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There is an unbuilt-on square at the junction Bräuhausgasse/Margaretenstraße
in Vienna’s 5th district which is commonly called Bräuhausspitz.
A work of art or a permanent artistic installation is to
be erected on this small patch of green. An invited competition
has been tendered for this purpose.
On the one hand, the urban space around the Bräuhausspitz
is marked by its vicinity to the Margareten Beltway - the
Margarethenstraße meets the Beltway here - and on the
other, by the historically grown area of the former Vorstadt
Hundsturm.
The Margaretenstraße is an important arterial road
that crosses the district and leads out of it. Historical
relations can be perceived and read in the design and lay-out
of streets, like for instance in the Bräuhausgasse,
which still corresponds to the pattern of the old Vorstadt.
The Bräuhausgasse owes its name to the fact that it
once was the alley connecting two historical breweries [i.e.
Bräuhäuser], the Margaretner Bräuhaus, which
was located at Margaretenplatz 4 until 1883, and the "Herrschaftliches
Bräuhaus am Hundsturm”, which had been in use
until 1869.
What is also characteristic of this area is its vicinity
to the large municipality buildings from the First Republic,
like the Franz-Domes-Hof of 1930, or from the early years
of the Second Republic, like the Eduard-Leisching-Hof of
1955. Here at this interface, Wilhelminian-style urban structures
meet historical elements and architecture from the First
Republic.
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A redesign of the road architecture is in preparation
in the area Margaretenstraße / Bräuhausgasse /
Margaretengürtel. A bicycle path or a bicycle lane,
the broadening of sidewalks and the improvement of parking
spaces form part of the planned road project. The improved
accessibility of the public parks and a denser network of
green space through parkways and more bicycle paths are the
general objectives of the reinterpretation of the public
space in the Margareten district. The concept includes the
notion of reclaiming the street space as a place to stay,
to meet others and to play, and, last but not least, as a
site for artistic interventions. Although, to the present
moment, this area of the urban space has not been shaped
by any artistic design, it is located in the surroundings
of prominent cultural institutions. The cultural institutions
in the vicinity of the planned location of the art intervention
are the Klangforum Vienna, a soloist ensemble for contemporary
music with headquarters in the Diehlgasse, the Centrum 166
(a culture and communication center of the Austrian Railway
Union), the "Kongresshaus am Gürtel” and
the "Volkstheater Hundsturm", a rehearsal stage
and a theater. Moreover, the architecture firm ARTEC is located
directly at the Hundsturm.
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transl. ol
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