Juli / August 2024
Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
wall, fruit, wall, fruit
Reclaim Agrarian Fabrics!

Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien
Master
17.01.2024
IKA / Doz. Mag. Christina Condak, Dipl.-Ing. Peter Leeb
Städtebau
Archicad, Photoshop
The examination of gardening culture and thus also of agricultural practice was the starting point for my thesis.
While looking at the agricultural and architectonic landscapes of fruitproduction in France, I immediately noticed the intelligent use of the land, working with the elements and existing conditions. With the technique of building walls in a certain orientation, people used the characteristics of the terrain and created useful climatic effects for the cultivation of fruits.
Although this simple but effective technique became mostly forgotten in the industrial age, I became interested in the symbiotic effects that might arise when pratices of growing fruits are combined with our modern society and life in cities. Besides the potential benefits of climatic impact, can agriculture and the culture of gardening contribute to reconnecting with the environment around us and help us to build a promising future in a connected local community?
For investigating this question the site in the 22nd district of Vienna serves as a case study for how to expand gardens and green, community places and educational programmes, while also looking at the social aspects of caring for plants and linking people and spaces.
With research, spatial analyses and drawings, I am trying to design a concept for implementing the culture of fruit cultivation in the city as a large-scale strategy for open spaces, as a landscape approach to gardens.
A central public pathway connects the activities on site, creates a visual connection and orientation between leisure, work and community ? and offers a recreational quality. The mountain of the landfill site marks the northern end of the path, from there one has an overview over the entire site.
The landscape park will not only attract gardeners, but also people who are interested in beekeeping or waste recycling, who simply want to shop locally at the market, or enjoy their freetime in the green. Existing small parks will be connected, the pond in the centre of the area will be made accessible and the existing educational opportunities offered by the local institutions can be further expanded and publicised to a wider audience.
An open-air horticultural school and kindergarten integrated into the area within walking distance of the existing institutions will introduce children to their surroundings and create an enhanced learning environment. The community gardens including a community centre and storage rooms take up the most space, available with different sized acreages and greenhouses they can be rented and operated by different sized farming communitites.
Local residents will benefit from the conversion of the agricultural land into a usable and more accessible area.
Although most of the cultivated fields will be preserved, the large area will be fragmented, made accessible and, over time, will become more and more attractive and vibrant as it is appropriated and inhabited by people.
Text von Annika Böcher.