vineri, 19 iunie 2009
miercuri, 10 iunie 2009
New York Times article
I am adding an article from the New York Times so we can better understand the feelings of the inhabitants.
Karl Marx Hof, one of this city's largest public housing projects, embodied the hope of a better life for hundreds of thousands of workers living in squalid conditions when it opened in 1930. Situated provocatively in the city's exclusive 19th district, Karl Marx Hof's large red facade and powerful arches, not to mention its name, immediately became a symbol of the strength of the worker and the city's socialist government.
Now, 61 years later, Karl Marx Hof is impressive more for architectural than political reasons. Halfway through a three-year renovation that is expected to cost the city more than $36 million, the Expressionist structure by the Viennese architect Karl Ehn, with its Cubist forms and details that recall the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, is a landmark and a lure for tourists.
Every year the housing project still honors May 1, International Workers' Day, with parades and lots of red flags. But the spirit of Karl Marx had ebbed here even before the fall of the Communist governments in neighboring Czechoslovakia and Hungary two years ago.
Within the walls of Karl Marx Hof, the visitor finds an unsettled coexistence between the older residents, many of whom grew up here and who now make up more than 40 percent of the inhabitants, and younger newcomers, whose demands and standards of living are far above those of the prewar generation.
"Nowadays one's almost ashamed to live in Karl Marx Hof," said Franziska Treml, a pensioner who has lived in the project since her childhood and now shares an apartment with her husband, Kurt. "But in those days we were proud."
Three things made Karl Marx Hof special in the Vienna of the 1930's: each apartment had a toilet and cold running water, and the complex had balconies. Until then, public housing projects had only communal toilets and communal cold water taps. The balconies were considered an aristocratic luxury that went far beyond the needs of the workers.
Today, as when the complex opened in 1930, the new tenants are mostly young couples starting families. One out of every three Viennese now lives in public housing, and most can wait up to four years before being offered a place by the city. To qualify, residents must be Austrian citizens who have lived in Vienna at least one year and must show a need for new housing. A family of four must earn less than $35,000 a year.
For most Viennese who apply for one of the 220,000 apartments in public housing, Karl Marx Hof is not a first choice, mostly because it has fewer conveniences like built-in washing machines and showers, and because the rooms are smaller than those in the newly built public housing projects.
More than 900 of Karl Marx Hof's nearly 1,400 apartments have two rooms and a kitchen; they have an average space of 590 square feet and, if renovated, cost about $260 a month. The largest apartments are about 1,130 square feet and cost about $500 a month; the smallest are about 200 square feet and rent for $55.
"We had to do everything here ourselves," said Helmut Ipser, a young man who works for an insurance company and has two children.
"Everything" in his case meant the installation of a boiler for hot water and a shower in the small kitchen, new electrical wiring and bookshelves in the living room. With a 6-year-old and a 7-month-old having to share one bedroom of about 112 square feet, Mr. Ipser and his wife, Silvia, believe that a larger apartment would have served them better.
"I have to move everything off the counters when I make apple strudel," Silvia Isper said.
While the Tremls and the Ispers have different needs, they agree that there is a sense of community lacking among new and old residents of the project. Mrs. Treml remembers when children and parents all seemed to spend a good deal of their time in the interior courtyards.
Ehn designed the structure so that all entrances into the apartments led from the courtyards rather than from the street side of the buildings. Originally playgrounds, a school, laundries and rooms for bathing were in the courtyards; today the complex has its own kindergarten and post office as well as several food stores and doctors' offices.
"The atmosphere here is completely different now," Mrs. Treml said.
Mr. Ipser said last year he tried to organize a group of families to take part in activities together on weekends.
"Can you believe that of the 2,500 people living here, only five families expressed interest?" he said.
But the Stadlers, a young family that lives one staircase away from the Ipsers, see things differently.
"I think the community feeling here is coming back," said Silvia Stadler, 28, who grew up in the apartment she now shares with her husband and three small children.
The Stadlers' apartment, among the building's largest, is 1,130 square feet and has three bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom, which opens to the eat-in kitchen. One of the bedrooms and a hallway in their apartment used to be a separate apartment, but with the approval of the city housing authority, the wall between the two was knocked down to make one large apartment. The practice is increasingly common because tenants are unwilling to move into tiny studios.
What distinguishes Karl Marx Hof, Mr. Stadler said, is not only its location in the 19th district, a neighborhood of detached houses and a large diplomatic community, but also its history and name. The large square in the center of the low-lying building more than half a mile long is the Square of the 12th of February. It recalls the day in 1934 when forces under the far-right Christian Social Government of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss began a four-day siege, during which they fired on the building to roust entrenched Socialist paramilitary resistance groups. A plaque commemorates the event as the first confrontation between workers and fascists in Europe.
Despite its shortcomings, Karl Marx Hof does provide most of the services that are staple among the city's projects. The current renovation includes new windows, floor repairs and overall stabilization of the structure. The work, which is expected to be finished by early next year, has been noisy and inconvenient, but residents said the new exterior paint -- in the original colors of red, light blue and gold and salmon -- has taken away any doubts they had about the outcome. Mr. Treml believes that the paint alone is responsible for drawing tourists to the building.
"But we love the name," Mrs. Treml said. "That we'll never change."
Photos: When it opened in 1930 (inset), Karl Marx Hof, a Viennese public housing project, gave workers hope of a better life; each apartment had cold running water and toilets. The courtyard had playgrounds and a school.; Now the complex has a kindergarten. New tenants are still mostly young couples starting families.; Silvia Stadler, left, grew up in the apartment she shares with her husband, Michael, and children.; Franziska Treml has been a resident since childhood; she now shares an apartment with her husband, Kurt. (Photographs by Ulrich Schnarr for The New York Times; Bettmann Archive)
Karl Marx Hof, one of this city's largest public housing projects, embodied the hope of a better life for hundreds of thousands of workers living in squalid conditions when it opened in 1930. Situated provocatively in the city's exclusive 19th district, Karl Marx Hof's large red facade and powerful arches, not to mention its name, immediately became a symbol of the strength of the worker and the city's socialist government.
Now, 61 years later, Karl Marx Hof is impressive more for architectural than political reasons. Halfway through a three-year renovation that is expected to cost the city more than $36 million, the Expressionist structure by the Viennese architect Karl Ehn, with its Cubist forms and details that recall the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, is a landmark and a lure for tourists.
Every year the housing project still honors May 1, International Workers' Day, with parades and lots of red flags. But the spirit of Karl Marx had ebbed here even before the fall of the Communist governments in neighboring Czechoslovakia and Hungary two years ago.
Within the walls of Karl Marx Hof, the visitor finds an unsettled coexistence between the older residents, many of whom grew up here and who now make up more than 40 percent of the inhabitants, and younger newcomers, whose demands and standards of living are far above those of the prewar generation.
"Nowadays one's almost ashamed to live in Karl Marx Hof," said Franziska Treml, a pensioner who has lived in the project since her childhood and now shares an apartment with her husband, Kurt. "But in those days we were proud."
Three things made Karl Marx Hof special in the Vienna of the 1930's: each apartment had a toilet and cold running water, and the complex had balconies. Until then, public housing projects had only communal toilets and communal cold water taps. The balconies were considered an aristocratic luxury that went far beyond the needs of the workers.
Today, as when the complex opened in 1930, the new tenants are mostly young couples starting families. One out of every three Viennese now lives in public housing, and most can wait up to four years before being offered a place by the city. To qualify, residents must be Austrian citizens who have lived in Vienna at least one year and must show a need for new housing. A family of four must earn less than $35,000 a year.
For most Viennese who apply for one of the 220,000 apartments in public housing, Karl Marx Hof is not a first choice, mostly because it has fewer conveniences like built-in washing machines and showers, and because the rooms are smaller than those in the newly built public housing projects.
More than 900 of Karl Marx Hof's nearly 1,400 apartments have two rooms and a kitchen; they have an average space of 590 square feet and, if renovated, cost about $260 a month. The largest apartments are about 1,130 square feet and cost about $500 a month; the smallest are about 200 square feet and rent for $55.
"We had to do everything here ourselves," said Helmut Ipser, a young man who works for an insurance company and has two children.
"Everything" in his case meant the installation of a boiler for hot water and a shower in the small kitchen, new electrical wiring and bookshelves in the living room. With a 6-year-old and a 7-month-old having to share one bedroom of about 112 square feet, Mr. Ipser and his wife, Silvia, believe that a larger apartment would have served them better.
"I have to move everything off the counters when I make apple strudel," Silvia Isper said.
While the Tremls and the Ispers have different needs, they agree that there is a sense of community lacking among new and old residents of the project. Mrs. Treml remembers when children and parents all seemed to spend a good deal of their time in the interior courtyards.
Ehn designed the structure so that all entrances into the apartments led from the courtyards rather than from the street side of the buildings. Originally playgrounds, a school, laundries and rooms for bathing were in the courtyards; today the complex has its own kindergarten and post office as well as several food stores and doctors' offices.
"The atmosphere here is completely different now," Mrs. Treml said.
Mr. Ipser said last year he tried to organize a group of families to take part in activities together on weekends.
"Can you believe that of the 2,500 people living here, only five families expressed interest?" he said.
But the Stadlers, a young family that lives one staircase away from the Ipsers, see things differently.
"I think the community feeling here is coming back," said Silvia Stadler, 28, who grew up in the apartment she now shares with her husband and three small children.
The Stadlers' apartment, among the building's largest, is 1,130 square feet and has three bedrooms, a living room and a bathroom, which opens to the eat-in kitchen. One of the bedrooms and a hallway in their apartment used to be a separate apartment, but with the approval of the city housing authority, the wall between the two was knocked down to make one large apartment. The practice is increasingly common because tenants are unwilling to move into tiny studios.
What distinguishes Karl Marx Hof, Mr. Stadler said, is not only its location in the 19th district, a neighborhood of detached houses and a large diplomatic community, but also its history and name. The large square in the center of the low-lying building more than half a mile long is the Square of the 12th of February. It recalls the day in 1934 when forces under the far-right Christian Social Government of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss began a four-day siege, during which they fired on the building to roust entrenched Socialist paramilitary resistance groups. A plaque commemorates the event as the first confrontation between workers and fascists in Europe.
Despite its shortcomings, Karl Marx Hof does provide most of the services that are staple among the city's projects. The current renovation includes new windows, floor repairs and overall stabilization of the structure. The work, which is expected to be finished by early next year, has been noisy and inconvenient, but residents said the new exterior paint -- in the original colors of red, light blue and gold and salmon -- has taken away any doubts they had about the outcome. Mr. Treml believes that the paint alone is responsible for drawing tourists to the building.
"But we love the name," Mrs. Treml said. "That we'll never change."
Photos: When it opened in 1930 (inset), Karl Marx Hof, a Viennese public housing project, gave workers hope of a better life; each apartment had cold running water and toilets. The courtyard had playgrounds and a school.; Now the complex has a kindergarten. New tenants are still mostly young couples starting families.; Silvia Stadler, left, grew up in the apartment she shares with her husband, Michael, and children.; Franziska Treml has been a resident since childhood; she now shares an apartment with her husband, Kurt. (Photographs by Ulrich Schnarr for The New York Times; Bettmann Archive)
Description of the project
Karl Marx-Hof is one of the best-known Gemeindebauten (German: municipal tenement complexes) in Vienna, situated in Heiligenstadt, a neighborhood of the 19th district of Vienna, Döbling.
Karl Marx-Hof is built on land that, until the 12th century, had been under the waters of the Danube, deep enough for ships to travel over the area. By 1750, all that remained was a pool of water, which was drained by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Gardens were then built in the area, but these were removed by the Vienna city council, and then controlled by the Socialist Party of Austria, to make room for the erection of Karl Marx-Hof, financed by a special tax named after councilor Hugo Breitner, commissioning locally and internationally renowned architects.
Karl Marx-Hof was built between 1927 and 1930 by city planner Karl Ehn, a follower of Otto Wagner. It held 1,382 apartments (with a size of 30-60 m² each) and was called the Ringstraße des Proletariats, or the Ring Street of the Proletariat. Only 18.5% of the 1,000 meters long, 156,000-m² large area was built up, with the rest of the area developed into play areas and gardens. Designed for a population of about 5,000, the premises include many amenities, including Laundromats, baths, kindergartens, a library, doctor offices, and business offices.
Karl Marx Hof is the symbol of the 398 housing complexes which were built in Vienna between the wars by the social democratic city council (1919-34) and immortalized in a workers' song as the "little red brick to build a new world". There were 64,000 dwellings in total, but mainly in outlying districts and financed by taxes on luxury items such as the employment of servants and cars, and steep graduation of taxes on housing construction.
The tenants, however, paid rents which were well within their means (5-8% of their wages) for the relatively small flats; gas and electricity rates were low and there was no charge for water. The scheme also offered excellent community facilities such as baths, laundries, community rooms, public house... More > shops and libraries, nursery schools and paddling pools; but not least there were many green areas which made living in the "Welfare Palaces" more agreeable.
I am presenting this project because in a way it was the starting point of our project and we have some similarities with this project, especially the courtyards and the passages.
Even if the development is quit old and some can say that it hasn’t functioned very well I believe we can learn many things from this project and we can develop these ideas in better projects.
Karl Marx-Hof is built on land that, until the 12th century, had been under the waters of the Danube, deep enough for ships to travel over the area. By 1750, all that remained was a pool of water, which was drained by Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Gardens were then built in the area, but these were removed by the Vienna city council, and then controlled by the Socialist Party of Austria, to make room for the erection of Karl Marx-Hof, financed by a special tax named after councilor Hugo Breitner, commissioning locally and internationally renowned architects.
Karl Marx-Hof was built between 1927 and 1930 by city planner Karl Ehn, a follower of Otto Wagner. It held 1,382 apartments (with a size of 30-60 m² each) and was called the Ringstraße des Proletariats, or the Ring Street of the Proletariat. Only 18.5% of the 1,000 meters long, 156,000-m² large area was built up, with the rest of the area developed into play areas and gardens. Designed for a population of about 5,000, the premises include many amenities, including Laundromats, baths, kindergartens, a library, doctor offices, and business offices.
Karl Marx Hof is the symbol of the 398 housing complexes which were built in Vienna between the wars by the social democratic city council (1919-34) and immortalized in a workers' song as the "little red brick to build a new world". There were 64,000 dwellings in total, but mainly in outlying districts and financed by taxes on luxury items such as the employment of servants and cars, and steep graduation of taxes on housing construction.
The tenants, however, paid rents which were well within their means (5-8% of their wages) for the relatively small flats; gas and electricity rates were low and there was no charge for water. The scheme also offered excellent community facilities such as baths, laundries, community rooms, public house... More > shops and libraries, nursery schools and paddling pools; but not least there were many green areas which made living in the "Welfare Palaces" more agreeable.
I am presenting this project because in a way it was the starting point of our project and we have some similarities with this project, especially the courtyards and the passages.
Even if the development is quit old and some can say that it hasn’t functioned very well I believe we can learn many things from this project and we can develop these ideas in better projects.
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