Hermeswiese, Vienna: an example of mixed social housing

 

The edge of Hermeswiese II consists of a long row of short terraces along a village green-like public garden. These houses mark the edge of the estate to neighbouring Speising, a former village now absorbed into the Viennese Metropolitan Area.The houses are rather simple with rendered facades in ochre tones with red clay tiles on the roofs.

The formal entrance to the northern section is formed by this gatehouse crowned with a clock tower. The housing behind is arranged in staggered rows of terraces.

The second street of the northern section also has a formalised entrance here as a gate with posts. At the entrance a text in metal letters on the side facade commemorates the Building Society responsible for this housing project.

The houses were built by the participants in the Building Society (as such it is a Building Cooperative). They are thus rather simple in construction and decor. Brick surrounds emphasise the entrances. In other places the entrances are combined and placed under a low roof in a porch. The use of simple colour blocking to create visual interest can also clearly be seen.

To make the long streets of the northern section more interesting an Unwinesque device is employed in the design. Some sections of the housing is set back from the street creating spatial division an framing of the view along the street. The front gardens are often merely a narrow strip bordered by a privet hedge.

The main entrance to the municipal section leads via this double gateway (left) through the long wall along the Speisinger Strasse. Here the architect used white render with brick detailing on corners. The whole is a sculptural predecessor of the much larger Karl-Marx-Hof. A similar but smaller gate connects the two sections of this housing estate. A simple arch in soft yellow shows some of the ochre housing behind. The building again features brick accents, mainly on the corners.

These more ornate terraces can be found in the municipal section (Hermeswiese I). Here the lengthy row of housing is broken up visually by the use of flat protruding turrets, triangular gable ends and a pergola on concrete pillars.

Two details of the front with these sensuously curved balconies which create shadows that add to the sculptural quality of this apartment building.

A cul-de-sac in the municipal section with simple housing, partly built by participants of the collective.

Around the small square behind the formal wall most of the housing is an extension of the white render and brick combination at the front. The blocks are again sculptural, but seek to form a bridge between the higher wall and the standard terraced housing. A small gateway connects the square to one of the cul-de-sacs.

A view across the small square, the first of a sequence, loosely based on the ideas of Camillo Sitte. Here the white render dominates, with on the one hand flat roofs and cubist shapes, and on the other a more vernacular idiom again with brick details.