This episode is dedicated to a defining element of Vienna’s cityscape – the Viennese Gründerzeit building. Together with Thomas Sommerauer, who is writing a dissertation at the Research Unit of Building Construction and Design on the Viennese Gründerzeit rental apartment building (Zinshaus), we explore the distinctive features of this building type and its significance in both the historic and the contemporary city.

We take a closer look at what characterizes a Gründerzeit building and how its use has changed over the decades. We also discuss current questions of building within the existing fabric: What challenges and opportunities do these buildings present in times of ecological transformation? And what can be learned from the Gründerzeit period for today’s demands on architecture and urban planning? This episode offers insights into the importance of a building typology that continues to shape Vienna’s cityscape and raises many questions for the future.

Curator: Thomas Sommerauer (Building Construction and Design, TU Wien)
Guests of the discussion: Andreas Nierhaus (Wien Museum), Claudia Cavaller (practicing architect in Vienna), Peter Bauer (Professorship of Structural Design, TU Wien)

Curator: Thomas Sommerauer (Building Construction and Design, TU Wien)

Guests:
Andreas Nierhaus (Wien Museum)
Claudia Cavaller (architect)
Peter Bauer (Professorship of Structural Design, TU Wien)

Andreas Nierhaus is an art historian and curator for architecture and sculpture at the Wien Museum, and a Privatdozent at the University of Vienna. His research focuses on architecture and fine arts since the 19th century, media of architecture, Otto Wagner and his school. He has authored numerous publications and curated exhibitions, including on the Vienna Ringstrasse (2015), Otto Wagner (2018), the Bauhaus in Vienna (2022), and Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (2023). His most recent book publication is “The Viennese Zinshaus. Building for the Metropolis” (together with Marion Krammer and Margarethe Szeless), Vienna–Salzburg 2023.

Claudia Cavaller studied architecture under Hans Hollein and Greg Lynn. After working in various architectural offices, including the next ENTERprise, she has been self-employed since 2010. In her work, she engages with the inconspicuous, the accidental, and the familiar in architecture, with the relationship between tradition and invention, and with the influence that architectural production methods have on the final result. Most of her projects are developed in close collaboration with Lukas Lederer and Christian Mörtl. In December 2024, an exhibition on Dagobert Peche and ornament, which she designed and co-curated with Anne-Kathrin Rossberg, will open at the MAK.

Peter Bauer is a civil engineer and has been Professor of Structural Design at the Institute of Structural Engineering and Timber Engineering at TU Wien since 2018. He is co-founder of Werkraum Ingenieure ZT-GmbH, which since 1998 has received first prizes in numerous competitions as structural engineers, including for IKEA Westbahnhof and the Austrian Pavilion for Expo 2020 in Dubai (both with querkraft architekten). The KTM Motohall (with Hofbauer Liebmann Wimmesberger Architekten and X Architekten) received the European Steel Design Award in 2021, and VinziDorf Wien (architects gaupenraub +/-) was awarded wienwood 2021. From 2014 to 2018, Peter Bauer served as President of the Chamber of Architects and Chartered Engineering Consultants for Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland; since 2018 he has been Deputy Chair of the Chartered Engineering Consultants and is currently a member of the Executive Board as Vice President.

Thomas Sommerauer completed his architecture studies at the Technical University of Vienna in 2019 with distinction. Among others, he worked for Anna Wickenhauser in Vienna and for Pezo von Ellrichshausen in Concepción, Chile. Since 2022, he has been part of the Research Unit of Building Construction and Design. In his dissertation, supervised by Astrid Staufer and Lorenzo De Chiffre, he researches the constructive concepts and hybrid tectonics of Viennese Gründerzeit buildings. He works as a freelance architect.

Photo: Thomas Sommerauer

Podcast information
The podcast ZUKUNFT STADT is a project of the Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning at TU Wien. It is produced in cooperation between future.lab and the Research Unit of Local Spatial Planning at TU Wien.

Concept and production, audio and editing: Lukas Bast, Lena Hohenkamp, Lisa-Marie Kramer and Madlyn Miessgang
Intro music: Jakob Kotal