Rote Emma is a variety of potato. Inspired by its red-skinned namesake, which was once cultivated here at ground level, the concept of the residential quarter in Vienna's 22nd district focuses on regional and social roots.
In creating gender-sensitive and everyday living quality, the project planned as a moving quarter is based on three core ideas: Firstly, the design envisages reducing the tract depth of all structures so that each of the resulting wider, compact residential units has a larger façade, which in turn can be used as a flexible bonus room inside. Secondly, balconies in the Rote Emma will always be developed as fully-fledged green spaces outside, extending the four walls into the outdoor area in the best possible way with a windbreak wall and plant trough. Thirdly, barrier-free areas will be created on the ground floor, which will make a valuable contribution to urban coexistence through a variety of cultural, social and commercial offerings.
In addition to public facilities such as the local adult education center, a kindergarten, an event center or a flower and grocery store, the base zone, which is designed with a floor height of four meters throughout, also houses communal rooms with washing facilities and open spaces for the residents.
Each floor of the slender timber hybrid structures also has a multifunctional room for collective use and a separately rentable co-working space. At the very top, in turn, there are generally accessible roof gardens, which are based on local agriculture in terms of typology and use and fully compensate for the built-up area. The pergolas with photovoltaic systems offer weather-protected retreats and opportunities for gardening: what is watered here with gray water can later be sold on the ground floor in a socially sustainable way. This is what Red Emma is like: environmentally sensitive, close to nature, grounded.