Horizontal Typologies

Planning Date: 2007/2008
Exhibition: Architektur Zentrum Wien, 2009

Architektur: Mina Yaney
Tragwerksplanung: Georg Ebner

Implanting Architecture

The bridge over the Handelskai is part of an urban development project to create a barrier-free connection between the Danube river promenade and the Ferry Dusika Stadium park. The central principle of the design is the conception of the bridge as a topographical implant within the urban fabric. The support points (funnels) are defined as interfaces with the existing urban fabric that constitute  space, form, function, and construction. Each supporting element is therefore not only a structural element but also functionally and programmatically integrated into the overall design.

Hence, the bridge is conceptualized as a  multiple structure which gradually grows out of the city and is implanted as a topographical body in the urban substance, simultaneously leading a dialogue with the city. The design merges landscape, infrastructure and architecture into one cohesive, horizontal building in which ground fades into figure and figure fades into ground.

The structure creates within itself a new space and in dialogue with the city, in the points where the structure touches the city, it creates new functional spaces and zones. These interfaces with the city are not only the points where spaces, circulation and zones occur, but these are synchronistically the points where the bases are defined and the emerging forces flow in while establishing the statical stability of the bridge.

Consequently form, function and construction are composed as one structural unity. The result of this process led to the creation of 8 different, handicapped accessible, zones which are not separated from each other but rather fading into each other. The resulting zones should lead to an multifaceted and alive identity of the place while transforming the ‘Handelskai’ socioeconomically into an active living area.