A new city park has been created on former railroad tracks: A grove of flowering trees surrounds the central, open meadow clearing and integrates playgrounds, tenant gardens, and a sun deck with a café as a matter of course.

Profound changes in the urban fabric of the 10th district opened up the possibility of redefining the Stadtfeld between the inner and outer districts. Under the motto “From Station to City,” a new city park has been created on former railroad tracks. Modeled on a classic people’s park, the new park consists of a few clear main elements.

Our design harmoniously encloses a central, open lawn depression with a wreath of flowering, small-crowned trees. The dense lushness of the grove creates a soothing counterpoint to the open expanse of the clearing. The striking jump in scale of the low trees in front of the large-scale building facades gives the park an independent horizon. The small-crowned trees ensure that the beautiful view from the apartments is not overgrown. Their shade provides a variety of spaces for retreat and use.

The park is accessed by a dense network of paths that links it to the adjacent city via numerous crossing possibilities. On the sun terrace on the east side of the lawn, the park café forms an attractive meeting place in the neighborhood. The community gardens are located at the southeast entrance to the park.

The near-natural border areas form a diverse urban biotope for plants and animals. We have provided different lawn and meadow communities to increase biodiversity and provide alternating wetland biotopes for infiltration of rainwater runoff from the paved areas. Insects and small animals, snakes and rabbits have already found a new home in Helmut Zilk Park in the first year.

Project Data

Landscape Architecture: Uniola

Project Location: Hlawkagasse 2, 1100 Wien, Österreich

Year completed: 2017

Photo credits: Hertha Hurnaus