Parlour of Inclusion

Three houses, one mission: Between the Fasanviertel and St. Marx districts, embedded in a two-hectare park, a new car-free urban quarter will emerge in the coming years. On one of the building plots we are designing three interconnected houses, which offer ample space for participation and community. One building, which responds the diverse needs of the residents in terms of living, sleeping, and working, and leaves no one behind.

The centrepiece and shared entrance area to the three buildings is the parlour in the middle building B. This foyer is a place of encounters between the residents and tradespeople, where one can wander up the open winding staircase in the inner courtyard and exchange with others. Anything but a dark stairway, the parlour is a place of community, a collective living room with a study area, library, and playroom. “Living in the city centre should not be an exclusive privilege for the wealthy; it must be accessible to all urban inhabitants. The parlour of inclusion invites its inhabitants to take part in the cultivation of a vibrant living community, where refugees will find their place, too,” says Robert Korab, who collaborated on the concept with his planning and development office raum & kommunikation. 

»The city needs a human scale – something that consists of smaller parts and corresponds with the people’s rhythm.«

Harald Höller, Franz&Sue partner

»The project forms an innovative cornerstone, whose diverse range of homes and services as well as the future users will have a strong impact in the neighbourhood.«

Excerpt from the jury protocol

Free space

Diversity also prevails in the storeys up above. Small to mid-size apartments provide adaptable living space solutions with floorplans that match the needs of lower income and single-parent families. The absence of corridors creates generous living areas in the smaller units, too; niches and mobile partitions, such as curtains, ensure maximum flexibility – for instance, when a grandparent stays overnight, or home office is on the agenda. Units extending from front to back open up to private free spaces like loggias and verandas or dock onto a village street of sorts – a place for exchange that neutralises the anonymity of the metropolis. Communal kitchens, joker rooms for making music or handcrafts, and a children’s playroom consolidate the community feeling even more, while expanding one’s own living area.

»Some of the different apartment typologies are quite extraordinary and promise to stimulate new forms of living together.«

Excerpt from the jury protocol

Green, green, green is the colour of my roofs

The small-scale diversification articulated on the ground and upper standard floors has free reign on the roofs of the three buildings as well. A community garden with spaces for urban gardening ensures a sense of community, a city wilderness for cooling, and the photovoltaic system with a green space for energy. The added façade greening, building component activation, and a free cooling system round out this climate resilient package.