Vienna Gasometers

The Vienna – Simmering gasometers are four old gas tanks from 1896 that have been maintained on the facade. They were completely renovated from 1999 to 2001 and currently include an entertainment center, various apartments, a student house, and an event hall.The gasometers were installed as part of the Simmering gas works to compensate for changes in the Vienna gas network’s supply.They were technically built as low-pressure reservoirs for town gas derived from coal.The Simmering gasworks was one of two urban gas works at the turn of the century, along with the Leopoldau gasworks.There were originally six gas tanks.One of them was a “screw gas holder.”

The buildings have traditionally been a hallmark of Vienna’s 11th district, Simmering, as they can be seen from afar.From 1899 to 1975, the Simmering gasworks and gasometers were in operation.Tourists from all around the world, as well as architecture specialists, have visited the gasometer since its rehabilitation.

Subsoil pollution by phenols, hydrocarbons, and cyanides was discovered in the region as a result of decades of large-scale gasworks operation, and many areas of the site were placed in the Federal Environment Agency’s contaminated site registry in 1996 as contaminated site W18.

Each of the four Gasometers constructions included a cylindrical telescopic gas container with a volume of approximately 90,000 m3 (3 million cu. ft.) set in a water basin and surrounded by a red-brick exterior. They stand 70 meters (230 feet) height and 60 meters (200 feet) in circumference. During the refurbishment, the Gasometers were gutted, leaving just the brick facade and sections of the roof surviving.

Before being supplied into the municipal gas network, coal gas was dry-distilled from coal and held in these containers. Originally used primarily for street lighting, “town gas” was adopted for cooking and heating in private residences in 1910.

Indoor facilities include a concert hall (capacity 2000-3000), a movie theater, a student dormitory, a municipal archive, and other amenities. There are around 800 flats (two-thirds of which are within the old brick walls) with 1600 regular inhabitants and approximately 70 student apartments with 250 students in residence.

History

The gasometers were erected between 1896 and 1899 in Vienna’s Simmering neighborhood, near the Gaswerk Simmering gas plant. The containers were used to assist supply Vienna with town gas, which was previously delivered by the English company Inter Continental Gas Association (ICGA). When the contracts with the ICGA expired, the city chose to build its own gas facilities. The design was the biggest in Europe at the time.

The Gasometers were withdrawn in 1984 due to improved gasometer building technology and the city’s switch from town gas and coal gas to natural gas. Under far higher pressures and in much lower quantities than the relatively huge gasometers, gas may be stored underground or in current high-pressure gas storage spheres. They were classified as protected historic sites in 1978.

The Living Daylights, a James Bond film from 1987, featured Gasometer B. General Koskov comes inside the building after fleeing from Bratislava in a gas pipeline capsule, and is then brought to the roof, where he is flown away in a Harrier VTOL fighter.

The protected monuments in Vienna were remodeled and revitalized, and in 1995, a call for proposals for new uses of the structures was issued. The chosen designs were finished between 1999 and 2001 by architects Jean Nouvel (Gasometer A), Coop Himmelblau (Gasometer B), Manfred Wehdorn (Gasometer C), and Wilhelm Holzbauer (Gasometer D). Each gasometer was separated into multiple zones for living (top apartments), working (middle floors offices), and enjoyment and shopping (ground levels shopping malls). Skybridges link each gasometer’s retail mall levels to the others. The historical external wall has been preserved. One of the project’s rejected concepts was architect Manfred Wehdorn’s plan to use the Gasometers for hotels and amenities for the upcoming World Expos in Vienna and Budapest.

The mayor attended the ceremonial grand opening of the Gasometers on October 30, 2001, despite the fact that residents had began moving in as early as May 2001.

Vienna, Austria