St. Claret-Ziegelhof

The St. Claret-Ziegelhof is a Roman Catholic parish church in Vienna’s 22nd district, Donaustadt. It stands beside the Quadenstraße in the Ziegelhofstraße community housing estate. The building was designed by the IGIRIEN team of architects Werner Appelt, Franz E. Kneissl and Elsa Prochazka. Their plan was first used in 1977 for St. Christoph am Rennbahnweg, then again for St. Michael in Groß-Jedlersdorf, and finally in 1981 for this church. The parish is run by the Claretiner order, whose founder, St. Antonius Maria Claret, gives the church its name.

The church is built as a square with a lower outer ring of ancillary rooms. Inside, a square hall forms the worship space. Above it, a broad lantern in the roof lets light flood down through the glazed sides. The outer walls of the ancillary rooms are wrapped in blind arcading that gives rhythm to the façade. The design was chosen to create a flexible space that could serve both liturgy and community gatherings.

Visitors enter through the arcaded front and find themselves in a bright, square nave. The lantern above brings daylight deep into the room without glare. The ancillary rooms around the hall contain meeting spaces, offices and a sacristy. The whole complex sits quietly among the high-rise blocks of the Ziegelhof estate, offering a place of calm in the midst of the district.