Viertel Zwei: Marcel Wanders Reimagines the Workplace in a Vienna Grandstand
The workplace designed by Marcel Wanders for Value One at Viertel Zwei occupies an unusual architectural setting: a former grandstand beside Vienna’s Krieau trotting track. Completed in 2021, the interior sits within a wider restoration and extension of listed buildings. Its combination of colourful furnishings, planted settings and generous shared rooms gave a new working life to a structure originally made for spectators.
A red curved sofa creates a distinct meeting place within the larger interior. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
Value One moved its headquarters to Tribüne 2 in July 2021. The client’s account describes an approach based on choosing a setting to suit a task, with individual desks supported by a range of quieter and more social places. The interior therefore had to accommodate several ways of working within the same building, while keeping the older structure recognisable.
An architectural inheritance remains visible
The historic grandstands were designed in the early twentieth century by Marcel Kammerer, Otto Schönthal and Emil Hoppe, pupils of Otto Wagner. The restoration of Tribüne 2 and its new extension was planned by architect Martin Kohlbauer, with the work coordinated with Austria’s Federal Monuments Office.
The historic grandstand and its contemporary extension form the architectural setting for the workplace. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
According to Value One’s opening release, surviving ticket booths were restored and incorporated into the office setting, original swing doors found a new role as office doors, and decorative water spouts were repaired. Such elements kept the building’s earlier use present through physical details. The photographs of the completed project show the historic exterior beside a contemporary glazed volume, making the relationship between inherited fabric and new construction legible.
The reception bar establishes a clear arrival point beneath the glazed volume. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
Different settings for different tasks
The client described a usable workspace of 3,850 m² organised around activity-based working. Fixed and flexible desks were joined by focus areas, a library, project islands and meeting rooms. These were complemented by quieter soft meeting areas for shorter exchanges, giving everyday work several possible settings.
A ribbed enclosure, planting and a patterned rug define a small shared seating setting. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
The shared programme extended beyond desks. A reception bar formed the Welcome Stage, while the Performing Stage accommodated displays and events. A Prototyping Stage supported creative work, and dining facilities, outdoor meeting areas and places for guests expanded the range further. These names set out the intended uses of the spaces without requiring every encounter to take place in a conventional meeting room.
Colour and furniture define smaller places
In the studio’s photographs, curved red seating wraps around tables on large floral carpets. Elsewhere, green upholstered chairs gather beside a long shared table beneath oversized yellow pendants. The colour changes help distinguish these arrangements within an interior that often remains visually open.
Green chairs and oversized yellow pendants define a long shared table. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
Planted seating areas are framed by black curved ribs, creating recognisable enclosures without making them solid rooms. Leaves, hanging lights and patterned rugs establish a different scale beneath the larger volume. The result is a series of clearly furnished destinations, each shaped through the relationship between its seats, table, lighting and surrounding surface.
Shared rooms and daylight
The brighter communal areas use double-height space and large glazed surfaces to connect their different levels. In one photographed café-like setting, long high tables, stools and smaller round tables sit under a coloured glazed roof. The arrangement accommodates several sizes of group without repeating one furniture configuration throughout.
An upholstered booth offers a smaller setting for conversation beside the windows. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
At the reception, an extended white counter is paired with warm timber elements and a green padded backdrop. Its strong horizontal form provides a clear point of arrival beneath the canopy. Across these spaces, the studio’s stated emphasis on community is expressed through the number and variety of places where people can gather. Claims about productivity or wellbeing remain intentions of the design brief rather than measured outcomes presented here.
Tables of different heights and sizes furnish a bright communal room. Photography: Nicole Marnati. Courtesy of Marcel Wanders.
Project information and sources
Project: Viertel Zwei / Value One workplace at Tribüne 2. Location: Am grünen Prater 2, Vienna, Austria. Year: 2021. Client: Value One. Interior design: Marcel Wanders. Tribüne 2 revitalisation architect: Martin Kohlbauer. Usable workspace described by the client: 3,850 m². Photography: Nicole Marnati.
Project credit: Viertel Zwei, an iconic interior by Marcel Wanders for Value One, 2021.
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