Modern Vienna Architecture: The Buildings Most Tourists Skip

Short answer: Beyond its palaces and museums, Vienna has some striking modern architecture. The best place to see it is the WU Campus next to the Prater, opened in 2013, where Zaha Hadid's Library and Learning Center stands among buildings by international architects. It's free to walk around and only a short U2 metro ride from the city centre.

Vienna is mostly photographed as the imperial city, the Ringstrasse, the palaces, the big museums, and I photograph that side of it too. Some of the buildings I like most, though, are only a few metro stops from the centre and hardly ever show up in travel guides.

The Kunsthistorisches Museum above is the classic version of Vienna, and it's absolutely worth seeing. From there, the U2 line takes you towards the Prater in a few minutes, and around Messe Prater and Krieau the city starts to look very different.

The WU Campus

The WU Campus is a free-to-visit university campus next to the Prater, where several international architects each designed one building.

Next to the Prater park is the campus of the Vienna University of Economics and Business, usually just called WU. It opened in 2013, and instead of giving the whole project to one office, the university had several international studios each design one building, around a master plan by the Viennese firm BUSarchitektur. That's why you'll find buildings by Hitoshi Abe from Japan, Sir Peter Cook and CRABstudio from London, Estudio Carme Pinós from Barcelona and NO.MAD Arquitectos from Madrid within a few minutes' walk of each other. More than half of the campus area is public space, so you can walk in and look around freely, although it's a working university and it's worth keeping your voice down inside.

Zaha Hadid's Library and Learning Center

The Library and Learning Center by Zaha Hadid is the centrepiece of the campus, a leaning, angular block that looks different from every side.

The centre of the campus is the Library and Learning Center by Zaha Hadid, which ArchDaily describes as a polygonal block rising from the heart of the campus. In person the leaning walls and big angled windows make it look almost unstable, and my photo Library of WU is mostly about those angles and the way the lines pull in different directions. It changes a lot depending on where you stand and what the light is doing, and most of the interesting views are above eye level, so it pays to look up.

Inside there are open floors, ramps and walkways stacked above each other, with students working on every level. Library of WU Interior tries to show those layers. On weekday afternoons the campus is full of people, while weekend mornings are much quieter if you want clean shots, and since the Riesenrad is within walking distance you can easily combine old and new Vienna in one afternoon.

On a wall

Photos like these work well in modern flats and offices, I think, because there isn't much in them apart from lines and light, so they don't make a room feel busy. If you're decorating a workspace, have a look at the CozyPhoto4u Office Wall Art collection.

More photos of this side of the city are in the Architecture Wall Art collection.

Last updated: October 2026

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About the author

Soma is the photographer behind CozyPhoto4u, capturing Vienna architecture, city nights and nature with a real camera. Every photo in the shop is Soma's own work, never AI generated, and available as a canvas or framed print. More of Soma's Vienna photos are on the CozyPhoto4u Vienna board on Pinterest.

Frequently asked questions

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What is the most iconic building in Vienna?

Most people would say St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Gothic church with the patterned tile roof in the centre of the city. Schönbrunn Palace and the Riesenrad in the Prater, turning since 1897, are close behind.

Is Vienna or Budapest prettier?

They're beautiful in different ways. Vienna feels grand, tidy and imperial, with palaces, wide boulevards and coffee houses. Budapest has the more dramatic setting, with the Parliament on the Danube and the hills of Buda across the river, and it feels a little rougher around the edges. They're under three hours apart by train, so it's easy to see both.

What is the architectural style of Vienna?

There isn't just one. You'll find Gothic in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Baroque in the Belvedere and the Karlskirche, 19th century historicism along the Ringstrasse, and Vienna Secession buildings from around 1900. Modern projects like the WU Campus show the newest layer.

Who is a famous architect from Vienna?

Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos are the best known, both key figures of Viennese modern architecture around 1900. Earlier, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach designed the Baroque Karlskirche, and later the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser left his colourful Hundertwasserhaus. Zaha Hadid, who designed the WU library, wasn't from Vienna, but her building has become one of its modern landmarks.