wednesdays 45

“High-rise buildings are still considered to be intruders or alien elements in European cities. Towers have a historic right to be part of the skyline. When does a tower become a high-rise building and what is a high-rise building?” Friedrich Achleitner

The skylines of European cities are being increasingly dominated by the silhouettes of high-rise buildings. Alongside being a demonstration of economic power and their significance in the marketing of a city, high-rise buildings are also the modern enemy of the conservationists as they have a lasting effect on their surroundings, changing and dominating them.

How does Vienna position itself in this context? What are the determining factors in the attractiveness of the location of growing metropolises? Does Vienna measure up to the international competition compared with neighbours like Bratislava, Budapest and Prague?

The panel

Andrew Whiteside, architect and assistent at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Abteilung Architektur und Entwurf. Architekturbüro in Zürich
Axel Borsdorf, Institute for Urban and Regional Research at the Austrian Academy of Sciences
Rudolf Schicker, Executive City Councillor for Urban Development and Traffic, Vienna
Dietmar Steiner, Director Architekturzentrum Wien
Moderated by: Angelika Schnell, architecture theorist, Akademie der Künste, Stuttgart

Organised by:
the Architekturzentrum Wien & Europaforum Wien as part of the Wiener Wissenschaftstage 2003 (Vienna Science Days).