OMA wins competition for The New Kadewe Vienna Department Store

OMA / Ellen van Loon and Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli will design the new KaDeWe department store and hotel in Vienna’s Museumsquartier.

Architect: OMA
Client: Signa Development
Location: Vienna, Austria
Year: 2019
Partners-in-charge: Ellen van Loon and Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli
Project Architect: Laurence Bolhaar
Team: Anita Ernodi, Alexei Haddad, Mattia Inselvini, Natalie Konopelski, Antonia Rubic, Massimo Tenan, Michele Zambetti
Landscape Architect: Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten
Sustainability: IPJ Ingenieursbüro P. Jung
Structural engineering and MEP: Vasko + Partner
Images: OMA

From the architect: This was announced after a final jury meeting on October 1, concluding a design competition organized by the developer Signa.

Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and Ellen van Loon: “The value of department stores should be measured by their ability to engage the local context. We are very excited about the opportunity to work in the historical heart of Vienna, and with this project we intend to highlight its qualities. The building is not an icon but rather an architectural device that establishes new urban connections and public spaces through its own internal organisation.”

The main program components are split in two volumes, retail up front and hotel in the rear, between which OMA created a green passage that invites people up to a series of public roofgardens. The gardens range in quality and character – from tree groves to sun decks – generating unprecedented views from all sides of the building onto the city. The KaDeWe complex is connected to the pedestrian network of the area and provides new types of public spaces in the historical center. The façade is inspired by the gentle and sophisticated geometries of the architecture of the Vienna Secession.

Upon completion this will be OMA’s first project in Vienna. OMA is currently also leading the renovation of KaDeWe Berlin. 

The project is led by Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Ellen van Loon and Laurence Bolhaar. Landscape design is in collaboration with Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten, sustainability by IPJ Ingenieursbüro P. Jung and structural engineering and MEP by Vasko + Partner.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: OMA and Laboratorio Permanente win competition for Scalo Farini in Milan

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: OMA / Chris van Duijn's Xhinhu Hangzhou Prism breaks ground