Rittersporn, Vienna (AT)

In the face of rising land prices beyond the price range of social housing, this project saw the development of a multifunctional urban component with a prototype character. Above the basement level with a supermarket and parking deck, four three-story residential buildings with compact apartments and spacious duplexes for families lie along jointly used courtyards. The facility blends nicely into the small-scale development structure of the immediate environment.

The residential building contains 60 apartments of various sizes suitable for singles as well as families. The entrances to the housing are in the quiet north, while the shops open to the busy street in the south. Above the commercial zone and the covered car park, a façade band perforated by generous openings serves as visual and noise protection for residential structure above. The east-west orientation of the four residential rows creates a varied interplay between levels of movement with thematically arranged open spaces, the arcades above from which the storey flats and maisonettes are accessed, and the gardens towards which the common rooms are oriented.

What is special about this project is that it is not social housing with an integrated supermarket, but a supermarket with social housing on the roof. This important difference makes this project a prototypical model for many suburban situations. In the spirit of sensible redensification, owner Lidl had agreed to cede its “air rights” free of charge to a non-profit housing developer. The condition was that all the usual attributes of a suburban supermarket were guaranteed – large car park, ideal floor plan, optimal delivery. It goes without saying that the quality of living also had to meet the high standards of Viennese housing. In addition to well thought-out floor plans, an original identity and integration into the neighbourhood, communal and individual open spaces, communicative circulation and spaces for social interaction (laundrette, meeting points, communal room with kitchen, etc.) were important aspects of our planning.

Client: EBG Gemeinnützige Ein- und Mehrfamilienhäuser Baugenossenschaft
Location: A-1220 Vienna, Zschokkegasse
Architecture: Dietrich | Untertrifaller
Project management: Doreen Rehmer-Jeitler, Tobias Indermühle
Construction: 2020-22
Area: 5,800 m²
Capacity: 60 apartments, supermarket, underground parking

Partners
structural engineering, HAVCR: Mischek, Vienna / building physics: Kern+Ingenieure, Vienna / landscape: Carla Lo, Vienna /// photos: Kurt Hoerbst