17.04.2013 10:40
(Akt. 17.04.2013 10:40)
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An exhibition brings New York closer, among other things, to municipal housing in Vienna
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Unusual meeting: The Viennese community housing can currently look forward to a guest performance in New York. The Austrian Cultural Forum (ACF), located near Fifth Avenue in the heart of the “Big Apple”, is showing the exhibition “The Vienna Model. Housing For The 21st Century” from Wednesday, April 17, 2013.
Karl-Marx-Hof meets Manhattan: On the basis of selected projects with a special focus on the recent past, the US audience in the exhibition in New York will be brought closer to theory and practice, political concept and architectural implementation of the subsidized housing in the federal capital.
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From Red Vienna to Aspern
The chronological range of the buildings presented ranges from the era of the “Red Vienna” from the 1920s to the current or, in some cases, not yet implemented systems – keyword Aspern. A total of almost 40 construction projects are presented under various aspects, from social mix to environmental and climate protection to the densification of historic districts and art in residential construction.
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City Councilor for Housing Michael Ludwig (S), who did not miss the opening of the exhibition on Tuesday evening in New York, was convinced in front of American and Austrian journalists, architects and urban planners that the “Vienna Model” could also serve as a model for US cities. Advertising for Vienna’s housing policy should not only bring recognition, but also impetus for Vienna’s economy – i.e. for architects, town planners or companies in the field of environmental technology. After all, they have a lot of know-how to offer, says Ludwig.
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Housing: The situation in New York
Compared to other major American cities, the public sector in New York plays a not insignificant role when it comes to the housing market. In addition to rent caps or grants for construction projects with a social component, the urban housing company NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority) manages around 176,000 apartments in which a good 400,000 people live – with a population of 8.25 million. For comparison: Almost a million people, around 60 percent of all Viennese, live in municipal housing or in subsidized apartments in the Danube metropolis.
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Co-curator William Menking, who publishes “The Architects’ Newspaper”, the largest US industry magazine, Wiener Kommunalpolitik Rosen, spreads not only this high proportion, but also the “unbelievable architectural quality” of the facilities is not comparable with US cities. Ludwig referred to the city’s long tradition of seeing the issue of living as a “public sector task” and not leaving it to the free market.
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Exhibition on the era of municipal housing
In this respect, the exhibition, which will also be on view in Boston from autumn and later in Los Angeles and San Francisco, is also dedicated to the beginning of the era of municipal housing, in which the Karl-Marx-Hof and the Reumannhof are praised, for example. These are contrasted with idiosyncratic or futuristic-looking buildings such as the Werkbundsiedlung or the residential park in Alt-Erlaa.
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In general, the consistently minimalist show – predominantly black-and-white display boards with pictures, brief descriptions and some data were mounted on scaffolding – tries to underline the visual and conceptual breadth of urban Viennese housing. A project jointly planned with the queer community in Aspern, a geriatric center inhabited by Alzheimer’s patients and low-income earners in Leopoldstadt, the former Kabelwerk factory premises or smart apartments in the Sonnwendviertel near the main train station are just a few examples that should impress the New York experts.
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Content of “The Vienna Model”
The presentation “The Vienna Model”, co-curated by Wolfgang Förster, Head of Housing Research in Vienna, is complemented by themed artistic contributions and various film clips. Incidentally, one misses informative basic, building or floor plans for the individual systems in the small-scale exhibition.
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But they should be included in the publication that will appear soon. In addition, the organizers of the exhibition made a small mistake: The “Seestadt” Aspern is illustrated here with a photo that shows a fairly densely built-up area. In fact, the former airfield is currently largely deserted, and the first apartments there should not be available until 2014.
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