Description
The seminal 1967 Vienna exhibition “New Urban Housing” drew the attention to serious deficits, calling for alternative urban models: a mixed city, a city of community, a pedestrian city, and a general awareness that high-quality housing is the most responsible architectural undertaking of our time.[1] Stepped terrace housing was ubiquitous and, in Vienna, Harry Glück had a large number of projects to design on his desk. In 1974, Glück completed his first schemes, including the Inzersdorfer Strasse residential complex in Vienna’s 10th district. This was his first prototype and successfully demonstrated high-quality, high density living, with proximity to nature. This is the urban equivalent of the classic single-family home, yet within the framework of subsidized housing. The Alt-Erlaa Residential Park is the embodiment of this principle as a large-scale alternative model for future urban expansion. Open space, housing, and infrastructure facilities are creating a new possibility: the achievement of the next level of quality in housing culture. With approximately 10,000 initial inhabitants, the Alt-Erlaa Residential Park is the size of a small town.
Planning began in 1968, the year in which the client, the non-profit social housing association GESIBA (gemeinnützige Siedlungs- und Bauaktiengesellschaft, owned mostly by the City of Vienna) acquired the property in the suburban, predominantly agricultural 23rd district of Vienna. Due to the stagnating and even declining population, housing development in Vienna at this time consisted primarily of urban regeneration. Housing conditions continue to be inadequate: too small, too overcrowded, and a high prevalence of substandard units. The urban development strategy of the era is that of the urban development axis, meaning dense housing on a large scale along efficient public rail transport routes.
A prototype for the systematic development of the area between the city center and the city limits is the Meidling— Siebenhirten urban development axis, which envisaged 20,000 new residential units for the southern part of Vienna. A planning exhibition in 1969 already showed the characteristic residential buildings with the terraced base and “normal” upper floors, but in an extended urban development formation. The typology had been invented, but was flexible. The number of floors continued to vary, as did the number and position of the rows on the site, the size ofwhich was changed. In its final stage of development, the 3,180 residential units of Alt-Erlaa were divided into three rows of north—south oriented apartments of equal length (approximately 300 meters) and considerable height (70 and 80 meters), which were designated as blocks A to C. The building plan was divided into three phases, each comprising approximately 1,000 apartments. The groundbreaking ceremony for Block A took place in 1973 and the building was completed in 1976. Block B was finished in 1978, with Block C following in 1985. The apartment rows themselves are linked to each other and to the city by public infrastructure facilities such as a shopping center, school, church, and leisure amenities as well as by an underground parking system. The park is also part of the program: the ratio of built-up area to open space is approximately 1:3. Alt-Erlaa is an urban development concept and a prototype of a Green City.
Exterior view with circulation cores.
According to the architect, Alt-Erlaa is primarily the result of logical thinking and the high-rise building is a means to an end. Rising upwards into space favors the preservation of ground surface area. The park-like landscape is freed from motorized traffic. The distance between the blocks is a decisive dimensional factor. The distance of about 180 meters between the buildings creates a generous feeling of space. The terracing of the lower floors also enhances the exterior space. Walking through Alt-Erlaa is like walking through a green valley. The characteristic layout of the residential park typology divides the volume centrally into “above” and “below.” The nine or 13 stories of the upper part of the building benefit from their elevated position and their views. The lower floors — in the case of Alt-Erlaa the levels below the twelfth floor — are upgraded by terraces. The resulting open space enhances the individual apartments, and it also provides an area for community activities (indoor swimming pools, saunas, club rooms) as well as storage.
The complex is modular, with 12 standardized cross-wall construction modules. Each module has a central circulation core, equipped with four elevators, two staircases, and vertical supply shafts (building services, garbage), serving on two sides four axes with central corridor apartments and one axis along the edge, which — depending on how the module is positioned — is either located centrally or at the front with additional incoming light. The axial dimension is 5.8 meters. On average, there are 250 apartments per stairwell, i.e. 60 apartments per elevator. The vertical access cores have entrances to both the east and west at ground floor level and are connected via the roof and the lower levels.
The modules can be placed seamlessly in a row or be freestanding. Blocks A and C are arranged in rows of two by two modules each, thus interrupting the row at the center. The distance between the blocks is joined on the ground floor with tennis halls. Block A has additional facilities, including a medical center and kindergarten in the east, and property management and another kindergarten in the west. Block B comprises of a total of four modules, with one module remaining freestanding and a further three modules aligned side by side. The in-between space is a public corridor and the entrance to the school complex. Carefully orchestrated deviations, shifts, variations — including a staggering of heights — and individual design measures prevent uniformity.
The modules are identical in construction, but not identical in program. Variation is created not through exception, but is instead an integral part of the system. Alt-Erlaa offers the entire range of apartment types commonly used in subsidized housing in Vienna, including one-, two- and three-room apartments and various typologies: multi-story apartments facing either one or two directions and maisonettes. Though not subsidized, a few penthouses were also included in the repertoire. The circulation determines the basic arrangement, beyond which the housing is an additive system within a carefully organized grid. The bulk of the apartments are single-story flats accessed from a central corridor and oriented to the east or west. Towards the perimeter of the buildings, larger apartments have been created that benefit from the additional light coming in from the front facade. Maisonettes are strategically positioned (vertically): the two lowest floors merged with a staircase to ensure the “feeling of a single-family house”, to quote the architect. A further “layer” of maisonettes is located in the transitional area between the 12th, 13th, and 14th floors, thus completely eliminating the need for circulation access on the 13th floor.
Green spaces between the individual blocks.
The organization of the private living spaces logically follows the basic layout of the building. The adjoining rooms and mechanically ventilated bathrooms are situated to the rear, in the less well-lit area of the apartment, while the living area and bedrooms are arranged between the axes depending on the size of the apartment. The living area in combination with the walk-through kitchen typically used by the architect deserves special mention. The kitchen is spatially independent, with a partition wall separating it from the living room and equipped with an efficient workspace; it opens to a dining veranda with enough space for a family dining table. The facade is freed from any structural functions and, on the terraced floors, opens completely to the room-sized loggias and terraces. Two planters per axis and side (east and west) provide, without exception, a planting area of around 5 square meters. The apartments on the upper, non-terraced floors have loggias (a half or full axis, depending on the size of the apartment), and one bay per axis extends the view to the north and south.
Harry Glück coined the term Vollwertwohnen, translating literally as “full-value living”, illustrating a holistic claim that included everything from living comfort (extensive technical equipment, e.g. pneumatic waste transport system, underground parking), to contact with nature, to the integration of amenities and communal facilities in his housing complexes.[2] By intelligently adjusting the volume depth (from 12 or 15 to 18 meters) and circulation (central corridor instead of multiple units per stairwell), it was possible to achieve a cost advantage of 10–15 percent. By contrast, the costs for the construction of a rooftop swimming pool with sauna and associated ancillary rooms were a moderate two percent of the construction budget. Already in 1974, the Inzersdorfer Strasse housing estate showed how, in subsidized housing of approximately 200 units, a well-sized pool (8 by 24 meters) could be accommodated within the construction budget and the operating costs. The larger complex Alt-Erlaa has seven rooftop swimming pools, seven indoor pools, and 21 saunas. Glück was aware of the power of water in combination with the advantageous rooftop positioning and the benefits it created in terms of neighborly contact and distributed the seven rooftop pools equally throughout the three apartment blocks. With its additional indoor tennis courts, badminton, outdoor sports and play areas, the residential scheme is also a leisure park. The size of the complex requires the integration of public infrastructure and makes short distances possible by having a shopping mall, medical center, church, public library, three kindergartens, and two elementary schools nearby. Alt-Erlaa is a residential model with an exceptionally high level of resident satisfaction, as several studies have shown. The high recreational value of the complex encourages residents to spend more time at home. The complex is certainly in a good state, with renovations and upgrades taking place continuously. The 5,760 private planters on the lower 12 floors amount to a verdant 1.5 hectares of planted space.
Footnotes
“New Urban Forms of Housing.” Exhibition organized by the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Architektur. Curated by architects Viktor Hufnagl, Wolfgang and Traude Windbrechtinger. Catalogue: Hermann Czech, Vienna 1967.
Cf. Glück’s dissertation: Glück, Harry. ”Höherwertige Alternativen im Massenwohnbau durch wirtschaftliche Planungs- und Konstruktionskonzepte.” Dissertation, Innsbruck 1982.
Originally published in: Gerhard Steixner, Maria Welzig (eds.), Luxury for All. Milestones in European Stepped Terrace Housing, Birkhäuser, 2020. Translated by Anna Roos, abridged and edited for Building Types Online.