Design Studio Rehabilitated Giant

Developing concepts for the rehabilitation of a large-scale structure

Production at the former Opel plant in Vienna Aspern was discontinued in July 2024. What was once the largest production hall in Europe is now vacant. What could the future of production at the site look like? What potential for subsequent use do existing structures such as the gigantic open space of the production hall (around 860m long, up to 200m wide), including the existing technical infrastructure, but also the green structures around the plant, have? How can elements of the existing building with high potential for conversion be preserved and reactivated/rehabilitated through interim and pioneering uses?

What contribution to a successful reactivation could be made by specialized university facilities at the site? What services and infrastructure would be needed in the future to make the area attractive for students? The design participants are invited to reflect on their own role in the future scenario they have developed. They themselves are potential actors in the reactivated zone.

Back on the map

Furthermore, it will be discussed how an accessible urban space can be created instead of a previously isolated island (industrial zone). Which publicly effective programs (education, culture, leisure) should be integrated into an overall concept alongside innovative forms of production and research? How could the area become a hotspot not only for various actors and initiatives in the neighborhood, but also for interested Viennese in general?

The relationship between control and laissez-faire

Which specifications should planning ensure and which potential spaces should be kept open for future appropriation and the unforeseeable? What must be secured top-down (in terms of planning and organization) and which processes can only be initiated by the city residents themselves? New models of collective forms of urban development will be used as a reference (see for example: The House of Statistics, Berlin, https://hausderstatistik.org/, RDM Terrain Rotterdam, NDSM Terrain Amsterdam, Nordbahnhalle Vienna, Innovation Park Zurich....

The rehabilitated factory site and its urban surroundings

Particular attention will be paid to the interaction between the rehabilitated/reactivated large-scale structure and its urban environment. The factory site occupies a key zone between Seestadt Aspern in the north and an increasingly urbanized north-eastern axis of Donaustadt - which stretches from Erzherzog-Karl-Straße to its extension Groß-Enzersdorfer Straße and Eßlinger Hauptstraße. What role could the site play at this important intersection and potential hub?

The regional context is also striking: the site is located on the eastern outskirts of Vienna, a key area of Vienna's urban development (Seestadt Aspern, development zones on Hausfeld, Berresgasse, Breitenlee, etc.), which is characterized by various large-scale structures on both sides of the city boundary. The foothills of the productive landscape of the Marchfeld (the most important vegetable-growing region in Lower Austria) extend right up to the edges of the Danube city settlement structures. The extensive protected area of the Lobau - a remnant of fluvial landscape (before regulation) and part of the Danube Floodplain National Park, which stretches from Vienna to Bratislava - dominates the southeast of the area. How can productive green spaces and forms of urban agriculture and the productive city in the broadest sense (industry, commerce, innovation) be considered together in the future? What role can a rehabilitated factory site play as part of an overarching future ecosystem?