Rise from the Fall of Vienna Urbion - Research paper by Shaily Parikh

‘Rise from the Fall’ of Vienna Urbion Understanding causes and approaches towards Adaptive Reuse at an Urban level

Research Paper From Academic course: History as an active element of Design - Adaptive Reuse and Revivalism Semester 9, Faculty of Design CEPT University

Shaily Parikh Interior Designer

Design Researcher

Abstract Public spaces in every city and every town has its own historical and geographical importance at an Urban level. But somehow, these public spaces decay and degrade over the course of time. The factors include many tangible and intangible aspects like Social and cultural impacts, Historical relevance over the time frame, Physical and materiality aspects. Studying these factors which become the root causes of the downfall of the public space at the urban level will be the main intent of this paper.

One such public space which made a huge impact towards its Urban dynamic on the city of Vienna is the Vienna Urbion. Due to its massive scale, historical importance and contextual setting, it became the most controversial and contentious place in Vienna. The earlier transportation backbone - ‘Vienna Gurtel’ was linked to ten multiple districts bordering its busy lanes[1]. The humongous amount of people involved with the Gurtel and the social and cultural impact on the city established a serious concern over its degradation and downfall.

Vienna Gurtel – A viaduct in Venice adaptively reused as a Commercial and Retail hub as Vienna Urbion, is an adaptive Reuse project which has gone through some major changes over the course of time which has a huge impact on the city due to which the Public life of the people in the city has evolved. Presently, it is a public space used by almost 1/3th of the population for its number of uses and activities[2].

The paper will conclude with understanding various types of approaches for adaptive reuse taken place for this project as the solutions for the rebound to the city of Vienna, which led to its ‘Rise’ from the ‘Fall’.

Keywords: Vienna Gurtel, Vienna Urbion, Adaptive Reuse, Public Space, Urban Revival

https://www.tw-arch.at/index.php?inc=projectSelectionAll&id=:3072 [Accessed on: 5 September 2019] Tillner, S. (2000). Wien, Urbion: Urban Intervention Gürtel West = Vienna, Urbion. Wien: Stadtplanung Wien, Magistratsabt. 18.

In: The Viennese Gurtel: from Modernism to a Heterotope

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Research Vienna Gurtel

The city of Vienna

Context Historical Relevance Architectural Typology Changes & Reasons for Change Challenges faced Social & Neighbourhood Impacts

Originally built in the center of Guertel Boulevard from 1893 - 1898 to support heavy loads, e.g. trains

Actively used for shops and restaurants underneath in 1900

Many of the arches were vacant and fell into despair after world war II, from 1950 untill 1995

Context

Historical Relevance

The physical structure of Vienna’s main traffic arteries follow a radial-concentric organisation. Over time, individual axes evolved as links between the city and its environs. The historic railway “Stadtbahn” project

by Otto Wagner is the primary means of access to the entire URBAN zone

Due to the varied topography which the Gürtel traverses while encircling the city, the height of the Stadtbahn arches fluctuates between single and triple levels. . A flexible modular system was created to accommodate the varying arches, in addition to a discrete lighting solution for the viaduct and overpasses. A minimal steel structure and a uniform, spot-fixed glazing system achieves a high level of transparency, promoting public safety and cultural preservation. The structural elements respect the design principles of Otto Wagner’s original façade

Architectural Typology

For years, its traffic chaos, lack of street life and menace of social degradation were subjects of inconclusive planning projects and controversies.

Fundamental to the “image transposition” strategy was the general improvement of the Gürtel with green landscaping, pedestrian and bicycle zones, and populating the “Stadtbahn” brick arches with cultural and entertainment facilities, restaurants and music clubs

Changes & Reasons for change

At the core of the URBION Guertel concept by architect Silja Tillner was not only the question of how to deal with the architectural heritage of Otto Wagner but also, how to address the forced co-existence of public space and high traffic loads.

The Vienna Guertel is the main traffic artery of Vienna with a traffic volume of more than 85,000 and peaks of up to 100,000 vehicles/day.

A new masterplan had to be developed to revitalise the street and the adjacent neighbourhoods.

What is happening in the western Guertel areas is in fact a form of commercial blight, exacerbated by increasing motorisation.

This is compounded by a decline of the demographic structure – “social blight“ -, which ultimately ends in the social decay of the neighbourhoods concerned.

Functional defects of the area between the arches and the Guertel traffic lanes hamper the improvement of this zone.

Challenges faced

Social & Neighbourhood Impacts

Paper 1. Introduction - Project Brief The Revitalization of Vienna Gurtel was a city-wide urban scale project for new urbanistic uses which completely transformed the image of a previously derelict zone of the Gurtel into Vienna ‘URBION’ For years, its traffic chaos, lack of street life and menace of social degradation were subjects of inconclusive planning projects and controversies. One of the most significant and historic railway “Stadtbahn” project by Otto Wagner (today the Vienna Underground), which runs along the highway, is the primary means of access to the entire URBAN zone.

At the core of the Gürtel concept was the preservation of the architectural heritage of Otto Wagner and how to address the conflicting demands of public space versus high traffic volumes. By designing transparent and connective architecture for the Gürtel median, the area re-emerged as a pivotal space of interaction that once again linked the outer and inner districts.

URBION developed a comprehensive set of measures for a new, low-cost design of the median strip that would respect existing structures and could be implemented in consecutive phases.

Fundamental to the “image transposition” strategy was the general improvement of the Gürtel with green landscaping, pedestrian and bicycle zones, and populating the “Stadtbahn” brick arches with cultural and entertainment facilities, restaurants and music clubs. Thus, the lively Gürtel provided daytime recreation as well as a progressive nightlife destination.

1.1 An Urban glance at the city of Vienna Vienna is the capital of the neutral federal state of Austria. It is situated in the central part of Europe between the West-European EC countries and the East European COMECON. Up to 1998, Vienna was the capital as well as the economic and cultural centre of the multi-national AustroHungarian monarchy with a population of over 50 million inhabitants[3]. Vienna is today, in a much smaller country, by far the biggest city in Austria with approximately 1.5 million people or about 20% of the total population of Austria[3]. In the last 30 years of the 19th century up to World War I, the population has expanded rapidly[4]. Hence, provision of a large public transportation network was much needed.

Fig 1: Location of Vienna in Austria

Fig 2: Vienna and the Gurtel

Manfred Fischer, Herbert Purschke & Uwe Schubert (1985) Urban development in Vienna—summary, Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research, 2:3-4, 195-199, DOI: 10.1080/02815738508730076 4 Veigl, Christa, 1999, „Geschichte - Stadtentwicklung - Architektur. In: Stadtraum Gürtel. Vienna. Ed. Christa Veigl 5 Tillner, S. (2000). Wien, Urbion: Urban Intervention Gürtel West = Vienna, Urbion. Wien: Stadtplanung Wien, Magistratsabt. 18.

In: Genesis of the Project - Point of Departure 3

1.2 Contextual Realm of the Urbion The Gürtel thoroughfare dates from the last third of the 19th century, when Vienna was a growing metropolis. The inner and outer city walls were dismantled and replaced by two concentric boulevards: the ‘Ringstrasse’, (the inner circle of the old city dominated by the court, the aristocracy, church and haute bourgeoisie) and the Gürtel (the outer around the middle-class, business, proletarian world of suburbia). The Ringstrasse was primarily a vehicle for demonstrations of status and power while the Gürtel served housing and traffic purposes[5].

The physical structure of Vienna’s main traffic arteries follows a radial-concentric organisation, similar to other European cities with a medieval urban nucleus. Over time, individual axes evolved as links between the city and its environs. In 1893, Otto Wagner developed this structure into an urban expansion concept for Vienna. In this, he principally differentiated between the functionalities of the main radial thoroughfares and the tangential roads.

Fig 3: The inner and outer city walls of Vienna at the end of 18th century

Fig 4: Aerial photo shows the URBION zone along Gurtel: Top right – location of Gurtel in Vienna

1.3 Historical Relevance of the Gurtel From its inception, the Vienna Stadtbahn railway line along the Gürtel was conceived as a key player in the high-volume traffic. It was built between 1893 and 1898[5], almost entirely as an elevated railway. The Vienna Stadtbahn was planned and executed by the Imperial and Royal State Railways, which opted for a massive masonry viaduct for the Gürtel and Otto Wagner was later commissioned with the aesthetic concept for the Stadtbahn.

Originally built in the center of Guertel Boulevard from 1893 1898 to support heavy loads, eg. trains

Actively used for shops and restaurant underneath in 1900

Fig 5: In 1893 -1898 was constructed to support heavy loads

Many of the arches were vacant and fell into despair after world war II, from 1950 untill 1995

Fig 6: Shops and restaurants as active uses underneath the Standbahn viaduct in 1900

Tillner, S. (2000). Wien, Urbion: Urban Intervention Gürtel West = Vienna, Urbion. Wien: Stadtplanung Wien, Magistratsabt. 18.

In: Redesign of the Gurtel

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2. Causes towards the Downfall In the 1950s and 1960s, the popularity of automobile traffic led to an enormous increase of cars travelling on Vienna’s streets[6]. The formerly tree-lined Gürtel Boulevard had reached capacity.

Green space was reduced for the sake of street widening, Asphalt replaced Grass and soon the viaduct had become an isolated island in the centre of an eight-lane inner city highway.

The increase in car traffic led to the further decay of the area: the building stock fell in disrepair and a red light-district spread along the Gürtel street and the connecting roads. The negative image of the whole Gürtel neighbourhood led to further erosion and devaluation of the area and the adjacent properties. Negative press in numerous articles criticizing the traffic nightmare, environmental pollution and the social degradation of the red-light district, was lamented. The Gürtel area was given up as a “hopeless” case.

Fig 7: The Stadbahn as a “hopeless case”

Fig 8: The closed arches of the Stadbahn

2.1 Social and Cultural aspect – Public Engagement and Red-light area In the 20th century due to the heavy trafficking and large public density, the Gurtel could function as a new linear urban “centre” that featured a high - performance means of transport.

But Instead, what happened was the Gurtel areas in fact became a commercial blight due to increasing motorisation.

This was compounded by a decline of the demographic structure - “social blight” - which ultimately ended in the social decay and the neighbourhood was concerened.

The large people density and the abandoned areas of the Stadbahn rose to be a well known Red light area which is pre-dominantly established in present scenario. Because of the degradation in the functional activities of the Stadbahn, it became a centre for human trafficking, prostititution and various other social viruses.

2.2 Architecture and Materiality - Facade design and Materials Otto Wagner designed façades to close the arch apertures to create usable space for small businesses. By means of one horizontal partition and two vertical supports, he structured the arches into six sections[7]. Due to the varied topography which the Gürtel traverses while encircling the city, the height of the Stadtbahn arches fluctuates between single and triple levels. Thus, Wagner’s facades were flexible. All of Wagner’s facade designs are characterized by a high degree of visual transparency, i.e. a maximum of window and display space and a minimum of support elements.

Tillner, S. (2000). Wien, Urbion: Urban Intervention Gürtel West = Vienna, Urbion. Wien: Stadtplanung Wien, Magistratsabt. 18.

In: Urban Revitalization

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Originally, the arches housed active uses such as various shops and restaurants. After World War II, however, many of the original facades had been destroyed and were replaced with masonry walls. The change from transparent to closed frontages had far reaching consequences that exceeded mere aesthetics: a visual and physical barrier had been created between the inner and outer districts. The situation was aggravated by the inactive uses behind the opaque walls within the structure, storage and repair shops. Life began to leave the Gürtel. Shops soon closed and the few storage businesses utilizing the structure did not help populate the declining area.

3. Approaches towards the Advancement As an area with high levels of unemployment, poverty and poor housing conditions the urban districts on either side of the Gürtel, were registered as a “problem urban area”. The City of Vienna presented an improvement concept which complied with the principles of “sustainability” and “private-public partnership” and included a total of 60 projects and initiatives to improve the building fabric, attract new small businesses, promote cultural initiatives, social advice centres and improvements to the infrastructure[8]. Silja Tillner was responsible for the URBION component.

The planning of “URBAN-Wien” was conducted along four axes of priority: One dealt with improving professional qualifications and job training, another with measures for the cultural, social and work integration of migrant milieus. URBION (“URBan InterventION Gürtel West”) represented one of these axes and focused on the redesign of the Westgürtel by means of urban interventions.

The fourth was the accompanying monitoring function, which organized exchanges with other European cities and established the necessary public image for the project.

3.1 Reviving the Old – Approach towards Otto Wanger’s original design Immediately after the completion of the Stadtbahn arches at the beginning of the 20th century, the arches were open under the elevated track. They were closed and rented out as business premises until the time when the city grew to the Gürtel and beyond.

Of the original facades built at that time, only a few are still preserved today. Numerous arches have been walled up only in the last decades or were defaced with advertising media, so that the original structure of the light rail construction is barely recognizable. The use of solid construction materials has destroyed the former permeability of the historic wooden / glass portals and exacerbated the barrier effect in the middle of the belt between inner and outer districts.

The present façade concept is based on the idea of ​​creating maximum transparency between the inner and outer belts in order to break the barrier effect of the belt and restore the connection between the inner and outer belt[8]. On the one hand, this design measure is intended to bring about a positive urban design change and, on the other hand, to promote the revitalization of the area and increase the sense of security through the visibility and possible social control of the adjacent footpaths.

The desired transparency was achieved with a reduced steel construction and a uniform, pointfixed glazing system. With the constructive elements - two columns and a horizontal beam - the design principles of the original façade are taken up: The columns are arranged in the sense of the tripartite division of Otto Wagner under the keystones of the arches, the horizontal support below the corner of the arch form and the straight line.

A modular system was developed for doors, ventilation wings and plug-in signs, from which tenants can select and combine individual elements according to their specific needs.

https://www.german-architects.com/de/architekten-tillner-and-willinger-wien/project/stadtbahn-arches [Accessed on : 15 September, 2019]

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3.2 The new Intervention – Urbion after the Revival At the core of the URBION Gürtel concept by architect Silja Tillner was not only the question of how to deal with the architectural heritage of Otto Wagner but above all, how to address the forced co-existence of public space and high traffic loads. By opening the Gürtel median strip and endowing it with a transparent design and connective architecture, the area re-emerged as a space that once again links the outer and inner Gürtel; an area that no longer functions as a barrier, but rather as a meeting-place.

An “image transposition” strategy was undertaken to counteract prevalent negative psychological associations of the Gürtel. Fundamental to this strategy was the general improvement of the Gürtel median strip and in particular, populating the “Stadtbahn” arches with cultural and entertainment facilities, restaurants and pubs. The Gürtel Study developed a comprehensive set of measures for a new, low-cost design of the median strip that would respect existing structures and could be implemented in consecutive phases. The redesign of the Gürtel’s median strip and the improvement of public space by attracting small-scale urban functions to the Stadtbahn arches is a suitable measure to revive other neighbourhoods menaced by social decay. In this way, URBION can be seen as an experimental test case, whose success can be replicated in other troubled communities throughout Europe Moreover, it is in keeping with the original purpose of the zones outside the former “Linienwall”, or outer city limits, which in the past housed cultural facilities and restaurants. This genius loci are today re-interpreted and revived in a novel context.

Briefly, the URBION project aims at transforming the western Gürtel from a barrier into a permeable and active structure that integrates and finally completes Otto Wagner’s concept of the transportation artery that “absorbs probable but as yet unknown developments“. The western Gürtel would be an open space that leaves room for self-organizing processes capable of independently mastering its own future integration into the greater Vienna fabric.

Fig 9: Open Space as Community Gardens - One of the Design Approches

URBAN DESIGN MEASURES[9] improve median, expansionof pedestrianzones, separationof pedestrian and bike traffic, new pedestrian crossings, new surface design, permeability, new tree plantings, new illumination concept

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http://www.realcorp.at/archive/ppt/CORP2012_SLIDES209.pdf [Accessed on: 19 September, 2019]

4. Conclusion As the Causes and Approaches of the revival, The URBION concepts can be summed up as: The green potential of the central zone was to be preserved, rehabilitated and enlarged, since it both contributes to the cityscape and influences the local micro-climate. Due to its solid, balanced design, openness to a wide variety of uses, flexibility and function as the carrier of a major public transport system for the city, the world-famous architecture of the Stadtbahn did not only call for the rehabilitation of the dilapidated façades but also for their architectural reinterpretation. While the traffic noise along the Gürtel poses a problem for many local residents, this area offered an ideal environment for projects located in the fields of youth culture and new trends in music, particularly in connection with the excellent public transport links to and from the former Stadtbahn arches.Only part of these brick vaults was effectively used. Due to their spatial potential and excellent location factor with maximum advertising impact (every day, between 50,000 and 150,000 persons drive by in their cars), the former Stadtbahn arches were extraordinarily well suited as a catalyst to transform the image of the western Gürtel. Functional defects of the area between the arches and the Gürtel traffic lanes hampered the improvement of this zone. For example, in addition to insufficient lighting of the pedestrian paths and cycling tracks, the use of substantial parts of this zone as partly illegal parking lots massively impedes its rehabilitation.

Redesign of the Gürtel median strip: In certain sections of the Gürtel median strip, public space was redesigned to create attractive open spaces for the residents of the adjacent districts, many of them immigrants. Another aspect was to safeguard suitable frame conditions for the commercial success of the numerous private investors in the Stadtbahn arches.

Primary objectives for the redesign of these Gürtel sections included both improved pedestrian paths and cycling tracks, additional possibilities to cross the Gürtel and the wish to create attractive open-air zones (e.g. street cafés).

Traffic: The improvement of pedestrian and bicycle traffic was achieved by providing continuous paths on the median strip along the Stadtbahn arches as well as more possibilities to cross the Gürtel.

Landscape: The improvement of the tree stock by planting new trees and introducing a new automatic irrigation system; enlargement and rehabilitation of green spaces accompanied by a reduction of hard, non-permeable surfaces.

Design: An attenuation of the barrier effect of the Gürtel was a major goal. All newly leased Stadtbahn arches were to be opened up and provided with uniformly glazed façades.

All Gürtel bridges formerly closed with storage space were to be opened up.

A coherent and unifying “look” of the Gürtel median strip was to be achieved by means of a continuous lighting system, newly glazed Stadtbahn arch façades, the installation and design of kiosks as well as urban furniture (benches, railings, billboards, trellis for climbing plants, waste container screen).

Fig 10: Improvement of Tree stock and enlargement of green spaces

Fig 11: Night life making the spaces vibrant and lively in the present scenario

Activities: Temporary markets, neighbourhood parties, concerts, movie and theatre performances were recommended as temporary measures. Permanent activities were triggered by attracting restaurants, bars, cultural and recreational facilities to the Stadtbahn, individual installations and artworks in public spaces.

All these parameters played a crucial role for the City-wide Revival as the main solutions for the approches of the Reuse. These were main focal points to address the issues of the Causes of the Gurtel downfall. These approaches can be termed as “small yet effective” solutions which combined to form such a drastic scale Urban project and lead to its fantastic Revival.

To counteract the marginalized nature of the Gürtel, the new open-space design of the Stadtbahn arches and businesses strove to increase utilization, thus populating the area to garner a degree of social control. The concept strove to transform the Gürtel’s forgotten arches into a lively avenue of cultural and entertainment venues; where the city’s youth could enjoy music clubs and a progressive nightlife, while residential districts were relieved from noise related disturbances. The project on the whole can be appreciated for creating a unique and dynamic atmosphere of the Old brick vaults of the viaduct, while at the same time could have been more interesting to develop a new image creation for a hithertho faceless area in terms of the present activities that take place in the Urbion which has its own positive as well as negative impacts.

Bibliography: Images: Fig 1: (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2019, from http://ontheworldmap.com/austria/city/vienna/vienna-location-on-the-austria-map.html.

Fig2: (n.d.). Retrieved August 3, 2019, from https://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/flat-map-of-the-city-ofvienna-austria-vector-19552526.

Fig 3: Case Studies(n.d.). Retrieved 10 September, 2019, from http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/2042.pdf Fig 4: (n.d.). Retrieved 10 September, 2019, from http://conference.corp.at/archive/ppt/CORP2013_SLIDES223.pdf Fig 5: (n.d.). Retrieved 10 September, 2019, from http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/2042.pdf Fig 6: (n.d.). Retrieved 10 September, 2019, from http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/2042.pdf Fig7: Wikimedia (n.d.). Retrieved 15 September, 2019, from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wien_OttoWagner-Br%C3%BCcke_1898.jpg Fig 8: (n.d.). Retrieved 19 September, 2019, from http://www.realcorp.at/archive/ppt/CORP2012_SLIDES209.pdf Fig 9: (n.d.). Retrieved 19 September, 2019, from http://www.realcorp.at/archive/ppt/CORP2012_SLIDES209.pdf Fig 10: Netz, N.- A. I. (n.d.). Architekten Tillner & Willinger ZT GmbH. Retrieved October 4, 2019, from https://www.twarch.at/index.php?inc=projectSelectionAll&id=:3072.

Fig 11: Thriving Nightlife under the Subway. (n.d.). Retrieved October 4, 2019, from https://www.wien.info/en/lifestyle-scene/nightlife/nightlife-under-subway.

Books: Wien Urbion - Urban Intervention Gurtel West ‘The State of Art’ by various authors Tillner, S. (2000). Wien, Urbion: Urban Intervention Gürtel West = Vienna, Urbion. Wien: Stadtplanung Wien, Magistratsabt.

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Websites: Netz, N.- A. I. (n.d.). Architekten Tillner & Willinger ZT GmbH. Retrieved from https://www.tw-arch.at/index.php?inc=projectSelectionAll&id=:3072 [Accessed on 3 August, 2019] Stadtbahnbögen Architekten Tillner & Willinger. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.german-architects.com/de/architekten-tillner-and-willinger-wien/project/stadtbahn-arches [Accessed on 10 September , 2019] Articles: URBION – URBAN REVITALIZATION OF THE VIENNA ... - ISOCARP. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.isocarp.net/Data/ case_studies/2042.pdf Reweaving the City along its Inner Edges

MAG. ARCH. SILJA TILLNER , ARCHITEKTEN TILLNER & WILLINGER

The Adaptive Reuse and Revival of Vienna gurtel was a turning point for the city of Vienna and changed the city life forever.

About the Author Shaily Parikh, a fresh Interior Designer from Ahmedabad, India has graduated from Faculty of Design, CEPT University, in May 2020.

Throughout her five-year academic journey as a design student, she has developed a deep interest in the field of Design Research and Writing.

Her ultimate goal is to write her own book one day !

Contact:

e-mail: shailyparikh.design@gmail.com Ph.: (+91)8780187372, (+91)8141925502

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