At the time of construction, this 16-storey reinforced steel structure triggered many intense discussions. Not only because of its peculiar appointment with housing units for singles, a canteen-type kitchen with dining hall and restaurant facilities in the glazed loft storeys staggered one atop the other, Vienna’s first-ever high-rise has remained sensational.

• Bauzeit: 1930-1932
• PlanerIn: Theiss & Jaksch
• Client: Österreichisches Creditinstitut
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U3 Herrengasse
• Accessibility: Small, publicly accessible exhibition in the lobby
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

With its impressive height of 72 metres, Vienna’s first "real" office high-rise – the headquarters of Wiener Städtische Versicherung – was inaugurated in 1955, the year of signing the Austrian State Treaty, at the juncture of Ringstrasse and Danube Canal. Architecturally, too, this building exemplifies modern office design of the 1950s and the era of post-war recovery.

• Bauzeit: 1953-1955
• PlanerIn: Erich Boltenstern
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: U2/U4-Schottenring
• Accessibility: Temporary, ground floor during “Architektur im Ringturm“ exhibitions
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

Together with the entire Tech Gate ensemble, the Tech Gate Tower forms a kind of gateway to the Donau City site. The prismatic, triangular tower with its curving glass façade is placed atop a "bastion" built before in conjunction with Tech Gate. The building is capped off majestically with an event-venue top storey featuring a terrace.

• PlanerIn: Holzbauer und Partner
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: U1-Kaisermühlen - Vienna Int. Centre
• Accessibility: Publicly accessible lobby, model of Donau City on 1st floor
• Foto: MA19

Two high-rise slabs of roughly 100 metres vie with each other for height. Arranged parallel though slightly displaced one vis-à-vis the other, the two narrow blocks shine with a cool and glassy look, elegant entrance hall, exquisite furnishings and classy sky lobby at the heart of the Donau City development, thus adding another chic element to the group of international office high-rises in the area.

• PlanerIn: HNP architects
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: U1-Kaisermühlen - Vienna Int. Centre
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The interplay of receding and projecting elements structures the mass of this roughly 100-metre glass tower situated along the north-western edge of the Donau City site. A wide, cantilevered canopy roof above the large, elegant sky lobby with terrace marks the outstanding silhouette of this splendidly appointed building.

• Bauzeit: 2002-2005
• PlanerIn: Hans Hollein, HNP architects
• Client: WED
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: U1-Kaisermühlen - Vienna Int. Centre
• Accessibility: Ground-floor restaurant designed by architect Andreas Burghardt
• Foto: MA19

With its glass body obliquely projecting from the southern façade und tapering downwards to a narrow point, this structure – probably the most spectacular of the three adjacent residential high-rises of the Wohnpark Alte Donau cluster – definitely embodies the architectural language of Coop Himmelblau and moreover meets mixed-use requirements by offering common spaces in the form of sky lobbies.

• Bauzeit: 1996-1998
• PlanerIn: Coop Himmelb(l)au
• Client: SEG
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U1-Alt Donau
• Gustav Peichl’s blue-and-white striped "obelisk" with its circular layout and the square cross-section of the NFOG Tower, modified by upper-storey projections, complement the Wohnpark Alte Donau trilogy
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

Austria’s highest building, the 202-metre Millennium Tower with its layout composed of two intersecting circles, was completed within an extremely short period and at a very low net construction cost. The 50 storeys of the tower – exclusively destined for office use – with swanky top floors rise from the publicly accessible, three-storey Millennium City shopping mall.

• Bauzeit: 1999
• PlanerIn: Gustav Peichl, Boris Podrecca, Rudolf F. Weber
• Client: OSMIN Projekt AG, Stumpf Immobilien- und Wohnungseigentumsgesellschaft m.b.H.
• Building type: Mixed use
• Reachability: U6-Handelskai
  
• Accessibility: The shopping arcade on the ground floor and first floor is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The tower erected on an elliptical layout with its indulgently clinging, "tilted" add-on, which functions as a lobby at ground level, offers maximum sophistication regarding façade design. The multifunctional hall with its convex/concave lattice shell serving as roof structure meets the expectations of contemporary multimedia appeal promised by the exterior.

• Bauzeit: 2001-2004
• PlanerIn: HNP architects
• Client: UNIQA
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: U1/U4 Schwedenplatz, U1 Nestroyplatz
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The first Danube Canal "tower" signals a new gateway to the 2nd municipal district. Adapting to the existing building stock and providing for potential new high-rises, the quasi-sculptural edifice is composed of several elements: a stone block, a metal/glass block and an oblique, rampant glass prism topped by an LED screen.

• Bauzeit: 2001
• PlanerIn: Hans Hollein
• Client: Generali
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: U1/U4-Schwedenplatz
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The two rectangular glass towers partly interconnected by bridges dominate the urban silhouette at Vienna’s southern periphery. With their striking height and unique transparency, these office high-rises emerge from a two-storey, trapezoid base linking them to the surrounding new neighbourhood Wienerberg City.

• Bauzeit: 1999-2001
• PlanerIn: Massimiliano Fuksas
• Client: Wienerberger AG, IMMOFINANZ, Wienerberg City Errichtungsges.m.b.H
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: bus 7B, stop: Gesundheitszentrum Süd
• Accessibility: The shopping arcade on the ground floor and first floor is publicly accessible
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

Parallel to the extension of the U3 Underground line to Simmering, a new sub-centre with shops, offices and flats was built in the vicinity of the Eastern Railway Station. The complex composed of two separate edifices – a 60-metre high-rise and a lower cube – creates a striking signal and revives the visual connections between the existing building stock and the Underground station.

• Bauzeit: 2000-2002
• PlanerIn: Blaich + Delugan Architekten
• Client: GSG Gesellschaft für Stadtentwicklung und Stadterneuerung, Wiener Stadtwerke Beteiligungsmanagement GmbH
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U3-Simmering
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The ellipsoidal residential high-rise situated between Matzleinsdorferplatz and Wienerberg rests atop a rectangular, two-part base that can be used by flexibly subdivided offices.
On the upper storeys, projecting, glazed panoramic bay-type loggias are part of every flat and ensure excellent views.

• Bauzeit: 2005-2007
• PlanerIn: ARTEC Architekten, HNP architects
• Client: WBV-GPA
• Building type: Mixed use
• Reachability: S1/S2/S3/S5/S6/S9/S15 Matzleinsdorfer Platz, bus 261, stop: Kundratstrasse
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

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