According to intrepid PT correspondent James Bligh, three days in Vienna is not enough time to digest “the complex layers of history that have been developing here since at least as far back as the first century.”
In that time the site was a Roman outpost that connected (what is now) Great Britain to Syria. What follows is an outsider’s reading of the city from only so much exposure…
Within the urban form of Vienna there appears a story of small victories for a working class that lived under a 400 year old monarchist dynasty until 1918 and then the shadow cast in its following absence. Here are a few examples of the city’s built fabric responding in favour of the public good, from the most recent (and Enlightened) 200 years.
Those examples, via James’ photographs and commentary from Vienna, follow below; you can see the full set on the Price Tags Instagram feed.
The interior detail design of Skyrain’s original Expo Line stations were strongly influenced by Vienna’s. The modular metal panels, painted tubular handrails, and curved ceiling drops that give a sense of enclosure when the train is in the station were all part of the 1970’s Vienna station design handbook.