Description

The publicly subsidised housing complex with the name “Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten” lies in a district on the eastern outskirts of Vienna. Its name derives from the folktale (“The Town Musicians of Bremen”) by the Brothers Grimm and is a reference to the stacked housing typologies in the complex: at the bottom are maisonette units that open onto gardens, on top of them two-storey terraced house types with terraces and on top of these further terraced units with courtyards. Altogether the typologies stack to a height of eight storeys in a loose arrangement. The apartments are arranged in three grey-rendered buildings of different shapes that are grouped around a public green space.

The façade facing the street is enveloped in a crystalline steel structural web that links up the staggered arrangement of balconies. To the rear, this compact form gives way to an open arrangement in which the stacking of the individual house types is made visible as a feature of the design. Each of the 100 apartments has its own outdoor area in the form of either a garden, courtyard, balcony or terrace that the residents can design as they wish. The fully-glazed ground floor and the internal circulation spaces with their walkways are semi-public spaces that aim to promote communication between the neighbours. Further functions are a communal space on the first floor, a children’s play area on the fourth floor and a terrace with swimming pool and sunbathing lawn on the roof. The pool can be used by all the residents and is a social meeting place in summer.

The architects’ design concept aims to emulate the success of the work of the Viennese architect Harry Glück, whose famous terraced housing skyscrapers managed to minimise the cost of building to such a degree that it was possible to build communal pools on the roof, despite the funding constraints of social housing. The high level of satisfaction among its residents is legendary.

The project was built and is managed by the Neues Leben housing co-op association. Interested parties could apply for a place in a subsidized apartment and the apartments were allocated according to need and social urgency. A mix of singles, couples and families as well as young and old people live in the complex under one roof and the communal facilities have proved popular among the residents.

The architects, together with the Neues Leben non-profit housing and settlement co-op association, won an invited competition for developers to build on a site designated for social housing at the boundary between the eastern districts of Donaustadt and Floridsdorf in Vienna. Their architectural concept convinced the competition jury, headed by Wolf Prix, founder and director of the architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au, and the project group were able to purchase the site and erect the building complex.

The project began in 2006, with construction from 2008 until completion in 2010.

The project is a publicly subsidised housing project: the costs for the site and construction were split three ways: 34.5% is funded through loans from the state, 53% through regular loans from the capital market and 12.5% through contributions by the tenants. The tenant’s contribution is a factor of the size of the apartment and the tenants have the option of purchasing the apartment after 10 years.

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Originally published in: Annette Becker, Laura Kienbaum, Kristien Ring, Peter Cachola Schmal, Bauen und Wohnen in Gemeinschaft / Building and Living in Communities, Birkhäuser, 2015.