The Blend

IBA_VIENNA — NEW SOCIAL HOUSING: International Building Exhibition: The IBA_Vienna 2022 represents the first time that an international Building Exhibition has been founded in Vienna and focuses on the task of creating groundbreaking solutions and approaches to the building challenges of our times. The topic of “New Social Housing” is at the IBA’s core. Everyday activity patterns and processes are examined to see if they are still current and accurate, or if they need to be renegotiated. Urban, housing, and socio-political policies and strategies are reconnected to create synergies. The IBA_Vienna will highlight both newly built projects and re-developed existing ones intended to contribute to the social cohesion of the city.

Still in use as a garage today, The Blend – soon to be built – will feature modern and attractive architecture. In addition to an inviting ground floor use, versatile uses are also planned for the 1st upper floor and will be specified in the course of further planning. From the 2nd floor up, you will find residential units: technically cutting edge, homey atmosphere, private outdoor spaces, and optimized floor plans. An underground car park in the basement provides much-needed parking spaces and individual storage units. t-hoch-n architecture is responsible for overall planning.

The ground floor will have a special design. Our concept — going along with Mayer Ludwig’s idea of the “super general store” — is to present and distribute select regional culinary items, coupled with regular special events such as cooking classes, tastings, and lectures held in a large events room with professional cooks from the world of fine dining. This will be a place where local products are celebrated and the neighborhood activated and enriched. To make sure that the entire neighborhood benefits from our project, the events space will be made available for external events, seminars, and celebrations. The Verein Handverlesen (Hand-picked Association) is responsible for shapeing the use of the ground floor area.

The property is currently in the process of being rezoned. The resulting zoning will form the basis for our detailed planning: “In the earliest development phases, intensive dialogue with the owners in the building was initiated and continued in an ongoing process. The constructive collaboration that has resulted springs from the fact that all owners now support the existing development proposal and see their interests in it being supported. Of course, this dialogue will be continued and further synergies sought. This healthy cooperation will also be continued throughout the construction phase and once operation begins.” (Klaus Wolfinger, Project Coordinator, The Blend)

Completion is projected for 2022.

There is probably no area currently more exciting than Favoriten, which stretches out behind the new Main Station. Nowhere in Vienna will you find more modern and exciting architecture, or more urban and population development. It is diverse and in a state of change. Modernism meets with the local color of the old worker’s quarter, Kurt Tichy’s ice cream shop, the Amalia Swimming Pool, and the Viktor Adler Market with its offshoot, the “crier’s” farmer’s market on Leibnizgasse.

At the same time, old art and cultural memorials such as Belvedere Castle and the Military History Museum can be found here. The 21er Haus exhibits modern art, and the area around the Anker Bread Factory, much deeper in Favoriten, makes another strong statement with the Ostlicht & Anzengruber Galleries and others.

And — despite being so urban and excellently connected by the traffic hub of the main railway station — there are still many wonderful green areas: the Botanical Gardens, the newly designed Helmut Zilk Park, the Schweizergarten, the Wienerberg Lakes, the Bohemian Prater, and the Löwygrube...

Favoriten polarizes... That much is clear. And for those who love it, this is the perfect place to come home to!