Zaha Hadid House

Zaha Hadid House (July 2008)

Zaha Hadid House from Spittelauer Lände (July 2007)

Zaha Hadid House from the South (May 2008)

Zaha Hadid House from Brigittenau (July 2015)

The Zaha Hadid House , also known as the Zaha Hadid Building , is a three-part residential complex designed by the architect Zaha Hadid (1950–2016) at Spittelauer Lände 10 in the 9th district of Alsergrund in Vienna . Otto Wagner's listed urban railway architecture , most recently part of the Vienna subway , is no longer used for rail traffic, so that commercial use (two café-restaurants and four shops) is planned on the ground floor or in the overbuilt urban railway arches .

expectations

The residential building was called Zaha-Hadid-Haus or Zaha-Hadid-Bau by the media for lack of an official name. The responsible politicians had linked this with the hope of making the Danube Canal area more attractive in this section. A new "scene" should develop here by creating living space and bars near the business university .

history

During the preparation of the "core project Danube Canal" to reshape and attractiveness of the Danube canal bank was among others Zaha Hadid of Hannes Swoboda (then Executive City Councilor) and Michael Häupl (then Environment Councilor, later mayor of Vienna ) invited to participate. She was supposed to develop a project for the Spittelauer Lände area.

The Stadterneuerungs- und Eigenwohnungs Ges.mbH SEG acted as the developer and worked with the architect to concretize the project, which she presented in an exhibition in the Insam Gallery until January 1995.

At that time, the project envisaged five structures. These had the shape of tilted and twisted ribbons that stretched over the listed route of the light rail between the bank of the Danube Canal and the Spittelauer Lände. The new building was to be used primarily for apartments, while the light rail arches were to be reserved for shops and bars.

In 1996 a new zoning and development plan was adopted for the area south of the Spittelau waste incineration plant . Three buildings with 15 condominiums - partly subsidized - and 18 subsidized rental apartments were planned over the route of the U4 and the connecting arch that previously connected the Friedensbrücke and Nussdorfer Straße stations, with shops, studios, restaurants, offices and 25 apartments.

Construction work began in March 2004 and was completed in 2005. The construction costs amounted to almost 10 million euros; The City of Vienna contributed € 2 million. But despite the architect's big name, the building was not a success. The tenants soon moved out and there were no operators for the business premises. The fact that the SEG went bankrupt in 2006 made marketing even more difficult. The last lease expired on October 31, 2007.

The SEG's trustee first tried to sell the house. In March 2008, the idea of moving the emergency shelter for the homeless at Alsergrund Vinzibett , founded by Pastor Wolfgang Pucher , to the Zaha-Hadid-Bau came up because it had to leave its previous location.

The building was designed primarily for tenants who were financially strong and who only needed the partially furnished apartments for a relatively short time, as only leases with a term of six months to two years were planned.

The location on the Danube Canal and close to the University of Economics and Business originally seemed promising, despite the immediate vicinity of the waste incineration plant and the Spittelauer Lände, one of Vienna's main roads leading past the house. But the city implemented a change in the original planning, the condominiums in previously five buildings should now be temporary rental apartments in three buildings. Finally, the SEG rededicated the facility for students and worked with international student associations for the purpose of temporary letting, so that all apartments could be rented in December 2008. Hadid criticized the changes (downsizing the windows, building supports, PVC floors) and distanced himself from the result. MAK Director Peter Noever complained that Hadid's planning had been “watered down”.

June 2018 the house is owned by the construction company SEG, which has its headquarters there. However, he has been orphaned since an inheritance litigation in 2015. Most of the tenants have moved out, and there are complaints about a lack of local supplies. In the lowest area, walls and windows have graffiti. According to orf.at , the house became a "haunted house".

In 2020 - again under a new owner, Martin Mayrhofer - there will be another attempt at revitalization. In the course of this, the house, which has been defaced by illegal graffiti, is covered with large-scale graffiti art and a protective layer to make it easier to remove illegal graffiti. Mayrhofer is planning a new hotspot for "co-living" - for students and tourists. The previously vacant 700 m² commercial and office space should now also be successfully let.