Colours of Affordable Housing

Speaking on social and affordable housing, most often we imagine nondescript single-type high-rise buildings, which are not too much to look at. Two skyscrapers built for the social purpose last year in Vienna are the exception to the general rule. Due to the non-standard design solutions, they claim to be the new attraction of this centuries-old European city.

In 2015 was completed and handed over to the new owners a new city development comprising residential buildings and a shopping centre. Two neighbouring residential high rises, the Citygate and Leopold Towers act as landmarks of this new development in Vienna’s 21st district. These were the first high-rise buildings, designed by the renowned architectural studio querkraft, and this new to the Austrian architects’ experience has appeared rather successful and very interesting.

Due to the guidelines for affordable housing, a very tight budget in which to operate was specified. Correspondingly, the design concept had to be efficiently and economically planned and implemented. The client was satisfied with the redrafting and organization of standard solutions, such as the aluminium slatted fence, which is a standard element.

The two towers stand out through their unusual and lively façades. Widenings in the balconies that wrap around the building are slightly shifted from floor to floor creating a continuous fluid movement. This playful form creates an image that is easily recognizable from a distance. The main character of the building’s façade featured by the balconies that wrap around the building. The balcony widens and the height of the railing is increased in a wavy manner once for every apartment.

This movement is repeated with a slight shift from floor to floor creating flow lines that slowly twist, meet or diverge. The fence elements vary in terms of height and distance from each other, resulting in a “poetic” image. The glazing in the inner side of the loggias has lower and wider window sills than normal, so they become an informal sitting.

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Materials provided by querkraft architects