Marianne | Mario Steiner (mariosteiner.com)

It is hard to believe, how living areas, ways of communication, work environments, supply, mobility, financial situations or free time activities have changed in the recent years. Regarding housing, these trends cannot be recognized apart from the technicization. Cities are constantly growing. As the demands exceed the supply, more living spaces are needed faster and faster. The restricted possibilities of choice and design affecting future inhabitants is surprising. Additionally, there is a threat that non-material qualities that can be attributed to emotional, functional and sociological levels will be forgotten. Therefore, it has to be questioned, if people need new forms of housing and whether current forms of housing are still contemporary or already outdated.

Co-operative housing represent a counter-model of mass housing-constructions. The desire for self-management, self-determination and neighbourly coexistence is getting increasingly louder, hence the trend of Co-operative housing is not new. A journey into the past, describes and represents the emergence of this movement, filters out the essential parameters and questions the boundaries of the living spaces. Based on this analysis, the collected results regarding the urban development area Neu Marx in Vienna will be applied to a practical example.