Volantem Civitatem

How will we live in the future? Given the fact that urbanization is increasing, the question arises: Can we continue as we did before? Can we continue to seal our cities, build up the last open spaces, but at the same time require increasingly longer commutes due to urban expansion and urban sprawl? Can we further expand the infrastructure for motorized individual transport in cities and thus increasingly urge actual city residents to move to the margins? With these considerations, a proposal is to be drawn up for the Danube Field, one of the largest urban development areas in Vienna.

Volantem Civitatem questions existing paradigms and tries to rethink the city. Problems should be eliminated and potential should be used. Our cities are characterized by horizontal layering. A wide variety of functions take place in parallel on a two-dimensional level. However, many of these processes hinder each other. Overlaps and resulting conflicts of use occur. Consequently, space is taken away from these functions. Volantem Civitatem structures this horizontal layering of city functions vertically, which leads to a functional separation of the areas at different heights. During this restructuring, a spatial structure emerges from a two-dimensional arrangement. Motorized traffic is handled underground, which means that traffic flows can run without interruption. Above this there is a continuous landscape level that is protected from noise by the underground traffic and is primarily intended for pedestrians and cyclists. Building structures are raised from the zero level by structural supports. Only the support points are on the landscape level. In addition to private residential use, the detached buildings also have other functions such as commercial, office or communal areas. This zoning avoids overlaps and the different functions no longer interfere with each other. In addition to high urban housing density and at the same time the smallest possible built-up area, the use of the roof areas as additional public and semi-public areas creates significantly more open space than was originally available.