Hello Architecture and Design Enthusiasts!
In this post, I am sharing one of the FLAK towers that was amazingly converted into an Aqua Terra Zoo. The ownership of the FLAK towers had been turned-over by the Republic of Austria to the City of Vienna in 1992 but was later on, transferred to the Non-Profit Private Foundation of the Haus des Meeres. There were so many instances, difficulties and conflicts that this project went through. It was planned to turn it into a hotel but that did not materialize. These conflicts led to the delays of completing the project.
The city administrators together with the sponsors decided to make the conversion through a survey conducted on the locals of the 7th District of Mariahilfer-Strasse on whether to build a panorama Lift that would bring the visitors to the 11th Floor that is now called Ocean Sky which took 7 years before operation. They also made extensions of a hanging steel and glass structure for exhibitions, thereby the steel structure was planned by DI Christian Aue and for the reinforced concrete by DI Josef Mayer. The glass hanging structures is where the tropical area is located where the visitors and the animals can roam freely.
Brief Background
There are six FLAK towers and an unfinished one built by Adolf Hitler in the city of Vienna during his occupation in World War II. When the Allied forces, namely the USAF and the Royal Air Force, arrived in Italy, they planned joint forces to attack Vienna. Vienna was bombarded more than 50 times . Between 1942 - 1944, the FLAK towers were built to protect the city center. These are high bunkers and shelters built above ground for air defense. On top of the tower a well mounted anti-aircraft gun and fire control system were also built complete with radar. The architect was the German born Friedrich Tamms who was a civil engineer and a professor at the Technische Schule (Technical School) in Berlin who also built the FLAK towers in Germany specifically in Berlin and Hamburg.
All the 6 towers are still standing in Vienna. Until now, there have been debates on what to do with these towers since to dismantle or to blow-up the whole buildings would cost the city about 100 Million Euros for each tower.
Image Source
What is a FLAK Tower ?
FLAK = FliegerAbwehrKanone (Anti Aircraft Gun) is a special structure built as air defense to protect the city center of Vienna . These towers were built in pairs which is composed of three combat towers (G) each with a fire control tower (L) and is situated in a triangle form that surrounds the St. Stephen's Cathedral as the center. These bunkers were also intended as temporary hospitals to facilitate care for the wounded soldiers; radio transmitters were installed for communication purposes. The towers were also planned as air raid shelters for the population on a big scale.
Esterhazy FLAK Tower
Because of the air raids done by the Americans and the British Air Forces that damaged many important historicals monuments, buildings such as the St. Stephen's Cathedral, the State Opera and thousands of flats and houses, Adolf Hitler ordered the construction of this FLAK tower within 10 months that was finished in 1943. This FLAK tower serves as a control tower communicating with the combat tower nearby. They have used up more than 130,000+ tons of concrete, so you can imagine the thickness of the wall of 2.5 meters and with a ceiling thickness of 3.5 meters, all reinforced with steel.
The Distribution of the floors in the now Haus des Meeres
In the plan above, we can see the distribution of the floors and its uses. Added has been the 11th Floor that houses a restaurant and a panorama platform to view the whole city . The cost of energy to run the whole building is about 1000 Euros per day (!) and to help lower costs, solar panels were installed on the roof of the restaurant which is run by Wien Energie. The rest of the maintenance is paid by the taxpayers.
The Fishes...
On the 7th Floor, there is a special 400,000 Liter shark basin installed so that everyone can see sharks and stingrays and thousands of different fishes.
The reptiles below can be found on the 6th floor.
The one side of the wall of the FLAK tower is vertically planted with various kinds of climbers as well as flowering plants. It is a green wall.
And for those sport enthusiasts, the other side wall below, is dedicated to the wanna be Alps mountain climbers.
The added 11th floor called Ocean Sky was built in 2019 , it has a restaurant deemed to cater to the tired visitors with a fantastic view of the whole city. The roof is made of photo voltaic solar panels.
The View of the city of Vienna from the 11th Floor called Ocean Sky can be reached via a separate lift.
World War II Museum
This museum is a compilation of various gadgets, weapons, soldier uniforms, etc that were found inside the Esterhazy Flak tower after the war. It also shows the history of how the Flak tower evolved .A museum that is found in exactly the same room on the 10th floor of the control tower.
NOTE: If you ever plan to come to Vienna, do visit the Haus des Meeres ... It is worth your time, that's a promise.
References :
1... https://www.haus-des-meeres.at/en/Flakturm/Flak-Tower.htm
2... https://deu.archinform.net/projekte/18866.htm
3... https://www.nzz.ch/international/75-jahre-kriegsende-wien-und-die-flaktuerme-aus-dem-dritten-reich-ld.1550914
[//]:# (!pinmapple 48.479977 lat 16.040039 long ,Haus Des Meeres, 1060 Vienna, Austria d3scr)
