The Gasometers of Vienna date back to 1896 when Viennese authorities decided it was time to invest in large-scale gas and electric utilities. In just three years, the city built Europe’s largest gas plant (which included the four gasometers) and laid more than 500 km (300 miles) of gas lines.
Over time, natural gas replaced coal gas, and the gasometers were no longer needed. The gas plant was permanently shut down in 1984.
Eventually, Vienna undertook a remodelling and revitalization of the protected monuments; and in 1995 called for ideas for the new use of the structures. The chosen designs by the architects Jean Nouvel (Gasometer A), Coop Himmelblau (Gasometer B), Manfred Wehdorn (Gasometer C) and Wilhelm Holzbauer (Gasometer D) were completed between 1999 and 2001. Each gasometer was divided into several zones for living (apartments in the top), working (offices in the middle floors) and entertainment and shopping (shopping malls in the ground floors). The shopping mall levels in each gasometer are connected to the others by skybridges
