Description

Visible from afar, Massimiliano Fuksas’ glass towers rise up from the Wienerberg in the southern part of Vienna. Enveloped by a transparent skin, te towers appear almost immaterial. Visible reinforced concrete skeletons structure the façades. The visions of Mies van der Rohe become built reality with the technology of glass production. The slender towers rise from a trapezoidal multi-storey pediment containing an entertainment centre – with conference and seminar rooms, shops, restaurants and a cinema complex – to complement the offices in the towers. The new building implements the precepts of the “living office,” the metaphorically rich concept of urban living in which living, working and leisure are combined, through poly-functionality. The logical consequence of this was making potential tenants the focus of attention at the towers’ planning stage.

Extensive studies of the occupancy and subdivision of the office floor plan show a variety of concepts in this speculative building. In addition to conventional cell-like offices, group offices and open-plan offices, combi-offices and business club concepts can also be realised. A guide for tenants provides help for those seeking an office concept to optimise space. The smallest rental unit – 130 m² – equates to a third of a tower’s floor plan. Larger spaces are created by linking the glass towers horizontally using moveable glass bridges and/or by vertical links via internal stairways, the retrofitting of which is facilitated by easily removable ceiling panels.

When tenants move in, office units are usually already equipped with raised floors and suspended metal ceilings in which the infrastructure for the internal network is integrated, along with the climate control and lighting technology. The office partition walls and the computers can be attached and connected respectively to floors and ceilings in a preset pattern. However, if desired, the investor takes over completion and furnishing, and offers tenants an extensive range of services including catering, the provisions of office supplies and cleaning services. The REGUS Group letting agency goes one step further than its competitors. The wide array of services it offers, including completely equipped offices with infrastructure and secretarial services, means that tenants can rent individual desks or office space as required, and even by the hour. Elegant wood panelling of the solid structural core and the fixed glazed floor-to-ceiling façade elements give tenants an unparalleled view over the city and lend the offices a touch of luxury.

With its extensive, differentiated and occupant-friendly range of services, together with distinctive design, speculative “investor architecture” becomes an exclusive address in Vienna.

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Originally published in: Rainer Hascher, Simone Jeska, Birgit Klauck, Office Buildings: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2002.