OMA unveils their first Vienna project — a new KaDeWe department store and hotel ​

OMA has scored another commission from major German retailer KaDeWe. A few years after they were appointed to renovate KaDeWe's Berlin store, the Dutch firm announced today that their team won the competition to design KaDeWe's new department store and hotel in Vienna's historic Museumquartier district. If all goes according to plan, the complex will be OMA's first Vienna-based project.

With OMA's Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Ellen van Loon, and Laurence Bolhaar as the design leads, the new complex will feature a facade inspired by the “gentle and sophisticated geometries of the architecture of the Vienna Secession”, the firm says.

Their design splits the project into two volumes, with the store up front and the hotel in the rear, and a green passage in between that leads visitors to a series of public roof-gardens.

From tree groves to sun decks, the roof gardens will vary in “quality and character” and provide views of the surrounding city. Connecting to the Museumquartier's pedestrian network, the complex will also offer new public spaces in the historic district.

“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,” Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli and Ellen van Loon said in a statement. “The building is not an icon but rather an architectural device that establishes new urban connections and public spaces through its own internal organization.”

Find more project images in the gallery below.

Project credits:
KaDeWe Vienna – The Link
Client: Signa
Development Program: Retail, hotel, rooftop gardens, public spaces
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 

COLLABORATORS
Landscape Architect: Vogt Landschaftsarchitekten
Sustainability: IPJ Ingenieursbüro P. Jung
Structural engineering and MEP: Vasko + Partner