Site
1020 Vienna

Strategy & Masterplan
2008-2009

Partners-in-Charge
Mark Gilbert, Christian Aulinger 

Project Team
Christian Aulinger, Mark Gilbert
Dagnija Smilga 

Clients
Magistratsabteilung der Stadt Wien
Bezirksvorstehung Leopoldstadt
Einkaufsstraßenverein Taborstraße 

Grafic Design
Manfred Veigl / Little Stars of

 Visualisations
TC ZT GmbH Wien

„plug in“ was a five-year plan for the aesthetic, cultural and economic improvement of the Taborstraße, a historically and culturally significant shopping mile in the Leopoldstadt Borough of Vienna. The strategy involved the fusion of a cultural exchange program between the “Sister Boroughs” of Vienna and Brooklyn and a selective design upgrade for the street space itself.

trans_city used the theme of the storefront as a catalyst for a project that integrated urban design, culture and commerce. Innovative retail businesses in Brooklyn were invited to take part in a “business-in-residence“ program in Leopoldstadt. These business received subsidies for the installation and operation of a pop-up shop, which would be set-up in temporarily vacant storefronts along one of the five newly upgraded stretches of Taborstraße.

Parallel to the program of cultural exchange, five important intersections were designated as “hotspots” to be redesigned. At these points the sidewalks were widened, parking reorganized, new pavements laid out, trees and plantings were introduced. The granite pavers were laid in a sunburst pattern of light and dark stones, which – together with the ellipsoidal perimeter of the redesign zone, defined the center of the new urban plazas.