Garden estate Lobau, Vienna (AT)
New building,
Subsidised housing ,
Timber construction
Client: Österreichisches Siedlungswerk
Location: A-1220 Vienna, Lobaugasse 52
Architecture: Dietrich Untertrifaller
Competition: 2006, 1. prize
Construction: 2008 – 2009
Area: 9,510 m²
Programme: 88 residential units on two fields
Photos: Dietrich Untertrifaller, Bruno Klomfar
Team
Christian Feldkircher, Ena Lloret Kristensen, Dominik Philipp (Project management), Annika Raugust, Jana Sack, Thomas Weber
Text: Gerlinde Jüttner
Partners
Statics: Vasko+Partner, Vienna
Building services: Vasko+Partner, Vienna
Landscape: Land in Sicht, Vienna
Living in the garden
In the south of the old village of Aspern, not far from the Lobau nature reserve, we have built an area as an allotment garden estate. According to a system of regulated irregularity, 88 units are arranged on two fields of eleven rows of four houses each. The south-west-facing houses consist of prefabricated timber elements. Different building positions and the differentiated façade design create a very heterogeneous, multi-layered overall appearance.
An alleyway, almost as wide as a row, divides the estate into a western and an eastern half. It serves as a communal and meeting zone as well as a play area and public passageway. Parallel paths run across it, providing access to the individual houses, with small, square-like extensions providing spatial variety.

Four variants of the basic type
There are four different variants of the rectangular basic type based on their position on the plot and the direction of access. They can be further differentiated in the organisation of the ground and upper floors, the number and position of the windows, the choice of façade material and the optional basement. The living space is usually four steps lower and forms a "living pit". The façade is either made entirely of larch wood or only on the upper floors.
The logic of the geometrically repetitive arrangement on the plot offers privacy on the one hand, while on the other hand the garden seating areas are set back from those of the neighbours, so that the potential for disturbance is low.

Legendary settlers’ movement
The Viennese settlers’ movement of the 1920s is legendary. Self-initiative, self-construction and self-determination characterised this unofficial alternative to the large housing estates. A further boost came in the 1950s north of the Danube. There, these heavily greened areas pleasantly loosen up the now much more densely built-up urban development areas.

One of the best-known examples is the Vienna Werkbund Estate, which was designed by numerous renowned architects such as Adolf Loos, Josef Frank, Josef Hoffmann, Hugo Häring and Margarete Lihotzky. (Photo: Wienmuseum)

