OMA has won a competition to build The Link hotel and department store in Vienna, which will be topped by a series of public rooftop gardens.
Set to become OMA's first project in Austria, The Link will be built adjacent to Vienna's cultural MuseumsQuartier on the Mariahilferstraße, one of the capital's main streets.
It will contain a mix of shops, restaurants and a hotel, topped by several publicly accessible rooftop gardens designed to provide the city with an array of new and contemporary public spaces.

The visuals revealed by OMA show that The Link will partially replace an existing department store on the street, demolishing one half of it while overhauling and building on top of the other.
Its facade will form a subtle continuation of structure that is retained, and will also incorporate sculptural details that nod to the "gentle and sophisticated geometries of the architecture of the Vienna Secession" art movement found throughout the city.
"The value of department stores should be measured by their ability to engage the local context," explained partners Ellen van Loon and Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, who are leading the project.

"We are very excited about the opportunity to work in the historical heart of Vienna, and with this project we intend to highlight its qualities," they continued.
"The building is not an icon but rather an architectural device that establishes new urban connections and public spaces through its own in...