The shopping centre Q19 breathes new life into a long underrated quarter in Vienna’s 19th district. Between railroad tracks, the Karl-Marx-Hof and the now revitalized Kreilplatz, the former Samum Papierfabrik mutates into a shopping mall in Döbling, now an urban landmark in north-western Vienna.
The Q19 combines old factory halls with listed façades and one of the first reinforced concrete skeletal constructions in Vienna with a “flagship” – a long drawn bar with spiral ramps to the parking decks on the long sides, clad with Corten steel as the atmospheric link between the factory and the tracks. Towards the Kreilplatz, the old and new buildings form an urban forecourt with the main entrance.
The customer experiences diverse spaces between old and new, in which the play with daylight and artificial light and the historical factory facade reminds of a lively downtown atmosphere. The two-storey mall between the new building and the old building is spanned by a pent roof – one half in glass, the other in concrete. In the false ceiling are “loops” cut, organically shaped openings that allow visual contact between bottom and top. The innovative daylight concept in the mall saves energy and creates a bright, pleasant market ambience. This also benefits the shops, especially the first large food market with natural lighting.
