Subway stations are located in very different urban environments. They help shape these environments, and some can even become crystallization nuclei for new urban neighborhoods. A selection shows the great diversity of urban spaces shaped by subway stations.
Station with world connection
U1 Kaisermühlen Station
This station is particularly cosmopolitan and full of contrasts.
On one side is the Danube Island, on the other the Vienna International Centre (UNO-City) with its 5,000 workplaces, but also the conference center, which can accommodate up to 20,000 people.
It is not far from here to the Old Danube, if you feel like rest and relaxation.
Citygate
U1 station Aderklaaer Straße
Sometimes developments happen with a certain delay. Around 2007, there were considerations to close the station due to low passenger frequencies until the surrounding area was further developed.
From 2009 onwards, things happened in quick succession: First, a park-and-ride facility was built, then the Citygate project was created, consisting of around 1,000 apartments and a large shopping center, two high-rise residential buildings and a public park.
Car-free center
U1 / U3 Station Stephansplatz
Until the early 1970s, car traffic moved on four lanes through Kärtnerstraße and Graben.
In 1973, Stephansplatz was closed for the construction of the subway and car traffic was stopped.
The establishment of pedestrian zones in Vienna was always closely linked to the expansion of the subway: subway it became faster, above it one could stroll car-free in return.
Parking extension
U2 Station Messe-Prater
The surroundings of this station offer examples of the numerous small improvement measures around subway stations.
Due to construction work for the subway, the small Wolfgang-Kössner Park was severely damaged.
After the subway was completed, it was restored and enlarged by 3,500 square meters.
The park is named after police officer Wolfgang Kössner, who died in the line of duty in 1991.
Open Air Gallery
U2 Station Krieau
Art can be an essential part of the station design, and that also in the outdoor space.
14 columns of the bridge support structure were painted by the French graffiti artist Honet in the style of totem poles, and 14 additional columns were painted by the Brazilian graphic artist Speto under the title “3 Brothers.”
His installation is inspired by myths and tales of the indigenous people of the Amazon basin.
Nucleus of the Urban Lakeside
U2 station Seestadt Aspern
The Seestadt subway station was already opened in the fall of 2013, when not much could be seen of the new district.
It represents a focal point of Seestadt Aspern, one of the largest urban development areas in Europe.
The area of the former Aspern airfield will be built on by around 2030, when around 20,000 people will live and work in Seestadt.
Archaeology Museum
U3 Stubentor Station
A staircase leads to the history of the city fortifications, which were built between 1530 and 1680.
Parts of the city wall were integrated into the station.
During excavations, archaeologists found a wealth of everyday objects that people had thrown into the old city moat over the course of centuries – including children’s toys, household electronics and eating utensils.
Park and market
U3 Rochusgasse Station
In the course of the subway construction, the old Rochusmarkt had to be demolished in 1984.
In 1988, it was slightly shifted and rebuilt with 31 new stalls. At the other end of the station the Rochuspark was created.
Viennese garden planner Maria Auböck and garden designer Ernst Hoffmann designed a sequence of garden spaces with many areas of use, rows of trees, walls, a playground and a perennial garden.
Vienna Water World
U3 Station Johnstraße
The station is located below a listed moated castle, which became a crystallization point for urban development.
The Meiselmarkt was accommodated in the historic vault.
Between Johnstraße and Kardinal-Rauscher-Platz, the surfaces were redesigned according to plans by architects Rudolf Guttmann and Rupert Falkner, and a total of seven fountains were created by various artists.
They form the Vienna Water World.
Beach feeling
U6 New Danube Station
The elevated station, which is situated in a particularly charming location, knows the quiet idyll as well as the loud hustle and bustle.
It provides access to the Floridsdorf cottage district of Bruckhaufen and the Alte Donau including the popular riverside inns and recreational areas.
During the Danube Island Festival in June, the station is transformed into a crowded train station from which a considerable number of the three million visitors arrive and depart.
