Page - 176 - in Demolished Modified Endangered - Modelling Austrian Architecture Of The 20th Century

176 TERRASSENHAUSSIEDLUNG BY WERKGRUPPE GRAZ Year 1978 Status Modified Material 3D Doodler Foamboard Scale 1:500 Model maker Barbara Gruber From 1965 to 1978, the Terrassenhaussiedlung in the Graz district of St. Peter was planned by the four partners that formed the architecture office Werkgruppe Graz: Eugen Gross, Friedrich Gross-Ransbach, Werner Hollomey and Hermann Pichler.1 In the 19th century, the project’s building site had been used as a mining area for clay and for the production of bricks. In the first half of the 20th century the mining of clay was stopped and the area was used as a waste deposit instead. Because of this, the site remained undeveloped and free of buildings up until the 1960s even though it is so close to the city centre. The first design proposals were made solely from the architect’s own initiative, and later a developer was found who financed the entire project. The Terrassenhaussiedlung consists of four blocks, each facing both in the east and west direction, and each of a different height. The building complex as a whole contains 522 flats ranging from 42m² to 142m² in total size. A principle concept of the design was a collaborative, participative decision making process which involved the future owners. Therefore, most of the floor plans were designed with the help of the tenants.2 1 Architekturzentrum Wien (Ed.) (2016): Architektur in Österreich im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Zürich: Park Books. 337. 2 Guttmann, Eva; Kaiser, Gabriele; HDA Graz (Ed.) (2013): Werkgruppe Graz 1959-1989; Architecture at the Turn of Late Modernism. Zürich: Park Books. 105-109.