Messecarre Süd

The site is located south of the Vienna Trade Fair grounds adjacent to the Prater recreational area. The design proposes an active university complex to complement the lively public space, which Vienna successfully adopted as its developmental concept by locating its Economic University (WU) at the site.

The design mediates between the solidity of the site’s northern edge and the looser condition of its southern boundary. Building volumes reflect the linearity of the northern edge, but the masses break apart towards the south, where the new buildings blend into the green openness of the Prater. As a result, the design’s green spaces flow between the buildings, creating a variety of intensities and transitions between public and private zones. A set of solitary buildings further enhances the paradoxically controlled looseness of the urban space.