“The policy in Vienna at the turn of the millennium was that buildings should be no higher than 110 or 120 metres. At the same time, back then we were facing the challenge of planning for sufficient gross floor area for later use – about 750 – 1000 square metres. This height-to-width ratio would have resulted in a building that resembled a gravestone; not the rocket we envisaged. We broke away from the conventional policy and built a real skyscraper with a 1:4 ratio and a height, including the spire and antenna, of 202 metres.

The Millennium Tower thus became an architectural beacon, the lighthouse on the Danube, that draws streams of pedestrians from the Danube Canal up to the Danube.

The interface resulting from the geometric penetration of the two basic cylinder shapes has been made particularly pronounced in the facade. From the inner space, a footbridge leads to the river.

Looking down the length of the boulevard of the new Austria Campus, you see the Millennium Tower rising up at the end – a major axis of town planning in Vienna that is finally completed.

Another idea was not to simply build the tower to be parallel, but instead slightly oblique to the Danube, resulting in the view from the tower over the Danube being more attractive, and the tower not simply standing there like a wall. It’s easy to look past its narrow silhouette. This artistic trick means the Millennium Tower extends a greeting to everyone coming down the Danube to Vienna.”