European platform for architecture, Wonderland, designs models for urban development area “aspern Die Seestadt Wiens” (aspern Vienna’s seaside town)
On Friday, Nov 14, building development models titled “aspern Die Seestadt Wiens”
were presented as results of Wonderland’s venture “make projects happen”
On Friday, November 14, approximately one hundred European architects and people
interested in architecture met at a symposium titled “Getting specialized” at the
Architekturzentrum Vienna (Az W). Numerous presentations extracted opportunities for
specialization in order to assert architectural offices on the global market. The
Wonderland platform acts as intermediary between young creatives and contractees from
municipalities, NGOs and the private sector. Now, concrete projects with local context are
to be put into practice throughout Europe. The urban development project “aspern
Seestadt” serves as a forerunner in Vienna; Tiflis (Georgia), Amsterdam (Netherlands)
and Jyväskylä (Finland) are to follow.
A prelude to Wonderland’s progression as architectural network was, after a break of a
year and a half, the first Wonderland workshop and the subsequent symposium “Getting
specialized” on Friday the 14th of November at Architekturzentrum Vienna. Wonderland
is a platform for architecture that broke ground in 2004–2006 with a travelling exhibition
of the same name, which comprised 99 teams of architects from nine countries. The
second phase of Wonderland, running from 2008 to 2011, also carries the main idea of
international exchange. Specific results of the first „project space“, the chosen method of
practice, were presented on November 14 at Architekturzentrum Vienna.
Development area “aspern Seestadt”
“project spaces” are concrete project works in a selected local context. The project
groups consist of local and international teams from the Wonderland pool. For each study
they develop several scenarios. The first „project space“ was conducted on behalf of
Wien 3420 Aspern Development AG, an affiliate of the land holders BIG and WWFF,
relating to building development models in the southeastern part of the development
area at the former airfield Aspern. The drafts were to test the available parameters of
town building.
The choice for the international offices participating at the “project space” started with a
“call for interest“ within the European Wonderland network. From the submissions, a
professional jury selected a list of offices the awarding authority chose from: the results
were the Slovakian office BARAK architekti, the Hungarian office spora architects &
NITEO projects and architects and the Croatian office atmosfera.
Together with Austrian offices that were invited by the awarding authority, they worked
intensely on possible architectonic scenarios during the first stage of “aspern Seestadt”.
The outcome, insightful for the awarding authority, shows a wide range, and serves as a
base for the specification of the parameters of town building.
Further projects
Several Wonderland projects are scheduled for the next three years: In March 2009, a
“project space” with the title “What you really need” will be taking place in Wels (Upper
Austria) in the framework of Linz as European Capital of Culture. Further on, in summer,
a “project space” in Tiflis (Georgia) is designed for the restructuring of an archaeological
park. Specific preparations are under consideration for Budapest (HUN), Amsterdam-
Schiphol (NL), Jyväskylä (FI), too, as well as for the region of Wörthersee (AT).
Wonderland symposium
As an advanced training option, the successful symposium series that started with
„Getting specialized“ will be expanded and continued in the next few years. In June 2009,
a conference with the title “Making competitions” will take place at Architekturzentrum
Vienna again. At the same time, the exhibition “100 models, 100 stories” will be running.
Both events illustrate the European dimension of dealing with contests, and demonstrate
what happens to contest contributions later on. 2010, the Wonderland symposium will be
held in Barcelona.
Wonderland magazine
The results of the “project spaces” and the symposiums will be accompanied by an
evaluation and documentation in the Wonderland magazine, distributed by Dutch
publisher A10. The past issues “getting started”, “making mistakes” and “going public”
are available at www.wonderland.cx.
