Description
The two housing projects “Wien-Süd” and “Wien-Privat” were constructed following an urban plan by Otto Häuselmayer. Together they densify the double-row building type by weaving in perpendicular bars, creating courtyards within.
“Wien-Süd”: the living rooms and bedrooms are located in the main structures, while the cross rows hold stairwells and the apartments’ ancillary functions. Passageways connect the courtyards through openings in the rows. At these openings are the long stairwells in which the stairs take a new direction on every floor. The apartments are oriented towards two sides: outwards to the garden and inwards to the courtyard.
Most interesting are the corner units, which bend around and thus permit a visual relationship between one end of the apartment and the other. The entrance leads directly to the “elbow” (which has French windows) where living and bedrooms are to one side, while kitchen, bath, toilet, and sometimes a second bedroom lie along a broad corridor to the other side.
On the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th floor, maisonettes are tucked in between corner apartments. On the 5th/6th floor, the corner apartment becomes itself a maisonette. Where the living room was, one finds the stairs and three bedrooms. A bath, toilet, and large bedroom run along the corridor. Upstairs a long space is divided by the stairs, creating a kitchen/dining area and a living room.
Drawings
Floor plan diagram, scale 1:500
Site plan
From left to right, Level 1 to level 5, scale 1:500
3rd floor: 3-room apartment, 4-room duplex apartment (lower level), scale 1:200
4th floor: 5-room duplex apartment, 4-room duplex apartment (upper level), scale 1:200
5th floor: 5-room duplex apartment (upper floor), scale 1:200
Longitudinal section through cross bars
Cross section
Photos
Street façade
View of courtyard
Originally published in: Oliver Heckmann, Friederike Schneider (eds.), Floor Plan Manual Housing, fourth revised and expanded edition, Birkhäuser, 2011.