The Parish Church am Schöpfwerk is a Catholic church dedicated to St Francis, built to plans by the architect Viktor Hufnagl between 1979 and 1981. It is an integral part of the Am Schöpfwerk public housing complex, a city within the city comparable to the nearby Wohnpark Alt-Erlaa, built in the year 1974 by the same architect. The large residential complex consists of a total of 1704 apartments with approximately 8000 inhabitants, a garage, kindergartens, two schools, a public library, medical practices, a bank and several shops and welfare facilities. Over the past 30 years the housing complex, which originally was seen as an exemplary estate, gained notoriety as a social hotspot. Prejudices were strengthened by media reports and a popular Austrian film, Muttertag (Mother’s Day), which is a satirical portrait of the different types of residents living on the estate.
But back to the Parish Church. The characteristic terraced construction of the church obviously borrows its design from Egyptian stepped pyramids. Other parts, such as the dome-shaped central building and the décor, are reminiscent of Byzantine architecture. One could argue that this mix is rather unusual for a Catholic church built in the late 1970s. Unsurprisingly, the pyramid shape also defines the interior. The gradual narrowing from one stepped level to the next and the resulting gradual incidence of light create a unique spatial experience, an impression enhanced by the green and gold ornamented wall tiles.
Next to the main building a free-standing bell tower, seven storeys high, soars into the sky like a campanile. With its red-brick masonry, the Parish Church am Schöpfwerk references the red brick gothic architecture of Northern Germany and Scandinavia as well as 19th-century industrial buildings in Central Europe. The fact that this masonry also functions as a gap-filler between the reinforced concrete skeleton is another aspect that contributes to the description of the structure as a deliberate combination of both modern and traditional elements and styles.
Researcher Joshua Koeb
Function
1981Religious object: catholic church
2018 Religious object: catholic church
Ownership
1981 Katholische Kirche – Erzdiözese Wien
2018 Katholische Kirche – Erzdiözese Wien
Condition
1981 Good
2018 Good
Property Management
1981
2018
Form of government
1981 Parliamentary Republic
2018 Parliamentary Republic
Spatial Planning Agency
1981
2018
Type of heritage and protection
1981
2018 National monument (BDA 1.8.2004 GdStr. 301/4 EZ 1176 KG 01301 Altmannsdorf)
Interview with Ernst L.
Local resident
Interview with Gabriela S.
Local resident
Interview with Salim T.
Local resident
In fact, I think they built two things at the same time.
The architect must have had something in mind. But it’s not a church. – Only recently there was a tourist here from Indonesia and she googled ‘church’. So she came here and looked for the church on Max-Winter-Platz, 20th district, at Vorgartenstrasse, Mexikoplatz. But somehow Google brought her here.