media.tower
The Media Tower is situated in the immediate vicinity of Vienna’s city centre at the bank of the ‘Danube Canal’ (Donaukanal) in Vienna’s second district (1020, corner of Taborstraße 1-3 / Obere Donaustraße). The Media Tower project paid attention to considerations of urban space development, the specific integration into the existing environment and the creation of a distinct urban atmosphere both facing the streets and inside the courtyard.
The thorough examination and consideration of the urban structure and shape as well as the integration of the neighbouring buildings led to the concept of moving the street frontage of the high-rise building back to create a public square in front of the building. The first building of the complex at the beginning of the street (Taborstraße) continues the structure of the previously existing buildings both with the height of its cornice and the material and building structure. The architectural concept produces dialectics on two levels: on the one hand, there are the 5-storey objects following the old building structure, and, on the other hand, there are the high-rise buildings.
You can see the interesting architectural design from Vienna’s first district looking in the direction of Taborstraße via the Schwedenbrücke bridge, upstream and downstream from the banks of the Danube Canal, and looking back from Taborstraße towards the first district. The aim was to create a clear presence in the cityscape. The material used for the construction of the building complex accentuates the arrangement of the various building elements:
• The 15-storey main building forms a longitudinal element almost parallel to the street (Taborstraße) with its front facing towards the Danube Canal and a metal-glass-façade with protruding horizontal metal elements.
• The 5-storey building at the foot of the tower with an integrated stele at the forecourt facing Taborstraße appeals through its storey-high structural-glazing façade. The stele is a shaft cladded with Verde-Andeer-natural stone.
• The stony first element of the building complex in Taborstraße,which joins the neighbouring buildings, is a 6-storey building with punctuated façade and balsaltino natural stone cladding.
• The oblique tower with its structural glazing facade resembles a glass prism partly abutting the forecourt, partly sitting on the stone block.
Source: Generali-Folder, Picture: Generali-Folder
Hans Hollein
*1934, course of studies under Clemens Holzmeister at the Vienna Academy of fine Arts (Akademie der bildenden Künste), since 1964 own office in Vienna; active as architect on an international level, town planner, designer, teacher, independent artist, curator of exhibitions; ordinary professor of architecture at the Vienna University of Applied Arts.
Hans Hollein has been awarded numerous prizes and honours. Among others his works as architect and artist are represented in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Centre Pompidou, Paris; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; as well as in the collection of graphic art of the Albertina, Vienna.
His architectural works include public buildings like the Municipal Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach; the Museum of Glass and Ceramics, Teheran; the Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt; the Museum of Lower Austria and the Exhibition Hall St. Pölten; “Vulcania”, a museum devoted to volcanism in the French Auvergne; The new entrance area of the Albertina in Vienna and the Saturn Tower in Vienna’s Donaucity.
