Mautner - Markhof Gründe

“With us you get more than just an apartment.” - This is the central message of the large community-oriented housing project in central Vienna.

Mautner-Markhof Gründe is a neighborhood of 90 residential units in two distinct buildings, built in accordance with the high environmental standards of the Passive House practice, including 74 subsidized rental apartments as well as Senior housing units.

The project aspires to foster a diverse community of different age groups and multicultural backgrounds living harmoniously together. Fundamental to the design, is the promotion of a community-based way of living and tolerance of other lifestyles and social values. Working with a sociologist to conduct an in-depth study of cultural demographics and different lifestyles, we designed a variety of configurable floor plan types from which residents can choose and freely adapt according to the individual’s desired specifications. A flexible structural framework and the resident’s participation ensures sustainability throughout the building’s tenant life-cycle.

Wrapping the building are continuous bands of loggias and projecting balconies, which expand unit living rooms and serve to underscore each building’s character as a kind of open pavilion. The two apartment buildings each have spacious ground floors with communal areas that extend to the playful outdoor landscape, all of which reinforces the neighborhood appeal. In addition, each building is crowned with a green roof – accessible by all the residents – complete with terraces, planting beds and communal winter gardens. Strengthening the distinct character of each building are the contemporary paintings by artist Herbert Pasiecznyk that fill the bright stairwells.