Gasometer

The Vienna Gasometers in Simmering are four huge brick rotundas built in 1896 as gas holders for the city gas grid, each 70 metres high and 65 metres across. After town-gas supply ended in 1984 they sat empty for two decades and hosted illegal raves and Bond-style film shoots. From 1999 to 2001 Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Manfred Wehdorn and Wilhelm Holzbauer each converted one gasometer into apartments, a student dorm, offices, a mall and an event hall, while the protected outer brickwork was preserved. A small town now lives inside the towers, with U3 metro access directly below. Architecture fans walk the four towers and compare the four solutions.