Sargfabrik – Verein für Integrative Lebensgestaltung

About the Sargfabrik

The Sargfabrik is a self-managed, non-profit housing and cultural project in Vienna's 14th district, run by the Verein für Integrative Lebensgestaltung (VIL). Opened in 1996, the project covers 7,750 m² with 100 residential units housing around 200 residents, plus a cultural house, seminar house, bath house, café-restaurant and children's house. In 2000, the Miss Sargfabrik at Missindorfstraße 10 followed as an extension of 3,000 m² with 39 additional residential units, a library and a communal kitchen. The legal form of a residential home (Wohnheim) enables generous communal spaces, a socio-pedagogical shared community, seven residential home places for people with special needs as well as accommodation places for short-term housing needs, including for refugees. Architecturally, the project combines reinforced concrete, lightweight construction and flexible floor plans with ecological features such as district heating, a roof garden and photovoltaics. Operated by around 15 employees, the residents run the project together with volunteer working groups and the management.

Site

Vienna

Processes

Cultural house (concerts, music events), Bath house (sauna, tepidarium), Seminar house, Café-Restaurant Kant_Ine Vier Zehn, Children's house, Room rental, socio-pedagogical shared community, Housing places for people with special needs

Materials

Reinforced Concrete / Lightweight Construction

Certificates

Non-profit association, Legal form: residential home (Wohnheim)

Founded

1996

Employees

ca. 15

Industries

Housing project / Public welfare, Culture / Events, Social / Integration

1. 01

   Housing

2. 02

   Cultural House

3. 03

   Seminar House

4. 04

   Bath House

5. 05

   Children's House

6. 06

   Café-Restaurant

7. 07

   Social Integration

Architecture and Construction Method

Locations

Sargfabrik, Goldschlagstraße 169, A-1140 Vienna

AT

Headquarters: residential home, cultural house, seminar house, bath house, café-restaurant, children's house

Materials

reinforced concrete, lightweight construction

Miss Sargfabrik, Missindorfstraße 10, Vienna

AT

Extension: 39 residential units, library, communal kitchen

Inside the production

Organisation and Self-Governance

The project is self-managed: a voluntary association board and the operational management steer the project, with the general assembly as the highest decision-making body. Residents support the day-to-day operations in working groups.

History

1. 1986

   Around 30 people found the Verein für Integrative Lebensgestaltung (VIL), initially under the nickname Utopian Centre

2. 1989

   Purchase of the former coffin factory Maschner & Söhne at Goldschlagstraße 169 for 13 million schillings

3. 1992

   Failure of the adaptation plans for the old brick buildings during the construction negotiations; new building decided

4. 1994

   Start of construction

5. 1996

   Opening of the Sargfabrik: 73 apartments ('boxes'), around 110 adults and 45 children/young people move in

6. 1998

   Planning of the 3,000 m² extension by BKK-3

7. 1999

   Start of construction of the Miss Sargfabrik

8. 2000

   Completion of the Miss Sargfabrik with 39 residential units at Missindorfstraße 10