Integrative Design Studio Airport City Vienna. Spatial Interventions II. Break Spaces

Airport City Vienna is the city surrounding the Vienna Airport, which is being transformed from a threshold space into a new urban center. Based on the existing space and the facilities on site, we will develop spatial offers that focus on public space, promote community and respond to the needs of the people in the Airport City, bring green space back into the city and create liveable spaces for a break. In the course of the design process, the students will develop and install spatial and architectural interventions on the Airport City site and present them for discussion on site.
 
Break rooms
Breaks are balm for body and soul. They allow us to take a deep breath and make us more productive and efficient. Breaks give us time out, they give us air and space between activities. They open up interspaces in our minds. Breaks have psychological effects, they increase well-being, people feel fitter and generally healthier. Only those who are allowed to let go in between can process impressions, recognize connections, filter the essentials and draw the right conclusions. During breaks, we can slow down and make sure we have a change of pace: Vacations, free time, holidays and weekends create great breaks. Breaks from everyday life do not have to be major events. Complementary activities make breaks more effective. Sedentary activities can be balanced out with exercise, those who work a lot in teams should use a break for personal retreat, and those who are constantly on their feet can take a break for a while. Conscious breathing, perceiving sensory impressions, feeling the wind and weather help us to be in the here and now. Taking active breaks feels better than passively consuming something. Consciously doing nothing, exercise, fresh air, eating and drinking, self-respect and self-care, community, artistic activities such as listening to music can pick us up and take our minds off things.
 
Location
Airport City Vienna is located at the heart of Vienna International Airport and offers office space in the immediate vicinity of the terminal, the Cargo Center Vienna logistics and freight handling centre and the future east & west zones. A new economic hub covering a total of 360,000 m2 is being created. 230 companies with a total of over 20,000 employees are currently located at the airport. By 2025, 1,400 hotel rooms will be available. Hence, Airport City Vienna is standing on the threshold of huge changes. Austria’s Eastern Region and the Vienna Airport Region are benefitting from these changes due to their locational qualities and outstanding infrastructure. No longer just the headquarters of Vienna International Airport, Airport City Vienna has developed into an attractive office and administrative location. Last but not least, the pandemic has made us aware of the transformation of working. Working from home and remote working have changed our everyday working lives dramatically. The individual workplace has given way to the desire for meeting rooms and meeting zones. People not only go to the office to work, but also to meet colleagues, socialize and engage in informal exchanges. Retreats create free spaces that support teams and make it easier to achieve goals outside of familiar surroundings. However, getting away from everyday life is also important in the daily work routine. A break helps us to avoid fatigue, maintain creativity and increase satisfaction. In the workplace environment, however, it is often difficult to find time for breaks, to distance ourselves from constant availability and to swap constant availability for times that free us up for new thoughts, to find order and clarity or simply to switch off for a moment. To take a break.
 
The public space outside the office becomes an extended workplace that also promises a break in everyday life. These are spaces for relaxing, chatting with friends, having lunch together or taking a coffee break outside. It can be a place to meditate or a place that is suitable for yoga exercises. Or simply a shady spot under a tree. A break is successful when we are completely in the here and now. Breathe consciously, perceive sensations, consciously experience contact with the ground, actively follow your senses. Rooms can provide us with intensive support. They offer us protection from too much sun, wind or noise. They invite us to sit down, lie down or lean against their walls. Rooms offer us ideas on how we can use places that we hadn't thought of or that we wouldn't expect to find there. They show us spaces of possibility, invite us to be active so that we can continue working afterwards with a clear head.
 
Objective
The requirements for break times are very different. People who work on screens need contact with others and want to have a coffee break. Others who spend a lot of time in meetings want to withdraw and reflect during their break. People who do their work sitting down may want to get some exercise. Getting away from the office routine, getting away from the workplace, walking around the block to get some fresh air helps people to reduce stress, establish recovery times and maintain satisfaction and ultimately health. However, this can only succeed if there are also spaces that invite people to actively use these breaks.
 
We are looking for places for regeneration, reflection or simply spaces and situations that are completely different from everyday life. Spaces that cater to special needs have become established in the working environment. Think of meeting islands, telephone niches and coffee corners. Outside of our workspaces, however, we only know of a few spaces that cater to individual needs and can do more than a bench. But we also have needs outside that require special attention. Reading in the shade, making phone calls in peace, chatting with friends, hanging out after work, meditating in seclusion, talking to someone, relaxing. If we take these needs seriously, we derive specific requirements for our environment from them. We want to protect ourselves from too much sun and wind, we need protection from the rain, we want to be able to sit and lie down and relax, talk undisturbed, sit around a table in company, listen to the sound of a fountain or hear the buzzing of insects.
Tasks could be a pavilion with a coffee machine and seating, a food shelf with a snack table or a hammock with a sun canopy. It could be a landscaped space with a windbreak wall and loungers, a retreat room with a meditation niche, a drinks machine with a counter, a chatting corner with a green oasis or a gym with a yoga mat, to name just a few ideas.
The break room is a hub of public life and a public space that serves as a meeting place. Several functions are to be incorporated. The urban meeting zone creates a link between the different functions, it is a place to stay and relax, which also accommodates areas for services.