Gasometer

About

Since the end of the 1990s, four teams of star architects have been working on converting four 112-year-old gasometers into a new urban complex. Vienna undertook a remodelling and revitalization of the protected monuments and in 1995 called for ideas for the new use of the structures. The chosen designs by the architects Jean Nouvel (Gasometer A), Coop Himmelblau (Gasometer B), Manfred Wehdorn (Gasometer C) and Wilhelm Holzbauer (Gasometer D) were completed between 1999 and 2001. Each gasometer was divided into several zones for living (apartments in the top), working (offices in the middle floors) and entertainment and shopping (shopping malls in the ground floors). The shopping mall levels in each gasometer are connected to the others by skybridges. The historic exterior wall of bricks was conserved. There are 615 modern appartements, an event hall holding 3.500 People, a cinemacenter, a shoppingmall, a student home, the viennas municipal archive, offices of telecommunication companies, a kindergarden, schools, medical and other facilities in the four gasometers. Visitors and experts can learn everything they always wanted to know about the new architecture of the gasometers, the history of the gas works and alternate uses (from location for James Bond movies to Gazometer rave events) at a guided tour.

At a glance

• Typical visit: about 1 hour 30 minutes