Gasometer City, Vienna, Austria

Gasometer City, Vienna, Austria

.	Notable Features	.	References	.
.	Basic Information	.	Jean Nouvel Gasometer	.
.	History of the Building	.	Coop Himmelb(I)au Gasometer	.
.	Description of the Building	.	Manfred Wehdorn Gasometer	.
.	Overview of the new Building	.	Wilhelm Holzbauer Gasometer	.
.	.	.	.	.

Notable Features
.
	Reuse of the external facades of the existing buildings, avoiding total demolition of the building and minimizing the generation of demolition waste.
	Rehabilitation of industrial architecture symbols, and therefore revitalization of an old industrial zone.
.

.
Basic Information
.
	Location: Simmering industrial zone, Vienna, Austria.
	Architects: Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Manfred Wedhorn, Wilhelm Holzbauer
	MEP Engineers: SEG-Stadterneuerungs-und, EigentumswohnungsgesmbH, Doka Industrie GmbH
	Contract Budget: 150 million Euros
	Date of original building construction: 1896/ 1899
	Date of conversion competition: 1995
	Project and construction date: 1999/2001
	Uses and floor areas by gasometer:
	Jean Nouvel: Commercial space (7500m²), office space (5400m²), and apartments (128 units).
	Coop Himmelb(I)au: Underground auditorium (3000 seats), commercial space (4680m²), and apartments (254 units, plus 76 students residences).
	Manfred Wedhorn: Commercial space (4700m²), office space (5400m²), and apartments (92 units).
	Wilhelm Holzbauer: Office space (15500m²) and apartments (141 units).
	Total floor areas:
	- Commercial space: 16,880m²
	- Office space: 26,000m²
	- Apartment: 615 units and 76 student residences
	- Underground auditorium: 3000 seats
.

.
History of the Building
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In 1892, an international competition was announced for new city gasworks in Vienna. An engineer from Berlin (Germany) called Schimming won the competition, and in 1896 Theodor Herrmann, a technical consultant in gas engineering was appointed. The construction started on 27^th October 1896. The city engineer’s department along with Franz Kapaun undertook management of the construction. The construction of the four gasometers was accomplished by July 17^th 1899, and opened on 31st October 1899. When they were built, the gasometers were the largest in Europe. They remained in service until 1986. In 1981, they had been listed by the country’s heritage ministry as outstanding examples of industrial architecture.
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Description of the Building
..
The four gasometers are identically constructed in bricks and stand as row pairs. There are cylindrical constructions with an external diameter of 64.9 m. Above a 1.7 m deep foundation of concrete, sits a 12m high ring of brickwork with an internal diameter of 62.8m, which forms the walls to the water tank. This wall is 5.4m wide at the base and 1.65m wide at the top. The dome shape roof spans 63.6m, and is comprised of an iron structure with a timber decking clad in zinc sheet.
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Overview of the new Building

This multi use project reused the external facades of the four gasometers as they are not just the symbol of Simmering, but also the whole city silhouette of Vienna. They are true monuments and landmarks in the cityscape. Therefore total demolition of the buildings was avoided and less demolition waste was generated.

The restoration work showed that the external facades were in poor conditions. The top sections of the brick piers needed to be taken down and rebuilt. Reuse of the original material from the brick piers was not possible as the mortar which had been used was harder than the bricks and therefore impossible to be removed without damaging the bricks. Each gasometer approximately needed one thousand replacement bricks.

Four architects won the competition in 1995, Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Manfred Wehdorn and Wilhelm Holzbauer, with a different interpretation of each gasometer. Jean Nouvel has created a large indoor plaza with a translucent roof playing with reflections, refractions and transparencies of the old and the new. Coop Himmelb(l)au added a new 22 storeys building to the existing one. Manfred Wehdorn created an indoor garden and an eco-friendly designed terraced structure. Wilhelm Holzbauer occupied the center of the existing building with lift and stairs, from which three compact sections were divided by indoor gardens penetrating the perimeter of the existing building.

The concept of mixed-use building creates a 24 hours occupancy and activity in the gasometers with inhabitants working, living, and entertaining.

References

	Abitare No. 413, Gasometers with view, Fulvio Irace and Flavia Foradini, p.139-149, January 2002.
	The gasometers in Vienna Simmering, Wolfgang Bacher: http://xarch.tu-graz.ac.at/proj/ bragraluwi/96/summ.html

Jean Nouvel Gasometer

Coop Himmelb(I)au Gasometer

Manfred Wehdorn Gasometer

Wilhelm Holzbauer Gasometer


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