Gleis 21
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
Gleis 21 is in the heart of the new quarter in Vienna: The Sonnwendviertel forms a bridge between the tenth district and the inner-city area. Visible from afar, the wooden facade already signals a contrast to the familiar urban look. The wood hybrid construction is a technical innovation with a role model. Created through participation, the residents own, operate and manage the co-housing-project collectively themselves with a great external impact.
Project Region
EU Programme or fund
Description of the project
Summary
The Gleis 21 co-housing project exhibits a high degree of technical and social sustainability. The wood hybrid construction and innovative development of the assembly method with a high degree of prefabrication reduced the construction time, the necessary truck trips as well as noise and dust.
Within the system of subsidies housing in Vienna, a participatory project was created in every phase with user planning and the involvement of the residents, which emphasizes affordability, inclusion, community and solidarity.
Collective ownership by the association prevents speculation, apartments for refugees and a solidarity fund offer concrete assistance in emergencies. Many of the public spaces and offers (from the event hall to the local music school) affect the entire quarter. With Gleis 21, a community center has actually been created for the district!
Gleis 21 is nominated for the Mies van der Rohe Award 2022.
Key objectives for sustainability
The co-housing project Gleis 21 has a high level of sustainability. The specialty is that technical sustainability and social sustainability work together and convince.
The decision in favor of the wooden construction (and not the conventional reinforced concrete) was made very consciously: The principle of participation ensures a high level of identification with the project and a high level of social commitment by involving the residents right from the planning stage. This applies to both within the group and the impact on the district.
In 2015, a founding group of 22 people started the project. Even before there were any concrete plans, the focus from the beginning was essentially on the vision to act in solidarity both internally and externally in co-housing and -living. This finds its very concrete implementation, for example in the flats for refugees.
The social perspective is reflected in the lived sustainability: Instead of individual property, the association owns and manages the housing project jointly, removing it from the market and speculation. In addition, this common aspect explains and guarantees the great focus on saving resources and monitoring of energy consumption.
The members are a motley bunch - couples, singles, parents, children, young and old, people with a migration background, people with diverse professions and skills. In everyday life, social sustainability means contact and exchange with neighbors, cooking together, and providing support in the event of illness by shopping and providing food.
Organized according to the principles of sociocracy, the people of Gleis 21 created their entire living space in a “triad”: space for individual life in private apartments, for social life in the numerous shared areas, for public life in in spaces open to the public; all of this with the aim of integrating public functions into the project.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
In an "everyday aesthetic", the project comes to life through use, through plants, etc. and only deepens through living: the building becomes a stage for everyday life.
At Gleis 21, the common rooms on the roof are in a prime location! Roof terrace, kitchen and adjoining children's play room make the rooms suitable for a variety of things, whether it's a children's birthday party, group meeting, work meeting or party. The workplace for the association, library, sauna, yoga and relaxation room are also in this attractive place.
An important aspect: It is only through the generous and diverse shared areas that it is even possible to reduce the individual space requirements so significantly.
The commercial space on the ground floor is used by an artist collective, and a café is currently being in realisation there. In the basement there is a laundry room, a workshop and a studio.
The “Klangwerk” music school located in the building also has an effect far beyond the place and plays an important role in the entire quarter, it is very well booked throughout.
With Gleis 21, a community center has actually been created for the entire district!
Key objectives for inclusion
Gleis 21 operates a solidarity fund. It is funded from preferred locations on the corners of the building by paying more for them. On the one hand, the income supports group members in the event of an emergency. On the other hand, so-called “flex apartments” are financed: young refugees live in these solidarity apartments and are supported in cooperation with the Diakonie. However, they not only have physical shelter and living space here, but above all “social shelter”. They are integrated into the house community through participation and benefit from the network in the community. The refugees are supported in finding training or a job and in attending language courses so that they can also take part in social life in Vienna.
Results in relation to category
The users were involved in Gleis 21 from urban planning to the socket outlet, from the vision workshop to the actual move-in. The group worked on it for 3.5 years, all together and in smaller working groups; the residents own, operate and manage the project themselves. They have created the entire living space in a “triad”: space for individual life in private apartments, for social life in the numerous shared areas, for public life in in spaces open to the public; all of this with the aim of integrating public functions into the project.
Living on a participatory base creates a community: decisions are made in regular meetings of the association, especially the cultural space on the ground floor provides with public events for a cultural impact far beyond the association itself.
The group is supported by the meaningful conception of the building which promotes community and creates a new feeling of togetherness.
How Citizens benefit
With Gleis 21, its events, its music school and its architectural landmark, a community center that is visible and effective for the entire district has actually emerged.
Innovative character
Gleis 21 is a pioneer project not only in technical terms of timber construction: the participation of the users thinks and supports this technology from the start, the residents know it and identify with it. Technical innovations go hand in hand with social innovations, work together and develop in cooperation.
