Reminiscent of a giant oil-tanker whose monumental, south-facing flight of steps makes contact with Urban Loritz Platz, the new "Main City Library and Central Administration of Vienna’s Municipal Libraries" rises above the U6 tracks on Neubaugürtel right beside Otto Wagner’s Burggasse station – a good example of urban condensation.

• Bauzeit: 2000-2002
• PlanerIn: Ernst Mayr
• Client: Stadt Wien
• Building type: Educational
• Reachability: U6 Burggasse - Stadthalle
• Accessibility: During business hours
• With its canopy of 10 white membrane surfaces and 28 steel struts plus the new Main City Library, Urban Loritz Platz – a gateway to the 7th municipal district – has come to symbolise the URBAN project as a whole (Silja Tillner, since 1999).
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

Simple tables and wooden chairs, freely hanging lighting fixture cables and an unplastered front are juxtaposed with a constellation of Oriental tiles set in a historic cross vault. Also due to the large glazed surfaces on both sides, this individualistic, very successful mix of different styles creates exquisite moods at any time of day.

• Bauzeit: 2001
• PlanerIn: Lacaton & Vassal, Feldbacher & Seehof
• Client: Architekturzentrum Wien
• Building type: Hotel and restaurants
• Reachability: U2-Museumsquartier, U2/U3-Volkstheater
• Accessibility: During business hours
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

As Austria’s biggest cultural complex, the MuseumsQuartier set within the revitalised ensemble of the former imperial stables dating from the 18th and 19th centuries constitutes an urbanistic axis that links old and new cultural spaces of Vienna through its modern implants, multifaceted institutions, squares and open spaces.

• Bauzeit: 1998-2001
• PlanerIn: O&O Baukunst, Manfred Wehdorn
• Client: Stadt Wien, MUQUA Errichtungs- und Betriebs GmbH, Republik Österreich
• Building type: Urban planning
• Reachability: U2-Museumsquartier, U2/U3-Volkstheater
• Accessibility: The open-air zones are publicly accessible, while the individual museums are accessible during normal opening hours
• A walk from the MuseumsQuartier to the historic city centre leads through the Imperial Palace or Hofburg (J. E. Fischer v. Erlach, J. L. v. Hildebrandt, G. Semper, C. Hasenauer and others, since 1279) – a complex encompassing numerous courtyards and a widely ramified network of individual buildings and wings that has evolved organically since the Middle Ages.
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

A typical backyard in the 7th municipal district close to the Gürtel was given a new lease on life with a residential and office building: the interesting folds of the greened office-wing roofscape offer both common areas and a view from the levels above. On the Wimbergergasse side, deep winter gardens with glass parapets add vibrancy to the somewhat drab surroundings.

• Bauzeit: 1999-2001
• PlanerIn: DMAA
• Client: KALLCO
• Building type: Residential
• Reachability: U6 Burggasse - Stadthalle
• Foto: Rupert Christanell