One of the most successful residential reuse projects is Gasometer City, in Vienna Austria. Four immense disused gasometers were successfully revamped in the late ‘90s and have since become infamous in the world of adaptive reuse.
Built in 1896, when Viennese authorities decided to invest in large-scale coal gas and electricity supplies, the gas plant serviced the locale and beyond for a good 88 years, until it was shut down permanently in 1984 after natural gas supplies took over
After they were finally retired from gas storage, these ornate red brick structures were deemed too beautiful to be destroyed. Instead they were converted into apartment blocks and commercial space.
Only brick facades and metallic roofs remain of the original construction. The new interior of each gasometer was designed by a different architect, Jean Nouvel (Gasometer A), Coop Himmelblau (Gasometer B), Manfred Wehdorn (Gasometer C), and Wilhelm Holzbauer (Gasometer D). The reconstruction started in 1995 and finished in 2001.
The lower floors of the gasometers are occupied by shopping malls, mid levels are converted into office spaces, and apartments are situated on the top of the structures.
