Vienna Gasometers

Brief information

The four enormous cylinders in Simmering did not begin as housing or shopping complexes, but as gas storage tanks from the late 19th century. They stored coke gas before it was fed into the city network: at first it was needed for street lamps, later for cooking and heating homes.

When Vienna switched to natural gas, such large storage tanks lost their purpose and were closed. The 1999-2001 conversion radically changed the function of the place: residential, office, and entertainment areas appeared inside, while the historic exterior was preserved. As a result, the gasometers read as industrial shells into which new urban life has been inserted.

What to notice first

The main clue is the form. You can compare the four equally cylindrical volumes: originally they were telescopic tanks, meaning structures designed to store gas, not for a conventional building layout. Their size is important too: each gasometer was about 70 meters high and 60 meters in diameter, so the modern function appeared inside an already defined engineering form.

It is worth noticing the brick facade and parts of the roof. During the reconstruction, the interior contents were removed, while these elements were left unchanged, so it is precisely the shell that connects the present complex with its former purpose. The division into housing, offices, and entertainment shows a second layer: the old tanks were not decorated on the outside, but reused as ready-made urban structures.