Skip to content

Messecarree hall of residence

Facts and Figures
Company PORR Bau GmbH
Principal Corestate Capital Developments GmbH
Location Vienna - Austria
Type Residential construction
Runtime 02.2014 - 09.2015

Landmark and residential space for a new quarter

A new hall of residence with a gross floor area of approx. 32,000m² was erected in a record time of 18 months at the new urban development area known as Messecarree Nord in the area of Vienna Exhibition Centre. The project was implemented under the leadership of PORR in its role as a general contractor.

The newly constructed building consists of eleven upper floors and one basement floor. The ground floor and the first floor have been intended for communal use – this is where the so-called Welcome, Learning and TV Lounges are located. These areas are furthermore used by commercial enterprises such as start-up offices, restaurants, gyms and retail outlets.

The two base storeys feature a spacious architectural design which is interrupted by a broad open space in the centre with the residential floors hovering above. Concrete compound supports were used for purposes of underpinning.

589 residential units sized between 23 and 55m² are located on the upper floors 2 to 10 while the basement floor offers parking for 57 cars.

The temporary building pit supporting system consists of 15-m-long sheet piles that had to be embedded up to 4m deep into the dam level. Due to its immediate proximity to the underground line U2, the construction pit enclosure needed to be reinforced with up to 33-m-long crossbeams. Soil stabilisation and water drainage measures were required in the course of construction pit excavation. PORR’s engineers executed the basement floor waterproofing as a “brown tub”. The exposed concrete balconies 1,500 running metres long and 350 HVACR system ducts were implemented using precast elements.

Thanks to efficient project management and lots of implementation experience, the hall of residence could be handed over entirely turn-key-ready and including all furniture after a construction time of just 18 months. The first students moved into their flats in the building during the winter semester 2015. Today, the newly constructed building not only serves as student accommodation but, with its curved building structure, has already become a new architectural landmark of this new quarter.