Purkersdorf | Atelier P + F
Austria | 1976 | soft form
| Address: | Dr. Hild Gasse, Purkersdorf |
| Work Type: | new built |
| Number of Storeys: | 4-storey |
| Type of Building: | multi-storey apartment block |
| Number of Units: | 72 |
Description
The development of the seventy-two dwellings in Purkersdorf is first and foremost an experiment in participatory design in social housing, accompanied and analysed throughout by a group of sociologists. When selling of the units started in 1973, interested people were offered a number of possibilities: decisions over size and way in which units were to be subdivided; enlargement or reduction of unit size - in agreement with neighbour; position and size of wet areas; and choice of position, number and size of windows. Potential occupants were shown a catalogue of ten options per layout type, from which they could either choose the one most appropriate for them or else develop their own ideas. The architects had meetings with each of the future inhabitants and subsequently prepared detailed plans for every unit. Overall apartment sizes range from 41 m2 to 125 m2, but with an inherent potential to hand over larger parts of one storey to one user. The drawings show unit type A with a total of 106 m2 as an empty shell and then with two of the possible subdivisions as proposed by the architects.
A retrospective analysis of the project found that the possibility to create or co-design one's dwelling resulted in a high level of user satisfaction, as well as the achievement of a higher level of identification with the housing scheme. This confirms the architects' belief that participation is more than just about moving walls, but a process of social interaction, communication and constant reiteration between public, planner, designer, developer and the occupant. The actual cost of the participatory process was put at 1.11 % of total costs, made up of increased design time and additional construction work. However, the capital costs of the scheme were more problematic. The initial flexibility depended on investment in excess space in the primary structure, which was prohibitively expensive to write off over time.References
Prader, H., Partizipation im sozialen Wohnhausbau. Modell Purkersdorf. Forschungsarbeit "Begleitende Analysen, Untersuchungen und deren anwendbare Auswertungen für das Partizipationsmodell Wohnhausanlage Purkersdorf, Dr. Hild-Gasse", Wien: Selbstverlag der Architekten Prader Fehringer Ott, 1977.
Prader, H., F. Fehringer, and E. Ott, 'Wohnhausanlage Purkersdorf, Dr.Hild-Gasse (Österreich). Ein Partizipationsmodell in sozialen Wohnungsbau', werk · archithese, 64, 1977, pp. 14-18.
Schwalb, G., Differenzierte Wohnanlagen. Differentiated Housing Estates. Ensembles d'habitations différenciées, Stuttgart: Karl Krämer Verlag, 1975.