You’ve probably walked by one of these box-y, weird-looking buildings before, or maybe even lived in one of them. Either way, when most of us see these buildings, one particular question comes to mind – what insane person designed this and why id they make some of them look like a set of stairs?!
Well, his name is Harry Glück. This Viennese architect’s most famous work is the crazy-looking building complex, Wohnpark Alt-Erlaa, and he’s designed many other buildings that stand out prominently on Vienna’s streets since the late 1960s. He was actually involved in designing a lot of social housing throughout the 70s, and along with many other buildings – many of them featuring his signature element, terraces. He also liked to put so-called ‘community pools’ on rooftops.
Fun fact: Harry Glück began his working life as a set designer and director at the Max Reinhardt Seminar and made a career swap later on. You can see his former life in theatre in his architectural work, that’s for sure.
Check out these photos that pay tribute to this out-of-the-box Viennese architect:
Arndtstraße 21
This building in good ole’ Meidling is a prime example of this guy’s obsession with having the whole building look kind of like stairs.
Inzersdorferstraße 113
Harry way quoting once in saying – “Living like the rich, also for the poor.”
Angeligasse 97–99
This one’s got a totally different design going on, as you can see, but it’s just as weird to look at.
Various parts of this building’s facade features a copper surface. You won’t find any other buildings with such in the city. It may look ugly on first glance, but if you spend some time paying attention to the structure, you’ll notice the fascinating shapes and details of it.
Hadikgasse 128
This building does not only look like some sort of space ship, but also houses a supermarket, a gas station, and on the other side, it has direct access to the U4 station, Braunschweiggasse. Convenience and making self-sufficient community type apartment buildings was Mr. Glück’s specialty.
Hietzinger Kai 101
This building right here is a big one, and it houses an insurance company. It’s style differs from many of the other buildings designed by Harry Glück, as it doesn’t have terraces.
If this style seems familiar to you, it might remind you vaguely of the Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof, which was also designed by our pal, Harry Glück!
Hietzinger Kai 101
Wernhardtstraße 1
You might be asking ‘but do these apartments have terraces??’. We’ve got to admit, we don’t really know, but we’re definitely picturing the Innenhof to be filled with stair-like terraces. What they definitely do have is the most far-out wacky colour combination of blue and neon orange. You’ve built some weird ones Harry!
Wohnpark Alt-Erlaa
This residential and retail building was built to be a self-contained village and is one of the largest of its kind in Austria. The shape is immediately recognisable to the locals, especially those who drive into town along the nearby highways often. 3,200 family-friendly apartments are packed into this place with approx. 9000 people living in it.
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