Austria’s tallest building on completion, DC Tower 1, has become an invaluable landmark of the Donau-city in Vienna. The 220-meter building comprises an entirely new urban district with a diverse range of functions: offices, a four star hotel, apartments, a sky bar, a public open space, restaurants, and a fitness centre. The folds contrast with the no-nonsense rigour of the other three façades, creating a tension that electrifies the public space at the tower’s base. The façade’s folds give the tower a liquid, immaterial character, a malleability constantly adapting to the light, a reflection or an event. Dancing on its platform, the tower is slightly oriented toward the river to open a dialogue with the rest of the city, turning its back on no one, neither the historic nor the new Vienna. A subtle game of flat and folded façades affords the glass and steel tower a sensual identity. The exposed concrete structure is meant to be touchable.
