Through the central entrance zone right behind the Pallas Athena Fountain, the new, belowground wing is accessed via a steel bridge and a flight of stairs. The impressive cascaded space exudes a sense of height and depth, while discreet materials and colours combined with a sophisticated illumination concept emphasise the elegance and high professional standard of the project.

• Bauzeit: 2004-2005
• PlanerIn: Geiswinkler & Geiswinkler
• Building type: Office and government
• Reachability: tram 1/2/71/D, stop: Stadiongasse, Parlament
• Accessibility: during business hours
• Foto: MA19

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

With its majestic palm-trees, this fifteen-metre-high space domed with a historic glass-steel structure (by Friedrich Ohmann, 1899) laid down a difficult stylistic challenge. The intelligent additions to the interior devised by the architects create a variety of distinct restaurant and bar zones without impairing the essence of the greenhouse.

• Bauzeit: 1998
• PlanerIn: Eichinger oder Knechtl
• Client: Barbara Böhm
• Building type: Hotel and restaurants
• Reachability: U1/U2/U3 Karlsplatz
• Accessibility: during business hours
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The overall rehabilitation of the former Albertina Graphics Collection into a comprehensive new art museum and the addition of a study hall provoked numerous discussions – chiefly because of the Soravia Wing by Hans Hollein, whose acute angles float above the ramp of the Albertina.

• Bauzeit: 1998-2002
• PlanerIn: Erich Gottfried Steinmayr, Friedrich H. Mascher, Hans Hollein, Arkan Zeytinoglu
• Client: Burghauptmannschaft Österreich
• Building type: Museums and exhibitions
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The design sketch by Pritzker laureate David Chipperfield encompasses the essence of this building: 45 black squares. They symbolise the characteristic window openings of this Peek & Cloppenburg chain department store situated on 3 plots amidst the lively Kärntnerstrasse pedestrian zone. The design was the winning entry for an invited competition, prevailing over designs by such notable architects as Richard Meier, Raphael Moneo and Eduardo Souto de Moura.

• Bauzeit: 2009-2011
• PlanerIn: David Chipperfield
• Client: NAXOS Grundverwaltungs GmbH
• Building type: Commercial
• Reachability: U1/U3 Stephansplatz
• Accessibility: During business hours
• Foto: Christian Fürthner

Once denigrated as the "house without eyebrows" despite its sumptuous ground-floor zone adorned by a variety of high-quality materials, this former store of the exclusive tailors Goldmann & Salatsch has over the decades become the destination of many an architectural pilgrimage. Situated right opposite the splendidly ornamented ensemble of Vienna’s Imperial Palace complex, Adolf Loos’ simple, uncluttered masterpiece proved a massive shock to early-20th-century public sensibilities.

• Bauzeit: 1909-1911
• PlanerIn: Adolf Loos
• Client: Leopold Goldman, Emanuel Aufricht
• Building type: Mixed use
• Reachability: U1/3 Stephansplatz, U3 Herrengasse
• Accessibility: Ground floor during banking hours
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

The central, symmetrical entrance dominated by the striking, elliptical recess above and the two showcase niches are cut into the aluminium façade in almost sculptural style. Inside, too, the wall shelving clings smoothly to the two-part (square and octagonal) layout. An icon of its period, the design has retained its modernity even after 40 years.

• Bauzeit: 1964-1965
• PlanerIn: Hans Hollein
• Client: Marius Retti
• Building type: Commercial
• Reachability: U1/U3 Stephansplatz
• The jeweller’s shop Schullin I on the Graben is another masterpiece by Hans Hollein and an architectural testimony of the 1970s, while the Schullin II shop on Kohlmarkt embodies the architect’s post-modern phase.
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

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

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

The imposing corner building with its highly ornamented cornice, magnificent entrance zone and impressive staircase is one of the most important architectural monuments of Vienna’s city centre. In this structure, the renowned architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries moreover implied an innovative technique for mounting the façade cladding, which is done in polished granite slabs.

• Bauzeit: 1903-1905
• PlanerIn: Jože Plečnik
• Client: Johann Zacherl
• Building type: Mixed use
• Reachability: U1/U3 Stephansplatz
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

At the time of construction, the new Haas House, too, offered food for heated discussions – before becoming one of the most-photographed buildings of Vienna, much coveted for tourism and advertising purposes. The body of this fully glazed commercial building takes up the old separation of St. Stephen’s Square and Stock-im-Eisen-Platz; one remarkable feature are the manifold “faces” of the structure, which change with the different viewing angles from the surrounding side streets.

• Bauzeit: 1985-1990
• PlanerIn: Hans Hollein
• Client: Vienna Insurance Group, Kommerz Real, Wiener Verein
• Building type: Commercial
• Reachability: U1/U3 Stephansplatz
• Foto: MA19

This small hotel is situated near St. Stephen’s Square. The oval windows and dark façade done in glass mosaic create a striking contrast to the historic surroundings. The windows resemble eyes looking out onto the cityscape. The interiors thematise the world of Wiener Werkstätte in a modern interpretation and pay homage to emblematic Viennese artists such as Koloman Moser.

• Bauzeit: 2010-2012
• PlanerIn: BWM Architekten, Michael Manzenreiter
• Client: LENIKUS Hotel-und Gastronomiebetriebs Ges.m.b.H.
• Building type: Hotel and restaurants
• Reachability: U1/U3 Stephansplatz
• Accessibility: only from outside
• Foto: Christian Fürtner

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

The Post Office Savings Bank is a milestone of Viennese Modernism. One of Otto Wagner’s masterpieces, the elegant building on Ringstrasse with its impressive counter hall presents particularly innovative solutions to technical-structural details while fulfilling the highest aesthetic standards.

• Bauzeit: 1903-1906
• PlanerIn: Otto Wagner
• Client: k. k. Postsparkasse
• Building type: Banks and stock markets
• Reachability: U1/U4 Schwedenplatz, tram 2, stop: Julius-Raab-Platz
• Accessibility: During business hours
• Foto: Rupert Christanell

A masterful contrast between old and new is created by incorporating the eaves heights and window grids of the adjacent Gründerzeit buildings into the proportions of the avant-garde glass skin of this new office building. On the inside, the office storeys open up towards a glass-covered atrium; the penthouse "huddled" amidst the roofscape conveys novel perspectives of the city.

• Bauzeit: 2001-2003
• PlanerIn: Henke Schreieck Architekten
• Client: Zürich Versicherungs AG
• Building type: Mixed use
• Reachability: U2/U4 Schottenring
• Accessibility: Only from outside
• Foto: Rupert Christanell