Over the years the function of the Danube canal has changed: defensive element, commercial stage, open-air market, free-time area. After the construction of the highway along the “FranzJoseph-Kai” boulevard, simultaneous the works for the Ringstraße, the relationship between the city and the canal was broken by the high cars-flow. The area that has been mostly compromised by this phenomenon was the urban void “Schwedenplatz-Morzinplatz (SMP)”, just next the canal. Currently SMP represents a strategic mobility hub of the city with 150 000 people crossing everyday this urban surface of just 25 000 mq. Therefore the combination of pedestrian routes and car-ways confined this area to a crossing-area, setting apart the squares and the channel from the urban life and breaking the synergy city-river.

The Viennese Municipality has questioned a lot about the problems of this area and has promoted since 1960’s competitions and exhibitions, that never became real proposals. In order to give space to this complexity, our proposal reshapes a part of the high historical promenade along the city-walls, thanks to the design of an overhead infrastructure, that make it possible to bypass the cars flow and to widen the square surface.

Gallery

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