Cluster / Streetscape

2013

Team point of view
The proposed urban fabric is defined through the combination of compatible uses. Balance is sought within mixture and diversity, from the perspective of both urban form and activity.
A strong plan for public space is inserted into the fragmented urban structure – central parks and open public spaces are a starting point for the creation of a dense surrounding structure.
The software and hardware are defined: Cluster as a system for organising activities and Streetscape for the physical environment of parks, greenery, trees, squares, plazas, streets, curbs and walkways. Urban and social continuity and cohesion will be achieved more by complementary then by uniform elements. The proposed scheme is open to future needs, while maintaining stable quality.

Jury point of view
The overall landscape strategy of the project is to introduce strips of landscape at several locations in the surroundings. This landscape approach facilitates a strategy of creating structure and identity without too many restrictions on built development along the landscaped strips. The project is highly adaptable, and offers stable qualities through a certain robustness. Since it is more a promising scheme than a fully detailed design, the open future of Siemens can be easily embedded.

2014-2016
The winning team SLLA Architects got commissioned for a study on density of one of the 3 competition sites.
Siemens sold the land to Wohnbau, part of Sozialbau AG, the leading housing enterprise in Austria focusing on public housing.
Both winner and runner-up teams SLLA Architects and Arenas Basabe Palacios arquitectos participated in an international cooperative planning process. A team of landscape planners, traffic planners, local architects, developers and representatives of public administration of the city of Vienna developed an urban masterplan as a basis for the building regulation planning.
The result of this common process is a diverse, complex fabric, open to different scales of investment. In a gradation of density from its edge with Siemens industrial area, buildings decrease from big scale to the small scale of single-family dwellings. Buildings of multiple sizes (XL, L, M, S) are arranged on each side of a large linear park with a pedestrian accesses network, freeing the new neighbourhood from the presence of the car. Once the master plan is completed, the process continues with the detailed description for the qualities of free spaces, alternative mobility and mix of uses, as well as the definition of architectural projects. The new district will include a shopping area, a daycare centre, a nursery, playgrounds, sport field…
The urban masterplan is completed and approved in 2016, followed by the elaboration of the final building regulation planning document.

2017-2021
Once the masterplan approved by the Viennese city hall, the landowner Wohnbau commissioned the winning team with the design of 90 housing units in 4 plots, as well as equipments, a car park and the landscaping. In total, this involved a floor area of approximately 12,000 m², with a budget of €11.9 million. The project was developed in collaboration with a locally based partner (Projektbau Planung Projektmanagement Bauleitung GesmbH).
The urban approach developed at the competition stage has been preserved, including the central dimension of the park. The shared spaces, common to the 4 buildings, are fully part of the project: common laundry room, children's playroom, kitchenette, bicycle and pram rooms.
As for the outdoor spaces, the programme is as rich and varied: entrance areas associated with soft mobility, shared building courtyards, planted areas extending the central park, fruit garden, children's play area, shared terrace with pergola.
The project was delivered in 2021, signifying the completion of the project-process for the Cluster / Streetscape project team.