An old transport depot becomes a food hall in Vienna's 12th District

Since the early 20th century, Vienna’s trams spent their off-hours at the vaulted depot on Eichenstrasse, in the city’s 12th district. This summer, five fallow years since the last car left the hall, the soaring gates will reopen for another, more public purpose. Renamed GleisGarten, the 1,900-square-metre space will serve the Meidling area as a grand marketplace run by dozens of gastro-preneurs.

The glassy new food hall will bridge food and design with a reimagined postindustrial look, buttressed by blond wood and steel. Communal tables shrouded with greenery will extend from the gin distillery to the brewery, past local bakeries, canteens and stages for weekly events. It promises to lure locals from the well-trod Naschmarkt and Karmelitermarkt into the revitalised blue-collar neighbourhoods southwest.

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