere is created with the help of sophisticated but smoothly integrated, unobtrusive details. Despite the sensitive overall design of all areas, the necessary flexibility, too, has been ensured – swivel lamps safeguard direct illumination of all tables for various seating arrangements. Movable separators encourage patrons to create privacy between their own zone and the adjoining tables.

• Bauzeit: 2012
• PlanerIn: eichinger offices
• Building type: Hotel and restaurants
• Reachability: U1 Nestroyplatz, U1/U4 Schwedenplatz
• Accessibility: During business hours
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

Inter alia, a spacious residential quarter with a park and adjoining education campus was developed on one of Europe’s currently biggest construction sites around the new Vienna Main Station. Despite the presence of several developers, architects and landscape planners, it was possible to plan all open spaces as interlocking zones without fences, thereby ensuring an open and generous courtyard situation within the modern perimeter buildings. With its innovative educational and architectural concept, the education campus is considered one of the City of Vienna’s flagship schools.

• Bauzeit: 2012-2014
• PlanerIn: Albert Wimmer ZT GmbH
• Client: GESIBA, GSG Gesellschaft für Stadtentwicklung und Stadterneuerung
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U1 Keplerplatz
• Accessibility: The open-air zones are publicly accessible
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

Vienna’s cityscape will change fundamentally over an area as a big as the 8th municipal district. The redesign of this former terminus as a through station that will become a hub of international train service served as the trigger for a radical urbanistic evolution of the entire area. The architecture of the new Vienna Main Station signals openness, transparency and generosity. The roughly 25,000-square metre rhomboid canopy spanning the platforms is an eye-catcher that can be seen from far off.

• Bauzeit: 2007
• PlanerIn: Albert Wimmer, Ernst Hoffmann, Hotz Architekten
• Building type: Traffic
• Reachability: U1 Südtiroler Plattz - Hauptbahnhof
• Accessibility: The station is publicly accessible
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

The Austrian pavilion designed by Karl Schwanzer for the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958 impressed with its innovative suspended steel construction, which resulted in a seemingly floating block. The pavilion was disassembled and reinstalled in Vienna as an art museum in 1962. After its rehabilitation and enlargement by Adolf Krischanitz, it was reinaugurated in 2011 with the new name “21er Haus” as a branch of Austrian Gallery Belvedere and now serves as an exhibition venue for 21st-century art.

• Bauzeit: 2008-2012
• PlanerIn: Adolf Krischanitz
• Client: Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, Österreichische Galerie Belvedere
• Building type: Museums and exhibitions
• Reachability: Tram D, station: Quartier Belvedere
• Accessibility: During business hours
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

Hotel Daniel is located in a 1960s architectural gem with a curtain wall façade under monument protection. In addition to the lovingly executed rehabilitation of the building, the interior spaces imbued with the personal style of the design-savvy client leave an enticing impression. With its mix of vintage and modern design, the hotel lobby conveys a relaxed living-room atmosphere that attracts not only hotel guests.

• Bauzeit: 2011
• PlanerIn: Atelier Heiss Architekten
• Client: Hotel Daniel GmbH
• Building type: Hotel and restaurants
• Foto: Christian Fürthner