The Intercity project is located at large area within the development area next to the new main railway station (Houptbahnhof) in Vienna. Because of its location, the Intercity Project will become the first contact a visitor will have with the city of Vienna. If you arrive by train and exit at the new station, the Intercity will present the first “postcard” of the new urban development of Vienna. The Intercity should show how to construct a modern, clearly positioned urban development from the start of the 21st century, which is, at the same time, in tune with quality constructed and natural structures of the city’s substance of the surrounding area. The Intercity should become in example for the environmentally designed sustainable construction of an urban district within Vienna. The Intercity should be an attractive and interesting city district with high quality living and working conditions. The Intercity should be a hybrid district, where high-profitability business facilities are in tune with the hotels of a new quality and with public inner and exterior areas with memorable ambient and experience atmosphere.
Our proposal for the design of the Intercity is based on three starting points. The proposal is to build six hexagonal buildings (baukoerper) that would be sitting on four islands (insel). Four wider and two narrower buildings would be constructed in a way that follows the construction context and at the same time they allow the best environmental conditions within the area. The four of the buildings around the central area would have business surfaces. Each typical floor of a business building can be separated into several business units. Two hotels, a three-star hotel next to the Gurle and a four-star hotel, have a narrower floor plan. The hotel rooms in different sizes are positioned around the central core. All buildings have two layers to the facade: the simple internal glass is surrounded with environmental membrane. A narrow service hall separates the glass from the membrane. The membrane is made from fixed modular elements from ceramics and their size varies according to the position on the faced. The islands mark the podium for the buildings. The size, the shape and the space between the four islands determines the character of the external space for the city level - ground level, which continues to the inwards into the islands with the help of separating arches (bogen arkaden). The south-western island, the hotels on the mezzanine and on the city level are filled with public hotel areas belonging to the high-class hotel. The south-eastern island, spaisel, is where the large urban spa is located that joins the external, transitional and inner areas and which is intended for relaxation of the body and of the mind. The bacsic concept of our proposal is Intercity as a sequence of different external and internal areas with its own specific ambient character. These areas connect the Intercity with the railway station, thorough Erste campus to Schweizer garten and through the Guertle further on to the innerstadta. The Intercity is the new destination for the people of Vienna
