Lessons from ‘Red Vienna’
Vienna has had a remarkable history of building social housing since the end of WWI. In the aftermath of the end of the Austro Hungarian Empire the city of Vienna elected a Social Democratic administration that proceeded to build 64,000 social housing units during the period 1919-34 known as Red Vienna. During that period 30% of the city’s annual budget was devoted to housing, paid for by taxing the wealthy.
The architecture was traditional and the sites were urban in contrast to the model followed in cities such as Berlin and Frankfurt which built Modernist estates on the outskirts of the city. Vienna’s social housing integrated into the existing urban fabric and has been well maintained and remains a much loved part of the city’s housing stock. Projects such as Karl Ehn’s Karl Marx Hof and Schmid and Aichinger’s Fuchsenfeld epitomize the architectural traditions of the Wagner School.
Since WW2 Vienna has continued to build social housing with developments such as the Alt Erla District by Harry Gluck. More recently Vienna has continued to build social housing projects as mixed-income developments with projects such as Kabelwerk, the transformation of a former industrial site; Sonnwendviertal on the site of the former rail yards next to the new Hauptbahnhof; and Aspern Seestadt on the outskirts of the city on the site of a former military airfield.
Sixty percent of Vienna’s residents live in social housing. It is built as a public option for people of all incomes, not just the poor. It is paid for by a 1% income tax on all residents, which creates revenue to buy public land for an ongoing program of housing. The Housing Authority buys land, builds infrastructure and provides low interest loans to developers to build housing with 50% social housing provisions.
There are many valuable lessons to learn here.
Karl Marx Hof was one of the finest examples of the ‘Red Vienna’ housing policies. A 1,500 unit development arranged as a series of blocks that contained landscaped courts with bath houses, kindergartens and libraries. The centrepiece of the development was a grand public plaza opposite the nearby metro station with a series of heroically scaled portals.
Aerial view of the project showing the perimeter blocks and the landscaped courtyards and the main public plaza opposite the metro station.
Cross streets run through the project through giant archways. On either side of the street are a community building and a kindergarten.
Details of some of the main features of the project, portals and entrances.
Another project embedded in the urban fabric with street wall buildings and public courtyards.
Post war social housing with heroically scaled buildings that included rooftop swimming pools.
The Kabelwerk project transformed a former industrial site into a mixed-income development with a range of building typologies from low-rise to high-rise.
The entire project is car free, organized along a pedestrian spine that leads to a local metro station.
The project is on the brownfield site of former rail yards and is laid out to integrate into the surrounding urban context. A large central park together with a linear pedestrian street connects through to the new Hauptbahnhof.
A view of the central park looking towards the Hauptbahnhof.
The linear pedestrian street is lined with ground floor retail. 50% of the dwellings are social housing. You cannot tell the difference.
Aspern Seestadt is on the site of a former disused military airfield on the outskirts of Vienna. It is linked with an extension of the U-bahn and organized around a new lake at the centre of the site.
The first phase has a mix of housing types and contains a retail street, schools and other civic amenities.
Parking is remote, located in a structured garage next to the metro station. Residents can drive to their dwellings for deliveries but need to park remotely.
The mix of social and market rate housing is so successful that you cannot tell the difference between them.
