The buildings that we visited for the third CAT assignment were interesting because it marked a change in the time. Red Vienna was a huge part of modern Vienna, especially in the communist perspective towards equality and community.
We had walked to Reumannhauf which is housing complex constructed during that time. It was made to ensure opportunity for lower working class families who were affected by the instability from in and out of the country. Entering the open courtyard, there is a lot of greenery and a pathway leading to the children’s school in the center of the building complex. To the right and left of the main building, there are different complexes that are enclosed in bright red gates. Looking through the gates into a subsection of the complex, there was a mother and son sitting near the fountain in more secluded section of the courtyard. They were playing with the water while other residents walked around to and from their apartments going on with their daily activities. The courtyard in the complex was extremely green, with vegetation surrounding the fountain and walkway, mimicking a natural habitat. The complex had a simple brick and white facade with windows all over the complex.
When we were visiting the complex, there were two people sitting outside of the kindergarten in the premises. The fact that they were sitting there outside where there were children walking into the classroom was interesting because not only is this space still a living housing space but also it functions to help the people living in it through its services. The working school and communal areas, like the well-kept outdoor pool, shows how there is still a substantial effort to maintain and provide opportunities to the working class.
Blau had discussed in her article “Re-visiting Red Vienna” how “the process was to be one of hineinwachsen, slow growth from within, by creating institutions that would prepare the working class culturally and intellectually for its historical role”. Looking at the Karl-Marx Hof and the Reumannhauf showed this realization of creating a slow growth bringing the working class to a position of power equal to the elite. (There was an interesting political cartoon in the Karl Marx Hof of this idea that I didn’t get a photo of but demonstrated this perfectly.)
Visiting the Karl Marx Hof with a tour guide describing the intricate details to the facility and illuminating the thoughts of the people living there was a different experience to going to the other housing facility ourselves. Our tour guide had described how there was a motion to create solidarity in a new human by introducing access to education, freedom, fitness, and child care. It was especially interesting to see the smaller underpinnings of communist perspective towards the housing system and lifestyle. The tour guide was talking about some statues that were symbols of the ideas behind the housing system. One of the statues showed off the breaking of the chains of capitalism and the enforcement of equality. Everyone’s idea of communism is tainted to the extreme but seeing what the tour guide had to say showed how at its ideology, the communal aspect of communism was something to look towards as a goal of camaraderie. What struck me was how the oldest buildings had poles where people could put flags to celebrate both the working class and Vienna. But, the newer houses took down this addition, hinting at the shift in political and social perspectives in contemporary society.
All of the information learnt at the tour and CAT assignment showed how they still hold to such great value the statues and ideas imprinted in the designed space. Reflecting on the US, there is a lot of government housing but the rates at which they are offered and the security they provide is lackluster. I did not get to see the complex in function during the night or without the disguise of a memorialized tour, but it seemed like there was a sense of nationalism and effort to keep up the work and ideas presented in the inception of the social housing movement in Red Vienna. I wonder how a more dedicated government system working towards a successful social housing program can affect the quality of life and nationalism in Arizona.
Ananth Abroad 