Articles by Bianca Valentina Roșescu

Housing in Anton-Schall-Gasse is social housing located on the edge of Vienna’s Floridsdorf district, a place where the city melts into the countryside. This project infuses affordable architecture into a dexterous, strikingly sculptural solution for an extraordinary site. To the north, the parcel faces onto the wooded pastures surrounding the Marchfeld Canal, a waterway built in the latter 20th century for agricultural irrigation. To the south lies the Ernst-Theumer-Hof – a very charming, 1980’s housing-estate with a long, green common at its center. ASG’ s two differently sized blocks form an eye-catching apex for the Theumer-Hof while they delineate a strong, stunningly articulated edge towards the park-like pastures.

As a prime example of a growing trend of urban infill and adaptive reuse projects, 150 North Third Street saves a 120-year-old warehouse structure and repurposes the building and surrounding parking lots as a mixed-use residential project. The historic, 5 story masonry and heavy timber structure was converted to apartments and expanded with a 5 story addition, configured in a “L”-shape, for a total of 79 apartments and 100,000 square feet. The addition and an amenity deck are raised above a concrete podium which provides limited on-grade parking for 27 cars. Retail space is located on the ground floor of the existing building and in a new 3,000 square foot, 1 story building on Third St.

The project is located in Villars-sur-Glâne, in Fribourg’s surroundings. The quiet area is facing the countryside. Behind the road, the field is still cultivated, and the trees are still populated with birds, which give the place a feeling of the passing of time. Moreover, the site is close to the city center. This lucky situation demands an ambitious project to build apartment buildings for rental with high-quality materials and spaces while handling the budget. Architectural quality should not be reserved for the owners of their housing.