SchloR is a Viennese group of friends who has found a plot of land in Simmering with existing buildings they refurbished, reconstructed, renewed and enlarged with the goal to collectively manage the site and live there. In contrast to capitalist competition, however, their goal is not to maximise profits, but rather the prospect of self-determination and fair rent without an expiry date. They use a model which excludes any further speculation by co-establishing a similar form to the tenement housing syndicate in Germany, called habiTaT in Austria. More information can be found at: habitat

After the purchase of the property, SchloR developed a circus centre, a conference centre, workshops, ateliers, rehearsal studios and apartments in which they live and work with the spaces of the premises. They not only see it as their site, but also as affordable premises for neighbours* and other projects – comparable with WUK and Sargfabrik in Vienna or Willy-Fred in Linz. And it’s precisely this kind of free space which is lacking in this district of Vienna.
The members of SchloR are tired of living in anonymous apartment buildings, where other people decide about the future of their rental space and they have no idea who actually lives in the apartment next to them. As a circle of friends with artistic, technical and academic backgrounds, they want to get things going and keep them going in the long term. And effectively it is exactly what many people have always wanted to do.

The project is partly self-built as a straw bale construction and is administered as self-sufficiently as possible by the local association. The circus centre as well as the operating rooms can also be used by the neighbourhood on a non-profit basis.