Open Call is seeking creative individuals for modular youth spaces in Mistelbach, which will be developed collaboratively in December 2025.
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This project develops innovative approaches to creating meaningful meeting places for young people in Mistelbach, Lower Austria. The initiative focuses on designing spaces that encourage social participation and self-organisation while providing genuine leisure opportunities to help young people flourish in rural communities.
The project centers on co-designing sheltered spaces that protect from weather while fostering independence and social interaction among youth. A key priority is developing thoughtful, low-cost solutions that other communities can realistically adopt and adapt to their own contexts.
All designs and findings will be shared as open-source resources, with particular emphasis on solutions that can grow and evolve to meet different needs and contexts. This approach ensures the project’s outcomes extend beyond Mistelbach, contributing to broader conversations about youth development in rural areas and inspiring similar initiatives in communities elsewhere.
The project aims to create both immediate impact in Mistelbach and lasting value through replicable, adaptable models for rural youth spaces.
This project utilises the project space format.
Project Space is a participatory planning workshop, with local and international actors and planers. On a specific site they come together to exchange ideas and work on a joint vision for a site. The workshop itself is open to public, has along the duration public events which invite to think out of the box and get in touch with related people. All results are presented to the public and made available on the wonderland digital platform.
Project Space starts whenever possible with an international idea competition where young teams from all over Europe are invited to suggest their ideas to improve an urban space and the selected teams are invited to test these ideas in the proposed city. The aim is to exchange knowledge and experience and profit from the international expertise in a unique local setting. Project Space has been held in various European cities with different focuses.
November 24, 2025 – Open Call Deadline for submitting project ideas
December 15–17, 2025 – Collaborative workshop in Mistelbach: An intensive three-day co-creation experience with two other architects/spatial planners/social workers as well as local young people and experts, bringing together the three winning ideas with input from the young people.
Spring 2026 – The project is realised in collaboration with local craftspeople and youth.
March 2026 – The construction plans and instructions are published as open source to enable other communities to adapt and implement the ideas.
Simon Hirtl is a member of the youth council in Mistelbach. As a jury member, it is important to him that projects are selected that not only sound good, but are also actually feasible and financially viable in the long term. His goal is to create real spaces that young people will embrace and that give them the room they need to develop.
İklim Doğan is an architect and artist based in Vienna. Her artistic and scientific work delves into architecture’s historiography and historical materialism, juxtaposing different disciplines and discourses across mediums such as fabric, text, film and installation.
Bahanur Nasya is an architect, researcher, project manager, and film producer. She has studied in Vienna and Barcelona, specializing in sustainable architecture, just and fair community-centered-scenarios, and future-proof development concepts.
Mary Sarsam is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and project manager who explores ecological and historical narratives through spatial approaches, combining her academic background in sociology and fine art with practical experience in social work, cultural programming, and performance.
Wonderland is the key coordinator and initiator of this project and is supported by the city of Mistelbach. The project is generously funded by Kulturland Niederösterreich and the Federal Ministry of Housing, Arts, Culture, Media and Sport Republic of Austria.
Mary Sarsam is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and project manager who explores ecological and historical narratives through spatial approaches, combining her academic background in sociology and fine art with practical experience in social work, cultural programming, and performance. She is actively involved in the Broudou School collective and global seed-saving initiatives, bridging creative research with grassroots environmental action.
Emily is currently pursuing her master’s in architecture in Vienna, Austria. In addition to her studies, she is especially interested in literature, philosophy and the visual arts and is looking for ways to combine these interests with her own work.
Find a compilation of project related news, events and more, below.
