Philips Haus – an icon of 1960s modernism – forms a welcoming gesture on the southern entrance to the city of Vienna. Although dwarfed by nearby Wienerberg City, it continues to make an impact more than fifty years after its completion. Its shape and anatomy remain distinctively unique, leaving behind an architectural afterglow in the eyes of the thousands of motorists that drive by every day. Philips Haus still conveys the visionary spirit of its designer, renowned Viennese architect Karl Schwanzer.

Originally conceived as the Austrian headquarters of Philips, it was opened in April 1965, after 4 years of construction starting in late 1961. Philips Haus showcases a particularly unique construction. It rests on 4 slender reinforced concrete pylons, prominently visible on its facades. Between those – and cantilevering beyond them considerably – span more than 70 metres long prestressed concrete beams. Two per floor, spaced 14m deep, connected by a minimized secondary floor and beam construction. As a result, the individual floors seem to rest between the primary pylons like a stack of shelves inserted through a pair of ladders. The centre-span of the longitudinal beams measures 39 meters, its cantilevers 16 meters on each side. A 76-meter-long, three-storey podium, sits off -centre underneath the high-rise slab. Both volumes are interconnected through a shared vertical circulation core.