Hermeswiese, Vienna: housing provision as a communal effort

In contrast to the very urban blocks of the Gartenhofsiedlungen (Garden Court Estates) some of the housing estates of the Rotes Wien have a more village-like feel. As with other such garden village type housing estates the Viennese council worked closely together with a so-called Baugenossenschaft in developing the Siedlung Hermeswiese. The municipal housing was designed in such a way that it would form a unit with the Colony Lainz-Speising, to be developed by the Genossenschaft Altmannsdorf-Hetzendorf. The first is also known as Hermeswiese I, whilst the second was later dubbed Hermeswiese II. The designer of the estate was Karl Ehn, who would later create the iconic Karl-Marx-Hof.

The housing was initially planned for workers at the city electricity works, but during the design process the estate was opened to a wide variety of participants. Every prospective resident had to become a member of the Building Society (a Baugenosse) and put in at least 1000 hours of manual labour. This way the housing could be built at a low cost. The council guaranteed the loan for the land and the materials. As such this garden village estate is the result of a building collective. Such Baugenossenschaften were quite common even before the publication of Ebenezer Howards seminal book on Garden Cities, but flourished as the ideas of the Garden City Movement spread across the German-speaking countries.

The estate of Hermeswiese is a introvert unit that has been designed as a single recognisable suburban entity. It was developed in meadows along the Hermesstrasse -hence the name- that leads to the Hermesvilla, a former royal residence in the beautiful Lainzer Tiergarten. At the edge of the site the Lainzer Bach -a stream that rises in the Lainzer Tiergarten- feeds a pond and then disappears into a culvert.

The whole estate was designed with the human scale in mind, creating a more intimate living environment than the bold Gartenhof Estates that would follow. Totally in keeping with Garden City ideals the housing references vernacular architecture en the spatial configuration of a village. This shows clearly in the archway that gives access to the estate from a park along a thoroughfare. The building is embellished with a low clock tower above the entrance. A fountain, replicating many such features in villages in the Austrian Alps, further enhances the scene.

Although Ehn made sure the architecture united both sections of the estate, they differ greatly in layout. The northern section is comprised of two straight streets that were laid out parallel to the elevated Hermesstrasse. To avoid formality in these streets the building line was staggered, long and short terraces were alternated and in the middle the street was widened and amenities were planned adjacent (like a school). The southern part was designed along the ideas of the Austrian architect Camillo Sitte which influenced the spatial progression of urban wall with gateway, square, street and small square with gateway, whilst the staggered building line and cul-de-sacs are typical Unwinesque design principles. In this section a sculptural winged block of apartments marks the edge of the estate along the street. It also forms a spatial pendant to the Church of the Orthopedic Hospital across the Speisinger Strasse. The architecture of the southern -municipal- section is more ornamental than the northern section. The whole estate was built in 2 building phases: 1923-1927 and 1927-1929.

The Hermeswiese Estate comprises of two sections that were built separately but under a unifying design. The design included a public park (Andreas Rett Park - R) and allotments with sheds for keeping small animals like geese, chickens, pigs and goats. These have now disappeared however. Hermeswiese I comprises of a large apartment building in several linked sections (A) at the front with a village-like street with two squares (S) and cul-de-sacs (C) behind the gateway (G) and a gateway connecting this section to Hermeswiese II. This northern section also has a long front along a street with a gateway (G) with a central section where a school was planned behind a block of flats for single workers (F). Instead new housing was built on the reserved site (N) in 1930.