Gasometer, Vienna (1) - 24 August 2017

Gasometer, Vienna is the site of four former gas tanks built as part of the Vienna municipal gas works, Gaswerk Simmering, in 1896–1899. They were in use from 1899 to 1984. After the changeover from town gas to natural gas they were no longer used and were shut down. Only the brick exterior front walls were preserved. The structures have been converted to residential and commercial use. Each gasometer is divided into zones with residential accommodation at the top, office space in the middle and shopping and entertainment on the ground floors.

I first saw these movingly beautiful structures as I arrived by train from Prague. I researched them and was very excited to travel to the site a few days later. My introductory pictures are quite mundane but, as the series unfolds, the beauty is underlined. My enthusiasm is not unqualified. Most of the external additions to the gasometers are, in my opinion, unsympathetic and ill-judged but the whole remains an architectural treat.

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