Living in a Fruit Grove

Living in the Orchard

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Vienna, 2009
Outdoor spaces for a housing project in the tradition of the “Siedler-Movement”. The particular topography was created by recycling the excavated earth on site. The new orchard offers the production of cider as an opportunity to the dwellers.
Area
~ 18.700m²
Client
Heimbau
Team
Rosa Sagmeister
Architecture
Josef Weichenberger
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove
Living in a Fruit Grove - poster
Living in a Fruit Grove - idea

The Pelargonienweg housing estate is situated on a large orchard meadow. The open space was modeled by using the excavated material. The pulsating garden combines private as well as communal areas into an organic whole, whereby the terrain between the opposite rows of houses either arches in a hill-like manner or is formed as a hollow. What results is, on the one hand, higher lying lots with attractive views and, on the other hand, lower lying parts with a more protected atmosphere. The transition to the respective separate parcels is unnoticed; the fruit trees are scattered around the site. Glass houses can be found here and there in the landscape—transparent envelopes for common rooms that respectively open up the entrance to a cider cellar. Children can play in close touch with nature in the hollows and hills of the orchard meadow, condensed in places by berry and hazelnut bushes.