making it 2 / sprache der straße

"making it 2 / sprache der straße" promoted new Urbanism and Architecture. It addressed the questions of location and locality, of culture and cultural studies, of the street and of urban research. The goal of the project was to use both the economic subvention of creative professionals as well as targeted public relations activities to reanimate the streetfronts of a rundown shopping street in Vienna's Margareten district.

The project offered eight participating constellations of multidisciplinary professionals abandoned storefronts in Margareten's Schönbrunner Strasse for the period of one year to use as office and atelier space. As service in return, the project required these participating groups to pursue urban research that addressed the theme of "the language of the street".

Furthermore, the undertaking included a "Project Central" - a 430 m2 exhibition and event space located in the heart of the project area - in which the projects of the participants and new work of local and international architects and urbanists were exhibited, as well as symposiums on urbanism, culture and design took place. In its role as a gallery and event space, the Project Central was administered by the internationally active architecture platform "framework", which was founded by Christiane Fath in Berlin.

The project took place from June 2004 to May 2005 in the Schönbrunnerstrasse between the Pilgramgasse and the Margaretenguertel. This is an area in transition, where new urban developments intersect the classical Viennese streetscape. The numerous, long-term abandoned storefronts along this stretch of street are the visible traces of the structural transformation of the retail trade and the shifts in the demographics of the district. making it 2 / sprache der strasse considered these urban metamorphoses as potential for new directions in the evolving life of the city, and attempted to find new, socially responsible uses and meanings for these spaces.

Participants: assocreation; ballesterer; ilabor; in_between:architektur; rain; raumspray; sammer_streeruwitz; studio margariten

This project was supported from: Federal Chancellery Austria, Section Art; City of Vienna, Administrative Group "Housing, Housing Construction and Urban Renewal"; City of Vienna, Administrative Group "Technical and Financial Assessment in Matters of Housing Construction and Promotion, Specialised Urban Renewal"; Stadt Wien, Administrative Group "Cultural Affairs"; "Hochschuljubiläumsfond der Stadt Wien"; Verein Stadtimpuls; Bogner Edelstahl; Maler Macke; Heraklith; nextroom - Architektur im Netz; Sto Ges.mbH

The results of the project have been published in both digital media
(www.making-it.at) and print version (sprache der strasse, Sonderzahl Verlag, Vienna. ISBN 3 85499 253 7, EUR 15.00). The latter publication may be ordered for 15.- euros at Sonderzahl Verlag.