Workshop 9: Open space – living space
Tuesday, 11 May 2010, 09.00-17.30
Tech Gate Vienna, Donau City Straße, 1A, 1220 Vienna

The workshop theme
The quality of the residential environment - air, noise, nature - is one of the most important criteria when assessing housing contentment. Green spaces in the vicinity of the dwelling and a high recreational value of the environment are of particular significance. A high-quality design of the open space has thus become an important locational factor. When speaking of urban, multi-storey housing, the quality of open space has several dimensions: Different needs and demands have to be met, various options of use need to be combined.

A number of recent studies showed examples of successful open space design in housing - from Vienna and other cities - discussing the following questions:

• How can the design of open space allow for private and public use and balance respective requirements?
• How can open space be designed as a place for communication and social negotiations?
• How can open space through its aesthetics contribute to the identification with a housing estate?
• How can open space link housing estates to the surrounding district - thus contributing to the urban development of the city?

Apart from the presentation of projects funded by the Vienna Housing Research Programme and of an evaluation commissioned by wohnfonds_wien, the workshop offered a guest lecture by the Swiss landscape architect Patrick Altermatt, who was responsible for the design of Rudolf-Bednar-Park in Vienna.

The workshop was followed by parallel study tours presenting examples of high-quality design of open space in Viennese housing projects. (For organizational reasons the number of participants was limited!)

Programme
Tuesday, 11 May 2010

09.00 Opening and introduction
Michael Ludwig, Vienna City Councillor for Housing and Regeneration

Moderation
Wolfgang Förster, City of Vienna, MA 50, Division for Housing Research and international Relations

09.15 Presentations
Guest lecture: Open spaces - living spaces. Design of open space as a contribution to urban development
Patrick Altermatt, Hager Landschaftsarchitektur AG, Zurich

Open spaces in housing estates - best practice
Gisa Ruland, Technisches Büro für Landschafts- und Freiraumplanung, Vienna

10.45 Coffee Break

11.15 Presentations
Diversity in housing and in semi-public space
Ramesh Kumar Biswas, Atelier Biswas Vienna/Berlin/Kuala Lumpur

Evaluation of open space design in social housing in Vienna
Thomas Knoll, Knoll Planung & Beratung ZT GmbH, Vienna

Outlook on further projects on the topic
Wolfgang Förster, City of Vienna, MA 50, Division for Housing Research and international Relations

Introduction to the objects to be presented at the study tours
Thomas Knoll, Knoll Planung & Beratung ZT GmbH, Vienna

13.00 Lunch Break

14.00 Study Tour (limited number of participants)
Parallel study tours to examples of high-quality design of open space in Viennese housing projects: Housing projects Neues Leben - 10., Knöllgassse 49 - 51 / Aphrodite - 16., Baldiagasse 3-5 / ÖSW, Sozialbau, Bauhilfe - 3., Karree St. Marx / Heimbau - 22., Pichlgasse
and 2., Rudolf-Bednar-Park

17.30 End of the Housing Research Day