Karl Schwanzer: architecture as a passion (English) by Wien Museum

ARCHITECTURE AS A PASSION KARL SCHWANZER

Karl Schwanzer ARCHITECTURE AS A PASSION The work of twenty-five years

Wien-MÃ¼nchen 1973

Content Foreword Fragments See and think – Air water earth Building with questions ? On the preservation of old buildings Building also encompasses engineering Educating an architect Research and implementation Encounters with Karl Schwanzer Jürgen Joedicke: Karl Schwanzer, Architect Peter Blake on Karl Schwanzer Günther Feuerstein: Office Talk Laurids: A tiger-cum-conductor Sepp Frank: The Archinaut Gerhard Krampf: Why do we work with Schwanzer Karl Fleischer: Seilergasse 16 ... Exhibitions Commerce and Trade Exhibition 1951 Communal Service Exhibition 1952 Project Vindobona 2000 Exhibition 1967 World Fairs Pavilion for the European Council World Fair Brussels 1958 Austrian Pavilion World Fair Brussels 1958 Austrian Pavilion World Fair Montreal 1967 German Pavilion Osaka World Fair 1970 Project 1967 Residential buildings House Vienna 1962 Austrian Embassy in Brasilia 1974 Museums Gallery of 20th Century Art Project 1972 Museum of 20th Century Art Vienna 1964 Onion House Project Munich 1967 BMW Museum Munich 1973 Administration buildings Philips Building Vienna 1966 IBM Building Vienna Project 1966 The State Comproller’s Office Building Project Vienna 1972 BMW Building Munich 1973

Industrial buildings Perlmooser AG Cement Plant Mannersdorf 1970 BMW buildings Munich 1971-1973 BMW Car-park 1971 BMW Headquarters Building 1973 BMW Museum 1973 Building for the care of the sick Casualty Hospital Graz 1974 A children’s community The Municipal Kindergarten Montreal World Fair 1967 Municipal Day-Care Centre Vienna 1973 Dwellings for the elderly Old Age Pensioners‘ Home, Augarten Vienna,1974 Building churches Parish Church Pötzleinsdorf, Vienna 1964 Parish Church Leopoldau, Vienna 1972 Capuchin Crypt Vienna 1960 Public spaces The Albertina Square Project Vienna 1973 City Center Project Vienna 1968 A matter of training Institute of Business Promotion Wifi Vienna 1963 Electrotechnical Institute University of Vienna Project 1966 Institute of Business Promotion St. Pölten 1972 Zoological Institutes University of Vienna 1972 University of Vienna Extension Project 1973 Karl Schwanzer: Teaching at the University of Technology Vienna Aphorisms on student projects List of works Biography Credits

Foreword At the time it first appeared in 1973, Karl Schwanzer’s book ARCHITECTURE AS A PASSION was intended as a status report covering twenty-five years of his work. Following Karl Schwanzer’s untimely death two years later, it became his legacy as an architect and teacher. The thoughts he put to paper bear clear testimony to his endeavours to achieve a blend of man, landscape and architecture. In his work and teachings both in this book and throughout his life, he sought to convey with enthusiasm his prime concern over lending an identity of design to the task on hand. His desire for form and quest for environmentally adequate solutions in individual building projects reflect the diversity of a creative spirit. In contrast to specialised specificity he always opted for an individually accentuated form of universality in his approach to problems. In the fragmentary texts Schwanzer reveals his basic convictions and the development of his personality. For him architecture was always a cultural issue for society. Many of his far-sighted architectural solutions that he advanced for the many varied tasks confronting him years ago were dismissed as too audacious. Today, they have become part and parcel of architecture in general. His insistence upon peak performance, his joie de vivre and his ties with nature that were central to his treatment of our environment had primarily emotional roots. They reflect the major responsibility borne by a creative person, whose very creativity placed man at the centre of things and whose primary objective was to increase the design content and joyfulness of the world around us. Awareness of that responsibility which enabled Karl Schwanzer as an architect to identify with his approach to work is just as stimulating today as ever before. It was thus quite logical to provide a broad

Credits and interested readership access to his book in electronic form. So as to be able to transmit direct the spontaneity of an artistic person and the emotional depths of his thoughts and work, the contents and design of the original (1973) version of the book have been left unchanged. Only a few minor adjustments to the new medium proved necessary. The thoughts and issues that Karl Schwanzer touched upon are just as important today as they were then. Leonie Manhardt Vienna-Munich 2005

Karl Schwanzer Architecture as a Passion First published by modulverlag GmbH Vienna-Munich 1973. Electronic version 2004 Text: Karl Schwanzer Layout concept: Laurids Ortner Design, layout and cover: Angela Hareiter, Otto Kapfinger Executive production: Leonore Manhardt Photography: Archiv Schwanzer, Baum, Chmel, Fleckseder, Gerlach, Grünzweig, Hubmann, Komers-Lindenbach, Kriechbaum, Manhardt, Meyer, Neubert, Penz, Pfandler, Radler, Rokos, Schmucker, Schwanzer, Simoncsics, Wölfl, Zwietasch. English translation: Peter Lillie Electronic version 2005: Leonore Manhardt, Martin Schauer, Martin Schwanzer, Hannes Zechner

Fragments

Once you have decided to become an architect, you must have the courage of your convictions. You must be willing to let your intuition mature over time. If you have initiative enough to give it form and the staying-power to seek, find and convince, and ultimately the power to lend life to something as yet unborn, you can lay claim to creativity. Exactitude, punctuality, continuity and modesty are essential to such an undertaking. Equipped with God’s most precious gift – our eyes – we experience the natural qualities of the world around us: with those very same eyes, we create the artificial environment we need to meet life’s requirements. The fascination inherent in the tension we feel is the very basis of creative work. The inner compulsion to solve problems which are necessary attributes of life itself is linked to the need to work. The creative act is not painstaking drudgery, but a joyful necessity that resolves inner tensions. To my mind, ‘working’ on problems or ‘working’ on designs does not qualify as work in the accepted sense of the term; it is an occupation which gives rise to real joy. I am unhappy, if I do not have enough work. Work is an antidepressant. Concentrating on work is immensely satisfying and contributes to the richness of life. When seized with an idea, our endeavours to put it into effect are a divine gift. Enjoying your work gives life meaning. Working solely for money lacks soul and is far from satisfying. Moreover, work has to be linked to success as well. But how do you measure success? Success lies in the satisfaction of having created out of nothing something that has both form and life. The joy of creation goes hand in hand with the developmental constraints of our senses. Disappointment, even depression, over not having achieved something is all part of this, as is the sublime satisfaction at having achieved something. The happiness which arises in our innermost selves

during the process of design is a source of joy in a truly creative act. Aspiring to such joy and satisfaction cannot be attributed to pressure to perform or acquisitive greed. From a very early stage, my guiding principle has been quality before profit: a principle to which I still adhere. The search for the best of all possible solutions and perfection is an inherent trait in humankind, although we bear within ourselves the original sin of imperfection that confounds our aspirations to perfection. However, any attempt to press forward into the unknown calls for the courage to accept something incomplete, just as much as the desire for something better. ‘Completion’ is an act of arrogance as it implies finality, whereas there is nothing in human actions that cannot be improved. I thus wish to emphasize the need for humility in relation to work– a quality that must be felt throughout its development. Achieving the objectives you have set yourself (objectives that are reset from one time to the next) calls for strength which, in the final analysis, also demands physical sacrifice.

The twenty-five years spent working on things closest to my heart have simply flown by. Accompanied by understanding as well as misunderstanding, fortunate in my associates and crowned with success. Enthusiasm and passion occasionally verging on obsession are not always conducive to friendship. You are often alone with your problems. However, I have found that isolation lends you strength, saves time and makes for the crystallization of truth. Penetrating the depths of your inner self and searching for your own truth can only be done alone. The confusion that follows many a discussion between architects is occasionally harmful, although it can be countered that many valuable intellectual encounters have paved the way to fruitful developments. Occupation with form and design has always been a particular concern of mine. Thus, designing exhibition areas has been a major determinant factor of practical significance; it offered me ample opportunity to experiment both in terms of design and in terms of perception as an essential visual experience. These experiments introduced me to the proportional relationship between bodies and space and the impact of detail. This period of unrelenting stress constituted my initiation into the rites of the creative process. I learnt anew to assess risk and the temptation to chart a new course encouraged me to advance further.

Architecture is not a commonplace profession with luncheon vouchers and regular working hours. Work is contingent upon the readiness to perform. As soon as your grey matter has warmed up, you swing into action, all critical and creative. You cannot simply switch off: problems haunt you day and night, and you are forever wanting to improve, renew, reshape and reform things. Thinking as a pre-requisite for design is a permanent process. Searching for solutions, you surrender yourself wholly to the problem. You are oblivious to everything; you forget to eat, sleep and love. Work is no longer an arduous duty, but a joyful task aimed at success, joy and happiness. You simply cannot stop; you are convinced you will find what you are looking for the very next minute – and then you set about implementing the solution with a minimum of delay. The inner unease associated with development and renewal is fascinating and offers a wealth of joyful experience in return.

Fragments

As a child, I considered building to be a family matter, the ultimate goal of a yearning for property, pleasure, ownership and a confirmation of life. I remember my parents’ anxiety, their worries as they saved up for a little house as the fulfilment of their dreams. My love for craftsmanship grew as I watched the little house grow. I watched the planks being cut and the concrete being mixed. The hand-saws, with their attractive breath-like rhythm singing out across the building site, was music to my ears, unlike the screams of modern power-saws. Furthermore, all our neighbours possessed certain skills or were enthusiastic amateurs, and everybody helped each other. I developed a particular liking for joinery, thanks to my uncle who introduced me to those skills. He worked the saw with incredible accuracy and cleft wood with his axe in a masterly manner. I became aware of the joy to be derived from designing, building and creating. With my vivid imagination I planned castles in the air; it was a source of pleasure throughout my childhood. I developed a sense for conceptual planning at an early age. At the age of sixteen, I designed a second cottage for my parents – on a new site. This was around the time of the Werkbundausstellung in Vienna, where I first encountered such names as Le Corbusier, Neutra, Josef Hoffmann and others. It followed quite naturally that I should study architecture at the Technical University, even though in 1936 my professional prospects were far from heartening. There were only six other students in my year; after 1938 the gargantuan building programme of the Third Reich descended upon us, Albert Speer’s stylistic attributes, system coupled with power. Only to be followed by destruction, violation and ruin – a memorial to madness. During the war building was essential to saving life. Entrusted with work on large buildings, I learned much of practical value. Survival, cost what it may, was the

motive force, the concept behind all buildings at that time. The angst emanating from the desire to save the unique gift of life spurred you on to endeavours and achievements that are no longer imaginable today. After the cataclysm of the collapse, there followed the impulsive desire for renewal: the wish to start again from nothing. The most important objective was to meet the vital needs of life and shelter. Quantity took precedence over quality in the new building programme the most pressing task was overcoming the shortage of supplies. At the outset of my architectural career, I worked as assistant to Professor Oswald Haerdtl at the former Academy of Applied Arts where I taught students who had just come home from the war. My first trips abroad took me to Paris, Zurich and Canada. For all the austerity of the postwar period, the magnificence of Paris with its stimulating generosity was overwhelming for somebody who had only experienced the debris and ruins of erstwhile cities. Then, there followed the display structures and stands at the various trade fairs: Austria’s first attempts to promote its exports. Modest, nevertheless daring and novel, displays competed with those of other nations. Initial contacts were established with colleagues from abroad. A visit was paid to Le Corbusier’s office housed in a narrow corridor in a monastery in the rue de Sévres.

Implementation must remain the architect’s final objective. Conceiving ideas alone fails to satisfy over time. Between the drawing of a sketch and its implementation a great deal of personal commitment is called for, if the original idea is to be brought to life. Anonymous planning incurs no such obligations. The results are plain to see: miserable compromises mired in politics or profitdriven structures devoid of content. In the final analysis, work emerges from the mind by happenstance as a culmination of desire. In that context, man becomes a component part of the cosmos and the order of things. Only few are predestined for peak performances. Their selection lies in the hands of fate. Possibly it is part of life’s burden that not all men are equal in terms of performance and aspirations, and not all are plagued by a sense of dissatisfaction and restlessness.

It is a fascinating experience to complete a design, reflecting what was conceived at the outset and establishing what will be in the future. The burning desire to see those thoughts borne out by reality is a passion. Selfless devotion to a task is essential to an optimization of performance; self-denial is a prerequisite to success. A good building is fraught with imponderables. The basic fundamental remains the idea. The more spontaneous an idea, the more enriching its further development. Designing for want of an idea lacks strength; it is banal. Intellectual content is a building’s prime quality. Experience and routine refine the details and add finesse. In the absence of an idea, however, experience is but a blunt tool. Ideas go hand in hand with imagination. A vague idea or fantasy is accompanied by a sense of Utopia and daring, as well as a willingness to experiment. All this presupposes a staunch belief: belief in the practicability and correctness of the assumptions. The whole creative process is bolstered by intransigence in the pursuit of the ultimate objective. Obduracy is not only a question of intellectual constitution, but it also makes demands of a more physical nature. The inability to stop in the middle of developing an idea can become obsessive – and not always to the liking of those in the immediate vicinity of the architect. In terms of creative skills, the work of an architect makes unsocial demands. Like the doctor, politician or clergyman, the architect cannot manage with the working hours stipulated by the trade unions. The achievements of social progress, such as shorter working hours, improved working conditions and a better quality of life for the majority, demand greater sacrifices and more work on the part of those concerned with the organization, planning and care of that majority. A few people have to work more so that more people can work less. This paradox is a real problem and any architect seriously concerned with quality, i.e. who

are personally committed, should be aware of this. Relaxation of pressure is inconceivable in a creative profession. In fact, tension is essential to overcoming critical phases. An intellectual act of creativity also induces labour pains which cannot be soothed by pain-killers. I fail to understand how people can believe that the time factor can be excluded from architectural work. The architect’s sense of social responsibility, the commitment to make his work available to society as soon as possible, compel him to solve problems and elaborate plans in a minimum of time. A minister in a developing country once told me: ‘Build it right or wrong, but build it. We need schools in time for our children to use them’. Consequently, the speed of the conceptual and decision-making process that contributes to the identification of solutions in the planning stage takes on great significance. That particular skill can be an innate gift; at the same time, however, it can be acquired through training and methodology. The ability to work quickly, with an awareness of quality, content, benefit and responsibility is a social requirement and not wilful haste, particularly given the brevity of our lives. Just how responsible is it to plan hospitals for five years or more and then take a further ten years to build them? How many people could have been treated and restored to health in that period – yet they never had the chance. In a like manner, children quickly outgrow the planning and building of their schools. All that regardless of any economic factors. Thus, just how responsible is the planner who prefers to work free of deadlines and stress? In this respect, the obligation to perform under pressure is a social obligation. It also raises the architectural profession above the level of mere conception and drafting of plans. The distinction between technical and intellectual content comes to the fore and distinguishes architecture from the building of trivialities.

Architecture creates moods. The architect thus possesses a means of making people happy. Whether a house is comfortable and habitable, a building brilliant and inviting, or a town really beautiful (and hence worth living in and attractive) rests with the architect. Architecture is poetry materialized. Building is cold journalism. The architect has the task of co-ordinating a multitude of opinions and feelings, and he is intertwined with his community. Thus, he is not a lonely person.

All of us have eyes which see and give rise to feelings, seizing upon shapes and forms and endeavouring to appraise the information they contain. Long after the original function of a beautiful structure has lost validity and become obsolete, it still stands as a building and affords us pleasure.

The most beautiful and most comfortable dwellings are those emanating from socalled ‘anonymous architecture’. But is it really so anonymous? It would be more appropriate to call it ‘individual architecture’. Determined by a man wanting to build a house for his family, as beautiful as possible and identifiable as ‘his’ house. Unmistakably the paternal home, the memory of which the children will cherish for a lifetime. To which they will be closely attached until they erect something similar of their own. The house should stand as the family bulwark, an expression of the family’s identity and idiosyncrasies, inherent to their consciousness. The outward appearance of the house immediately identifies the occupant. In small residential areas street numbers and street names are unnecessary: The Smiths and Smythes can be clearly distinguished by the location of their houses with their typical features. The house can thus be associated with the personality of its builder and occupant. The building method adopted by the layman (if laymen still exist in our hyper technical society) is not deformed, constrained or limited by any acquired professional skills. This liberty and sense of freedom be discovered anew by the architect once he has qualified. He must struggle to acquire the strength to free himself from rules and regulations without fundamentally discarding them. The application of mandatory standards should not be allowed to cramp his innate creative powers. Knowledge should be used as a tool, not as a disciplinary constraint upon the sense of intuition.

In his plans the architect endeavours to capture the spirit of order and a feeling for interrelationships. The creation of form is not an intellectual process alone. The architect must be capable of thinking and designing in elemental terms. He has all materials at his disposal. He is at liberty to utilize them. Architecture can be shaped and moulded: it has form and is form. We relate to form just as we relate to colour, sounds and vibrations – and the enigmatic sensation of sympathy.

Speciality is less essential than universality. I have often been asked what my speciality is. My speciality is broad versatility. Specialization, on the other hand, lands one in an intellectual rut and limits one’s overview. The more broadminded the architect is in his observations, receptiveness and reflections, the more creative he will be in his development.

Designing instinctively or impulsively offers intuitive opportunities to open up new avenues. That notwithstanding, intelligence must be applied correctly. It should not be allowed simply to suppress sub-conscious factors. It has to be used to full effect so as to guard against mistakes. Above all, intelligence must be used to define the meaning of ‘benefit’. The term itself has led to incredible misunderstandings. No other century has given greater prominence to it as a one-sided concept, financial benefit in relation to a commodity as a whole. But what do we mean by benefit? Merely a roof over our heads? Or hot and cold running water for our baths? Perhaps, the sun shining into a room? Surely people have greater needs than a watercloset they can call their own? But perhaps, it also includes the attractive, comfortable, unmistakable, personal, unique, pleasurable and spiritual content of their dwellings?

To all appearances, our age would seem to have no need for architects as laws are needed to protect the profession. Building today refers solely to the production of so many cubic metres of building bulk. Cheap, cheaper and faster. It also has to be more anonymous, less obtrusive, modest, simple and insipid. Otherwise, questions are asked. Where did he (the client) get the money for the building? Or is he using our (the taxpayers) money to build so expensively?

Economic solutions may well meet requirements, but whether they satisfy them is another issue. Individual buildings have never needed architects, but simply national culture. The culture of the individual. Perhaps some mistakes stand to be corrected; you only have to think of urban sprawl. Discipline and cultural immanence are no longer to hand. The wealth of materials is confusing, and the application of production is pure consumption. Without any form of selection, criticism and understanding; without an innate urge towards quality, joy and beauty. Beauty is considered an additional expense, an obsolete attribute of capitalism. Even though the poorest huts of primitive tribes are more beautiful than the buildings put up by many building societies. In fact, they should know that. Yet they bow to the tastes of their clients – who want it that way. But are architects any better? For all their futuristic visions, do they have other solutions to offer? They, too, accept ‘public’ opinion as their yardstick. Even in women’s magazines the articles are suited to the reader’s taste. Who then determines what taste is? Who aspires to joy and beauty as essential parts of our lives? To all intents and purposes, the current sex boom should have culminated in people appreciating beauty and taking delight in the proportions of nudity. It should have led to their demanding the same exemplary beauty everywhere, even in the artistic design of our environment. In the Classical period, the representation of man was deemed the peak of beauty personified. The yearning for beauty and noble harmony has simply faded away in the face of industrial, mechanistic development. Cost/benefit ratios, durability and obsolescence were and still are the prime factors. A yearning for beauty is something indeterminable and disconcerting; it is viewed with suspicion as something reactionary. Or has it been frustrated and deformed by the bad examples set? By the lack of individuality

or the loss of bearings in our search for the meaning of life, or ultimately by consumer pressures, lack of critical faculties and the fleeting manner in which we choose things.

Architects are socially obliged to create something useful, if they wish to remain at one with society. The integration of the phenomenon ‘life’ and the activities related to the conservation of life implies the adoption of meaningful principles for the design of that life. Building projects without any useful reason are not implemented. The relevant plans are intellectual garbage. The basic psychomotor principle, the desire and joy derived from erecting and living in a building, must contain in itself the wish to implement. Thus, the architect must remain firmly in touch with reality, if he wishes to build. Only something ‘built’ is a genuine, vital result of creation.

or the loss of bearings in our search for the meaning of life, or ultimately by consumer pressures, lack of critical faculties and the fleeting manner in which we choose things.

Today the architect and his activities have fallen into disrepute. The work is perceived, to an increasing degree, as a planning activity, an exclusive act of reason. Industry and commerce as well as the authorities insist upon economic buildings, rationality, adherence to deadlines, pre-fabricated components and system buildings: in short, mass-produced architecture. Insofar as he cherishes ambitions of really building and maintaining a personal attitude towards his work as it materializes, the architect is cast into the devil’s role of being a cost-increasing factor. He is still needed, however, simply to draft plans. Apparently that is all he is good for; everything else is carried out by engineers, economists, experts and the like. Finance companies, construction companies and building co-operatives determine the appearance of our environment. The architect is merely their hack. The outcome is utility, necessity and faceless objects. But is life nothing more than just being born, eating, drinking, sleeping, procreating and dying? Surely there are other functions inherent to life? Where is the soul that feels joy, sadness, pain, beauty, ugliness, comfort, sensitivity and sympathy? Has a house no other function than to provide shelter against the elements? Is its sole function to serve those within and not the many others who are continuously aware of it as they view it from without? The house as a determinant feature of our environment belongs not only to the present generation, but also to future generations. Seen from this angle, it is an eminently important sociological factor. To all intents and purposes, the insistence upon utility in terms of use and meeting the user’s needs excludes the general public. It is ruthlessly egoistic.

The relationship between the client and the architect is highly significant. The reciprocity of the personalities involved, the variance of opinion, the friction, the constraints, the opposition of a counter pole are essential to securing quality. Psychic and physical tension is needed to overcome obstacles. ‘Sacrifices must be made to the gods, if the building is to succeed“. Success does not rest in our hands alone. Countless external influences have a decisive impact upon a building. The point in time, the economic prerequisites, the personalities involved, as well as the idea behind the work itself – all these constitute starting points that determine success. Satisfaction derived from success is more rewarding than material benefits. The sacrifices and costs which buildings demand soon fade away. More often than not, we have no idea of the expense incurred by the truly great examples of architecture. But generation for generation, we take delight in a truly successful, magnificent work of architecture.

There’s no denying the excellence of Gothic, Classical and Baroque architecture. They were magnificent achievements of their time and are deservedly preserved today as ‘architectural monuments’. However, new epochs and ideas call for appropriate contemporaneous forms. Today presupposes the rejection of yesterday’s cherished habits. Only by clearing out our consciousness do we acquire the vigorous unbounded strength to create something new. Thus, we should endeavour to establish new relationships with the content of the present in order to come to statements similar to those pronounced by our historic architectural monuments in their time.

With the aid of the gestalt theory, form can be ‘formulated’. The desire for formal perfection is something general. For example, every woman per se wishes to be beautiful. Beauty in architecture, however, would no longer seem to be in vogue. ‘Utilitarian’, economic, and cheap are the prime requirements. Functionalism alone, however, transports nobody into raptures. We are gradually coming to realize this, when confronted with the results: our monstrous new towns. ‘Utilitarianism’ can lend life no content. It has a greater value. That is the valueadded that modern buildings lack. A technologically perfected world offers no alternative to the emotional needs of a society in search of quality of life. The quest for a ‘definitive’ design of our environment design is in vain. ‘Change’ is our form of progress, cost what it may. Architecture is a means of expressing those constraints that society imposes upon itself. The message is projected in new solutions for the future and imposed upon generations to come, as a preconceived yoke. Architects are thus dangerous manipulators - not only of the present, but also of the future. Their character decides, their conscience and knowledge determine. Thus, architects cannot simply be men plying their trade at the drawing board. They must be total men who not only consider building their primary objective and are passionately committed to it, but who also have character.

As we move along the path from the planning stage to that of implementation, we draw upon experimentation. Experiments as means of research and progress enable us to realize Utopias. The scope available to creative planning ranges from the reality of today to the probability of tomorrow. Experiments are carried out in laboratories, in workshops, on the basis of facts; they represent Utopia in our imagination, in the unreal. In his development a planner cannot do without the strict discipline of reality or the phenomenon of the fantastic. Analysing abstract situations and thinking possible developments through, inspired by ‘divine’ sparks, makes for the uniquely fascinating experience of the intellectual emergence of new models. On no account should awareness of the need for experiments lead one off into the realm of fables. In the cybernetic age, research methods permit a comparatively exact forecast of the future over the coming decades. Our plans which should be to the benefit of the next three or four generations must be conceived in moderation. Plans which are not in harmony with the rhythm of foreseeable developments are useless in terms of the benefit they offer, thus unable to meet the basic requirements. Planning contains in itself a look into the future. Something nonexistent has to be conceived, created, invented and discovered. The design – the process of finding, discovering and lending shape to something – is the decisive planning stage. The design determines, pre-empts and decides the future. Looking into the future thus belongs to the designer’s job of work. He must be able to sense, feel and intuitively comprehend future developments. Today he draws on forecasts and studies of trends. A wealth of requisite data is at his disposal. For the most part they can be retrieved by mechanical means. Their assessment, however, is left to the individual, the planner himself. He will

have to decide which emphasis to set and what objectives to meet in the subsequent design stages. The glimpse into the future is becoming increasingly a matter of scale. The scale is the time ahead of us in which to estimate correctly the development of social, technical and cultural needs. If the estimate and actual events more or less coincide, our planning can be said to have been reasonable. However, if new ideas exceed all expectations, we enter the realm of Utopia. As we move along the path from the planning stage to that of implementation, we use experiments as a means of research and progress to develop projects which would have previously been termed Utopian. Experiments in building are part of a development that is integral to everybody’s life. Man is forever searching for something new and better. Hounded by dissatisfaction with the shortcomings of his own creative endeavours, his desire for ‘improvement’ spurs him on. Thus, we are eternally seeking something new and better; we are never satisfied with what we have just created. Searching for improvement, however, is not a continuous process that follows a straight line. Ups and downs, setbacks of all kinds, mark the path ahead into the future. Thus, we must prepare ourselves for a meaningful planning and development process within the context of reality without, however, rejecting the idea of experimentation. No experiment for the sake of experimenting, no Utopia for the sake of being Utopian. You should aim for results, even if they are only intermediate results. The stepwise approach, the planning of minor and major steps, and the planning of phases are the design problems that confront futurologists in the broader sense of term. When planning on an ambitious scale, assessment should not be used to constrain, but rather to enhance a project’s implementability. As a broad-phased product of our imagination, Utopia should have scheduled stages that can be logically identified with the needs

of reality. Only then are research and experiment meaningful. Theory is needed to create something practicable, but it is never an end in itself. The ability to assess the speed of development is a secret known to but a few. The ‘seer’ looks ahead into the future, but in such a manner that whatever he sees, can be determined and perceived as something already discerned and pre-conceived. Thinking of the morrow is irresponsible if it takes on the form of a phantasmagoria devoid of reality. Appreciation of the ‘flow’ and development of life and our environment is heightened by the study of what is possible and impossible. Utopia as a blurred objective to be reached the day after tomorrow and experimentation as a means to reach it lend us the clear sight we need to see the problems of today and tomorrow. Risk contains the affirmation of development.

Understanding on the part of your colleagues in the struggle for quality, the reflection of your thoughts in the minds of others, are important supplements to your work. Criticism, loyalty and reliability are a splendid seed-bed for constructive creative work. I am grateful for the suggestions made by everybody I have met and worked with. My associates have been most patient with me, bearing with my temperament and restlessness. Without their support, I would never have been able to develop.

Encounters with Karl Schwanzer

Jürgen Joedicke Karl Schwanzer, Architect

Jürgen Joedicke 1925 born in Erfurt Studied at the University for Architecture. and the Fine Arts in Weimar Free-lance architect BDA DWB 1967 nominated Professor at the Technical University, Stuttgart, and Chair for Fundamentals of Modern Architecture. Author of numerous works on contemporary architecture Lives in Stuttgart

Colleagues frequently visit Stuttgart to get a glimpse of more recent architecture. Possibly the main attraction is the Weissenhof settlement, the first selfcontained example of modern architecture, and the widespread influence of the Stuttgart school dating from the days of Theodor Fischer. As colleagues’ wishes vary, we always ask our guests what they specifically wish to see. Schwanzer’s reply to this standard question was initially surprising: he wanted

to see ‘designed buildings’ – not schools, hospitals or settlements; none of his colleagues’ buildings; and least of all the Weissenhof project. I doubt whether I was able to show him what he was after – the only thing I knew was that his answer was characteristic both of him and his attitude towards architecture. However, in order to guard against his answer being misinterpreted, certain facts have to be pointed out. Karl Schwanzer is one of those architects who have adopted a critical stance towards the methodological rationalization of the design process and are aware of the fact that rational elements in the design process have to be recognised as such and appropriately evaluated. His buildings are striking for the careful consideration they pay to his client’s wishes and those of the occupants; they function in every respect. Construction and technical development are not minor features, but integral components of the overall concept. But over and above these building fundamentals which he accepts as a matter of course, he is concerned with something else; in addition to the purpose, task and construction, he is concerned with the basic meaning and formal expression of architecture. His buildings have an unmistakeable form of their own. Their very design triggers off a chain of associations leading to the very essence of things. In the case of the office building he built for BMW in Munich, it is the precision, technical perfection and formal beauty that is evocative of the products manufactured in an automotive plant; in the case of the Austrian pavilion at the EXPO in Montreal, the association is with molecular structures and crystals; in the case of the municipal kindergarten, the associations are with the world unique to children. A good example of his approach to design is the BMW building in Munich close to the Olympic site. No building in the whole of Germany is more idiosyncratic or more

beautiful. To my mind, it has become synonymous with the marque BMW. It excels on account of: its innovations, in both general and specific terms; its amazing, yet logical floor plan design; its form with a relief effect that is pleasingly different from customary facades; and the image it creates. Anything new should be based on a critical appraisal of what has gone before. Newness for the sake of newness or experimentation for the sake of experimentation only leads to modishness. The assessment of planning outcomes as a basis for new plans or the review of buildings after a certain period of operation thus take on ever-increasing significance given the flood of novelties. Karl Schwanzer commissions systematic reviews of his own buildings and thus obtains ideas for new designs. He is conscious of the fact that an architect’s work always contains some residual inadequacy to a greater or lesser degree. It is this very inadequacy that drives him on to try something new. His distinguishing feature is his acceptance of the fact that major, even Utopian objectives are essential, but that the path ahead often comprises painstaking intermediate steps. He is also conscious of the fact that leaping from the present into Utopia can be seen as fleeing reality; he knows that the architect’s task is much more concerned with the implementation of ideas under frequently adverse conditions, yet sight should not be lost of the more distant goals. He knows that his products are but intermediate stages on a long and arduous path that is far from direct. We are confronted by the image of the architect as a person who gets things done: an individual who is aware of his limitations and thus uses modern technology to achieve his goals, yet who knows that in the whirl of essential interdisciplinary activity, division of labour and specialization, there has to be somebody who does not lose sight of things and can thus set priorities.

Encounters with Karl Schwanzer

Jürgen Joedicke Karl Schwanzer, Architect

Peter Blake Born 1920 in Germany Studied mathematics at the University of London Studied architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic in London and at the University of Pennsylvania Associate of Serge Chermayeff, George Howe, Oscar Stonorov and Louis Kahn 1948 curator for Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York 1950 onwards member of the editorial panel of Architectural Forum Author of numerous works on architecture and design

Christo Oldenburg Schwanzer

Peter Blake on Karl Schwanzer

I think I have seen only three of Karl Schwanzer’s many buildings: One I did not like very much (a multi-story garage in the center of Vienna); but, upon closer inspection, it turned out to have been a virtuoso performance in technical terms – though not, perhaps, in terms of urban accommodation. The other two – the Austrian Pavilion at the Brussel’s World’s Fair of 1958, and the very recent BMW administration building in Munich – I liked very much indeed. Moreover, I must have seen Schwanzer’s Austrian Pavilion and Kindergarten at Expo ’67, in Montreal, because I spent a great deal of time there; but in that hotbed of architectural acrobatics, it was perhaps overshadowed by all those other space-frames and other triangulations; and so I don’t remember seeing those two little buildings at all. Yet they look absolutely charming in photographs, and I wish I had noticed them. I probably first met Karl Schwanzer in the Loos Bar in Vienna, the place where all architects, from all over the world, meet sooner or later, looking for the ghost of the old man. I thought he (Schwanzer, not the ghost) was so nice and entertaning that he couldn’t, possibly, be a very serious architect. (Serious architects are notorious bores.) But then I began to look at those buildings of his, starting with that parking garage that I thought did not look particularly well on Viennese square, and

I was more and more impressed, That garage, for example, is an advanced piece of automation – travelling lifts that pick up and stash away cars on shelves in a way that has not even been really perfected in automated libraries. And Schwanzer did this in 1958, several years before this kind of gadgetry had become accepted in other countries, including the U.S. And so I was impressed. And I was impressed, even more, by his Austrian Pavilion at the 1958 Brussel’s World’s Fair. Not only because the building was so damned good, in itself, in the Miesian tradition (which it was); but also because it was the only national pavilion, other than Egon Eiermann’s German steel-and glass complex, that had been designed, quite deliberately, for re-use, after the initial party was over. All of us know in our hearts that world’s fair are a ludicrous waste of energy, intelligence, and material resources; but, at Brussel’s, only Schwanzer and Eiermann were servious enough to create buildings that could be dismantled and, subsequently, re-used. Eiermann’s German Pavilion was dismantled and later reassembled into a school; Schwanzer’s Austrian Pavilion was dismantled and later reassambled into a Museum of the Twentieth Century, in Vienna. And it works exceedingly well in its re-incarnation. So we have here an absolutely delightful, Viennese playboy, with not a single, apparent, worry in the world; and he turns out to be an extraordinarily serious and responsible architect in real life ! But, now and then, the playboy gets the upper hand. The BMW tower in Munich, a commission which Karl Schwanzer won in a competition, is – to me – an absolutely marvellous piece of Pop Architecture. Admittedly, Schwanzer produced a most convincing document, explaining in staggering detail that a concrete-framed, cloverleaf-planned, slip-formed, 19-storey high cluster of four giant aluminum-clad sparkplugs would make the best, possible administration building for that wonderful

manufacturer of perfect cars and motorcycles. And, admittedly, Schwanzer’s in-depth analysis of all the problems and of all the solutions was terribly impressive — expecially, one must assume, to a German client. But the truth is that this incredible piece of goods that you would expect to find under the good of any BMW, now magnified a million-fold, is simply the best and biggest Claes Oldenburg monument ever realized, anywhere — at least since the Statue of Liberty was built (probably by Claes Oldenburg also.) There is a lot of horizontal stuff under those 19-storey high spark plugs that merits consideration: garages, mechanical spaces, and all the rest. But the triumphant Schwanzer/Oldenburg erection is the tower itself. As in all Schwanzer’s work, there is metriculous attention to structural and mechanical detail, and to lighting and other wiring, and to beautifully-detailed, cast-aluminum curtain walls. But these are the tricks of any first-rate architect’s trade. What Schwanzer has done is to transform a rather sober business building into a piece of urban Supersculpture that rivals New York’s Statues of Liberty but speaks in the language of the 1970‘s. What really interests me about Karl Schwanzer is this: he was a year or two behind the Mies-tradition in the 1950‘s; in the 1960‘s, he got into systems building and massive precasting in so adventurous a way that most of his contemporaries must have been holding their breaths; and now, in the 1970‘s, Karl Schwanzer is becoming the Supersculptor that the Archigram Kids and Cape Kennedy Freaks have long wanted to be — but he has really done it. What, in God’s name, is he going to do next ? Take off into outer space ? Well, whatever he decides to do, I’ll keep him company, if he will let me. But I am going to fasten my seatbelt, because it will be a fun ride and also a slightly bumpy one.

Christo Oldenburg Schwanzer

Peter Blake on Karl Schwanzer

Günther Feuerstein Office Talk

Günther Feuerstein 1925 born in Vienna 1945-51 studied at the University of Technology in Vienna 1958-62 worked in Professor Schwanzer’s office 1961-68 Assistant-Professor, Institute of Building Theory and Design, under the chairmanship of Professor Schwanzer 1966 completed his doctoral thesis 1966 onwards lecturer on Contemporary Architecture, University of Technology in Vienna 1973 Professor for Environmental Design at the Design School in Linz Author of numerous theoretical publications Lives and works in Vienna as a free-lance architect

Or Memories of the Seilergasse Or The Human Angle In the year of our Lord 1957, my taste for ‘re-construction’, the preservation of historic monuments and interior decoration had jaded somewhat. I was hankering after ‘modern’ architecture – but where on earth, or more specifically where in Austria in the late post-war years of her architectural demise, was there an architect capable of breaking loose from the fetters of provincialism? Skimming through the journal ‘Der Bau’, I lighted upon a few minor projects which to my mind displayed an international profile; they bore the name of Karl Schwanzer. I must admit that at the time I didn’t know the person in question – but some three hours later I was in his office and started working there the very next day. Given a few seminal suggestions, we were left to our fate – several days at a stretch, during which we drafted countless

alternative plans upon reams of tracing paper. Schwanzer came, saw and – filled every available waste-paper basket. On the verge of utter despair, he would chance upon a sketch that met with his approval: ‘Good, so get drawing’. Interesting large-scale assignments were to follow later: the car lift, the World Fair at Brussels and the Institute of Business Promotion in Vienna. For all that, the first contact with Schwanzer left the most enduring impression and determined our approach to work. Schwanzer had an incredibly selective eye and sureness of judgement. His method of working can be likened to that of a modern computer: the elaboration of alternatives followed by a selective decision on the basis of criteria which Schwanzer felt no urge to define. For him intuition, an emotional process of deduction was the decisive factor. Rationalisation brought up the rear simply because people now insisted on it. This gave rise to a wealth of contradictions: people were often reproachful of the abrupt leaps and bounds in what had seemed to be a logical chain of development. Just as a project was nearing completion, a smart about-turn would be ordered: everything was turned upside down. Needless to say, associates would curse about the time ‘lost’. Although Schwanzer was capable of thinking in economic and commercial terms, he would have no qualms about scrapping an abortive project – and with it the thousands of shillings already invested. In fact, even when the thing was built but failed to come up to Schwanzer’s expectations, he would offer to improve things at his own expense. Moreover, after the tradesmen had had their paddies, the clients their tantrums and the design team its paroxysms of rage, everybody had to admit that it really did look better. Schwanzer subscribed to no dogmas, doctrines or theories. His inconceivable vitality and dynamism burst forth incessantly with new ideas, proposals and

criticism: sometimes ‘difficult’, sensitive and aesthetic, other times crushing everything in his path like a tearaway steamroller. Linear, one-dimensional characteristics are alien to Schwanzer; fascination lies in multifacetedness and contradictions. When you think you have discovered one level, you are confronted by something completely different. No, it is no easy task working in Schwanzer’s office: but that’s the intriguing thing about it. Sometimes the charming collegial atmosphere in the small office of earlier days provided the support one needed: for example, Fleischer and Krampf, the veteran ‘pillars’ even today. We took delight in meditating upon the mistakes that the office and the boss used to make. One day, one of the office staff ‘sneaked’ on us and told the boss about the grumbling that went on behind his back ‘You don’t think I can’t hear all that through the door anyhow’, was his calm retort. Schwanzer bore criticism well. No, not that he was indifferent to it. Some of it struck particularly deep. However, he never lost his ‘cool’ on account of it – though he could lose his temper on other occasions. For instance, the day someone was inconsiderate enough to have forgotten the candles for a Christmas party. Schwanzer went off by himself to return gleefully with some - from the nearly Capuchin church. Loss of temper was not a privilege restricted to Schwanzer alone. One day after I left the office loudly cursing (on account of some triviality) and slammed the door behind me so hard that the plaster trickled down the door jambs, I was not given the sack as I expected, but was invited to discuss things in a most friendly manner. Schwanzer was most observant (almost overly so) – but he bore no grudges. You could easily identify with the office, but not so easily with Schwanzer. There was always some degree of reserve,

reticence or caution – but on whose side? In the final analysis, distance is always the outcome of two sides. Schwanzer can give the appearance of being frank, merry, jovial and relaxed – but that does not mask his reserve. Schwanzer is always searching for reasons in others. Schwanzer’s acquaintances are legion: he is in the lime-light, knows important people and important people know him. However, has he ever really had any friends? People who stand by him and who have successfully bridged the gap? People who have forged ahead with him, rather than alongside him? I don’t really know. In the hard, but steep climb to fame you become aware of the occasional trace of lonesomeness. Schwanzer has scarcely ever named his associates. Has he really done everything himself? Indeed, the office is run along patriarchal lines (but that need not be reprehensible) and if the buildings bear his name alone, there is justification enough. Despite the considerable scope for development and independence granted to the individual, almost every design is ‘a genuine Schwanzer’. However, he knows only too well that quality can vary. But he lays no claim to infallibility. ‘Only those who do nothing make no mistakes’. Schwanzer has been a source of inspiration and has boosted architecture in Austria to such a degree that he can tolerate one or the other of his works not being acclaimed by the architectural journals or the critics. Immaculate irreproachability is always suspect. Many architects maintain a lovehate relationship with Schwanzer: admiring and critical in one breath. His associates saw him in the same light. Schwanzer was not an architectural apostle or a prophet to be emulated at all costs. It is thus to be hoped that Schwanzer does not become an Austrian monument. That would really be doing him an injustice.

Günther Feuerstein Office Talk

Laurids A tiger-cum-conductor

Schools are grey. The greyest of them all is the University of Technology. It certainly was in my undergraduate days. Everything was grey. Classrooms and curricula, students and faculty alike. In the midst of all this grey there floated a delicious drop of goodness, as in Knorr’s days of yore. Fresh and appetising, a peephole offering a view of still better bowls of soup to come. Schwanzer’s institute. The great rejuvinator amidst the oodles of noodles was salutary. Schwanzer and Feuerstein – an unlikely pair – soothed away the cramps of old and set new things in motion: if there is a young architecture in Austria, the seed was clearly sown here. In Schwanzerian terms, the academic environment is for kicks, the office, however, for real. The one a public institute for theoretical architecture, the other a private institution for practical architecture: for years, a training twosome experienced by many an architect. ‘Over there they use blanks, here the rounds are live’, he is wont to say with respect to work. Though he coyly fails to add what this entails: the confrontation with Schwanzer himself. There he looms. A tiger by the name of Karl. A voluminous yet lithesome hulk of a man, invariably poised to leap. All systems go, he senses what’s coming: he sees and hears almost everything, swiftly seizes the most favourable opportunity and ... leaps. He has a thousand lives and an equal number of faces: one for each situation. A broad range: from the softly purring parlour pussy to the wild hunter bent on killing his prey, the cautious diplomat to the roaring heffalump. His knowledge of human nature is instinctive and can be used at will. With one swift stroke, he lays weak points bare and uses them to his own advantage; alien ideas are initially squashed flat only to be modified and used in his own armoury of arguments. The struggle is the be all and end all.

Fighting is his profession and keeps him on his toes. The economy of vitality always searching for new confrontations. All out to win, the tiger remains victorious. Throughout it all, the conductor waves his baton. In the sobriety of a dark grey flannel suit, he adapts to the new situation: the untamed element must be rammed down in the right throat. I have no idea how many people are at present in Schwanzer’s employ. At any rate, the number has rapidly increased over the past few years – in keeping with the new assignments. ‘In an orchestra only one person can conduct – and I’m the conductor’, thunders Karl. The big bass-drum at his side. That he also plays the first violin, the piano-very-forte, the kettle-drums as well as the harp and trumpet solo – all at the same time - rather complicates the style of music. His style of playing is distinctly furioso. Some fifteen hours a day, including the flats and sharps. His impulsiveness has turned many a rationalisation scheme topsy-turvy and assigned carefully prepared drawings to the waste-paper basket. His expansiveness whilst hunting for a still better idea knows no limits. There is not a drawing or letter that he has not seen. Scarcely does a plan or letter pass through his hands unamended. The tiger leaves a clear paw-print behind him. The conductor guides and smoothes over everything. Both work impassionedly. Any dealings with Schwanzer are spiced with respect. Nobody really dares to make an enemy of him, however strong the urge. You either come to some arrangement or avoid him like the plague. The stories about him – for all their embroidery and embroilment – are legion: the creepy humorous tales of the ogre who devours construction drawings for breakfast only to spit out complete buildings in the evening. Abracadabra, sometimes two. Karl the Great is often considered mightier than he tries to be. Thus, the challenge

always remains very much his affair. He challenges, but is scarcely ever challenged himself. No wonder that so many people draw in their heads further than necessary and speak in hushed tones. The conductor accepts it graciously as a token of esteem; the tiger in him, however, yearns for something more aggressive. Thus, the puzzle gradually fits together: a conductor one day, a tiger the next: with ever new variations. After generations of anaemic architecture the vitality of a tiger is refreshing. Even if one half of him is a conductor. I like tigers. They don’t let anybody ride on them. And they don’t traipse around in gangs.

Laurids Ortner Dipl.Ing., Architect BDA 1941 born in Linz/Danube 1966 graduated as Dipl.Ing., University of Technology, Vienna 1967 worked in Professor Schwanzer’s office, Vienna Founded together with Zamp and Pinter the Haus-Rucker-Co 1969 set up office in Düsseldorf 1970 set up office in New York Lives in Düsseldorf

Laurids A tiger-cum-conductor

Sepp Frank The Archinaut

Sepp Frank Dipl.Ing., Dr.techn., Architect Born 1942 in Vienna 1965 graduated as Dipl.Ing., University of Technology, Vienna 1966/67 worked in Prof. Schwanzer’s office, Vienna 1968 M.A., University of California, Berkely, USA 1970 graduated as Dr.techn., University of Technology, Vienna Assistant Professor, Institute for Building Theory and Design, under the Chairmanship of Professor Schwanzer 1971 established the NEUFRA Office Lives in Vienna

As Schwanzer’s student you face a challenge to your imagination, as his associate you soon come to realise that you won’t see him any more often than before and as his assistant you try to guess his whereabouts and prepare his lectures. However, the briefings on the spur of the moment are much more interesting; students working on their doctoral theses find themselves being pointed in directions they would never have contemplated, while discussions one-to-one are very serious academic exchanges. Schwanzer is always good for surprises. If and when he comes, meeting him means being appraised by him, talking to him means answering his questions. Human beings are soft buildings and often transparent, protecting them and creating an aesthetic environmental quality for them is a basic concern of Schwanzer’s architecture. For all his worldliness and openness, the specifically Austrian traits are very important – an ability to reciprocate, charm, humour and a local repartee are the tools of his trade. The horses have to get warmed up, be it launching a project in the Middle East or positioning the candelabra in the Austrian embassy in Brasilia. His leanings towards the global provide the driving force in the face of international competition – his decisive approach leads to new discoveries and sudden bursts of initiative. The path to success winds slalomlike through and between invisible gates, concentration and power. Known as Professor Karl V because the sun never sets in his office, the title is truly deserved – only to have a ground hostess at Beirut airport spell out Schwanzer as Sugar, Charlie, Honey…. In the beginning was intuition, fascination came before rationality – systems and methodologies as the new planning and design tools – analysis of problems and the definition of their component parts, identifying and clarifying

interrelationships: all these were prerequisites for change and manipulation. Designing processes and pre-empting the future, rediscovering reality provides aesthetic pleasure – intervening in the system of relationships reflects sensations of power – sometimes gentle and hesitant, sometimes vital and brutal – and Schwanzer’s architecture is powerful, erect and striking. Methodologies and systems are merely starting points, not reference points – exploring, transcending and shifting the limits to systematics gives rise to tension and spawns originality – a knowledge of systems is an essential prerequisite for knowing where and when you cast them aside. Rationality is fascinating, yet costly, laborious and slow – considering, articulating and rationalising each step runs counter to the mentality of human intuition: rationality is inefficient when faced with very complex problems. Intuition on the other hand is a multilayered simultaneous process that addresses all levels of human experience and knowledge culminating in spontaneous synthesis. Intuition takes the fast lane using the rear-view mirror to check on rationality – and Schwanzer is a fast driver. Analysing other systems while remaining a complex system himself is an essential Schwanzerian trait – like an escape artist freeing himself from the shackles of imposed reality. Sensing no contradictions and for ever drawing new energy from polarity are the sources of his creativity and the basis for the plurality of his work. There are no antitheses for the paradox is reality and the schizophrenic something conscious. Conversations with Schwanzer are pieces of unbuilt architecture – his thoughts have many dimensions – he forges ahead, drawn on by the uncertainty of far horizons: an archinaut creating architecture of the present.

Gerhard Krampf Why do we work for Schwanzer?

1924 born in Vienna 1950 studied at the Academy of Applied Art in Vienna Graduated as architect 1963 obtained his architect’s licence From 1951 onwards associated as head designer with all the major assignments in Prof. Schwanzer’s office.

When I first joined the office, small as it was at that time, some twenty years ago, the projects we worked on were modest. Shop fronts, shop fittings and exhibition stands were the mainstay of our commissions; yet however small the commissions, the staff invested enormous amounts of energy, diligence and creativity in their execution. The office’s success and the constant increase in commissions that came with it were no secret. They were the outcome of energetic work and the unrelenting search for new ideas and functional perfection. Participation in national and international competitions and the associated success led to a continual enlargement of the office and an increasing number of staff. The international renown that the office enjoyed was based on its working methods and its attitude towards architecture, the main principle being ‘quality before profit’. People interested in quality tend to stay with us. And that’s it. Each of us identifies with the office and its pulsating atmosphere; we gladly work there. Free licence and generosity mean most to Schwanzer both in his work with us and in his own work. In his endeavours to place the satisfactory completion of a project above his own commercial success, Professor Schwanzer provides the basic impulse to even the smallest projects. In the course of their execution, he checks that the qualitative standards he set are met. In our office, work on a project tests the mettle of everybody involved. Always searching for the perfect solution, Schwanzer does not spare the psychic or physical stamina of his staff from the day a commission is awarded to the day it is completed. At the outset of every new assignment there is a desire to find a new original idea in both architectural and functional terms. Hour for hour, day in, day out, and repeatedly at night as well, designs are drawn, discussed, amended, rejected and

drafted anew. Changes are introduced and new starts are made even when deadlines are pressing. As long as there is a possibility of introducing some final improvement and achieving the qualitative objective, all hands are called to man the pumps. The subsequent success invariably proves that for all the toil, the recipe was the right one. Mountains of rejected sketches pile up on the office floor and the waste-paper baskets are filled to the brim until at long last ‘the design’ emerges: a design that satisfies. Renewed bursts of energy are then essential to bringing the project to a happy and satisfactory close. The road leading from the first drawings to the building being handed over to the client is a tortuous road via a process of constant reflection, continuous betterment and thus eternal change. All this leads to the previous day’s solution being questioned – with one objective in mind, deriving the very best possible from the task set. The outcome is decisive: the satisfaction of all – primarily the client and the architect. In Schwanzer’s office, searching for and finding the unique, best and most perfect solution, even at great expense, takes precedence over commercial success and financial return. For all the stress and strain, an architect can have no greater pleasure than contributing to the successful completion of a project that enjoys public, and not infrequently international, recognition. The ability to stand the test and share in the success, the opportunity to work on major international projects and the constant demand for new ideas are the attractions of Schwanzer who enthrals us all. There are architects whom the office has retained for longer periods, just as there are others who are eager to join, knowing that architectural quality counts for more than financial return – and that the atmosphere of commonality with Schwanzer is something stimulating.

Sepp Frank The Archinaut

Gerhard Krampf Why do we work for Schwanzer?

Karl Fleischer

Seilergasse 16 .. For the past twenty-five years I have been coming into the narrow lane near the Donner fountain. I have come to love the congenial atmosphere of the inner city as it grows on me with the stalls on the Neuer Marktt, the delicatessen Wild and the tiny café around the corner. In Seilergasse 16 the office started out with three tiny rooms that originally belonged to relatives of Baroness Schratt. In keeping with the dynamics and his temperament, Schwanzer not only transcended the limits of his assignments, but also by virtue of his zest for action he burrowed deeper and deeper into the substance of the building. Today, offices are located on four floors and though separate, they are linked via the Schwanzer Green on the walls: a colour that expresses a longing for nature and instils a little of that longing into the otherwise cool working atmosphere of the architect’s environment. Over time the colour green has also come to symbolise the ties between all those who have worked here. Over the years I have made many friends in the office, all of whom keenly aspired to the aims and objectives of the office. More than twenty nationalities were represented on the staff and this made for many interesting encounters and spawned new ideas. From the very early days Schwanzer set his sights on abroad and we often set off into the wide, wide world. Most recently to Japan where we took part in developing

sand moulds for the casting of aluminium external cladding. Strangely enough the Japanese company, Kubota, has since adopted what they call the Schwanzer process for the manufacture of façade panelling. Activities overseas always gave rise to new ideas for work and a broadening of personal horizons and powers of judgement. Some events will remain a lasting memory of my ties with the office. Be it the dress rehearsal for the Presidential reception at a trade fair, the design of a new hoisting system for the BMW building or the countless topping-out ceremonies, as well as all the birthday and Christmas parties. The prime emphasis placed on maintaining a personal atmosphere in the office hierarchy and pleasure taken in your work are the prerequisites for success. A wide variety of tasks are for ever being assumed as Schwanzer hates nothing more than routine and repeatedly says that he has no desire to become a ‘general practitioner’ in a rural backwater. Thank goodness, he has been spared that fate. You have to display some understanding for his emotional outbursts. They are not to be taken seriously; they are merely a reaction to his having failed to achieve what he wanted and are never meant to be taken personally. No genuine artistic achievement, however, is possible without emotion; we are all delighted when his sensitive powers of judgment come into play. After so many years you grow close and attain a level of understanding where in many instances single words are cue

enough to know what is meant. The ‘glistening antenna’ is a highly appreciated concept in the office. Not only does it quicken the pace of work appreciably, but it is also proof of emotional harmony. This consonance of feelings also satisfies my sense of commitment as it identifies me with both my work and Schwanzer, the genuine human being. On the building site his practical skills make for an excellent rapport with the craftsmen and workers who are unable to refuse him any of his wishes, since he always presents them with a depth of passion and his enthusiasm infects those around him. My most recent uplifting experience was the large-scale project in Munich where over a period of 26 months everybody down to the very last unskilled labourer worked with real joy and enthusiasm. The daring structural concept simply caught everybody’s fancy. Despite the heat of the building boom, a group of joiners from Burgenland, for example, who felt some affinity with us Viennese on the site, forwent their weekend trips home and worked three shifts a day for six weeks at a stretch so that we could meet the deadline. Things like that spur you on. You take pleasure in your work and in the completion of things – in the secret of realisation as a genuine confirmation of life.

Karl Fleischer 1921 born in Vienna Studied at the Academy of Applied Art Since 1948 has worked as office head in Prof. Schwanzer’s office

Karl Fleischer

Karl Fleischer 1921 born in Vienna Studied at the Academy of Applied Art Since 1948 has worked as office head in Prof. Schwanzer’s office

In a protected environment...

... exposed to the environment

In a protected environment...

... exposed to the environment

I was intent upon establishing my independence as an architect. The very first opportunity to do so presented itself at a trade fair in 1951. I was able to develop progressive ideas and transmit new impulses. I was granted trust and freedom of design. The lengths to which we went, the work we invested and the delight we took in introducing something new met with success. It was my first piece of work to be subjected to public scrutiny. It was also the time I met my first associates: Fleischer, Krampf, Pospisil, Starzen, Andel and Herrgesell. Independent work, competitions, fairs, shop premises were to follow. My work took on a profile of its own: quality over profit – trust as an obligation –joy and delight in creating, realizing and building. Initial contacts with artists such as Boeckl, Josef Hoffmann, Hoflehner, Kokoschka, Wotruba, with clients such as Lakowitsch, Mautner-Markhof and Sallinger, and with statesmen such as Drimmel, Figl, Körner, Schärf – these were the factors that determined my further development.

Commerce and Trade Exhibition 1951

Communal Services Exhibition 1952

Pavilion for the European Council World Fair Brussels 1958

Interior: Carlo de Carli, Milan

Pavilion for the European Council World Fair Brussels 1958

Interior: Carlo de Carli, Milan

Pavilion for the European Council World Fair Brussels 1958

World Fairs

Architects regard world fairs primarily as structural manifestations, as architectural milestones pointing towards future developments in the building sector. This jockeying for architectural sensations is only of peripheral interest to the average visitor. He or she is more impressed by what going on, the vitality, the action, the spontaneity, the event in itself, the happening. Major fairs are no longer synonymous with a testing of industrial or political strengths. In the age of mass media, their primary objective is to disseminate developmental facts, establish contact and provide documentary evidence of a country’s contribution to the topic being addressed. ‘Bilan d’un monde pour un monde plus humain – A world balance for a more human world’ was the theme of the World Fair at Brussels in 1958. The concept behind Austria’s participation in the Brussels Fair veered away from materialistic supremacy and economic overstatement, and thus eschewed traditional displays of manufactured goods. Austria’s programme was based on a humanistic concept that set man at the centre and as the measure of all cultural and spiritual development. The common spiritual denominator which

was found to express the Austrian contribution was the concept of the bridge. ‘Austria’ was to be presented as a political, economic and cultural bridge spanning north and south, east and west. Austria’s mission, a mediator between peoples, was to be shown not only as an historic role, but also as a profoundly contemporary role. Austria presented not only architecture, but also ‘experience’. This constituted a major advance upon Austria’s previous participation in Brussels in 1935 and in Paris in 1937, where the display had been static and museum-like. The ‘music academy’ was a non-stop ‘show‘ of live music, the kindergarten a vital demonstration of genuine international humanism towards young unspoiled people. Given this ‘action’, Austria ranked among the progressive exhibitors in Brussels. The success of Brussels demonstrated that it was not to be achieved by showing a little bit of everything, but by means of a compressed presentation of an overall image showing a few, yet significant items. This forceful rejection of trivia guarded against triviality with the result that for 3,5 million visitors the Austrian pavilion and the ‘Imago Austriae‘ were a memorable experience.

World Fair Brussels 1958

World Fairs

World Fair Brussels 1958

Austrian Pavilion World Fair Brussels 1958

Austrian Pavilion Brussels 1958

See and think â&#x20AC;&#x201C; think and see, anticipate, perceive, visually, spiritually, leave marks, think on a grand scale, sense the fourth dimension, trace it.

Institute of Business Promotion Vienna Wifi Vienna 1963

Wifi Vienna

The Institute of Business Promotion run by the Federal Chamber of Commerce lays particular emphasis on vocational education and training. Both entrepreneurs and blue- and white-collar workers, as well as apprentices need vocational training, refresher courses or training in new skills. By creating exemplary environmental impressions, using functional and formal design as well as the structural essence of the building, the trainees at the institute, most of whom are young people, are encouraged to adopt an open-minded attitude towards progressive thinking. Given their overall character in terms of quality and through the pupils and course participants, the standard classrooms and workshops serve as a model for broad sectors of business, industry and commerce. A conscious endeavour has been made to take the often impracticable workplace designs in a new, modern and above all human direction conducive to the enjoyment of work. Thanks to an understanding client, the planning concept chosen provided for a generous and powerful building which, supported by the material and proportions of the individual design elements, emphasizes its impact as a vocational training institute. In the design of the spatial structure, particular value was attached to functional, comprehensive effects, transparency and clarity. Sweeping windows and wall-long doors meet the technical and functional requirements and demonstrate the formal balanced proportions between walls and apertures. The strict logic and conscious economy in the use of materials are apparent not only in the buildingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exterior, but also in the interior, right down to the individual workshops and training rooms. The appropriately treated ferro-concrete, steel and light metal, in grey and white, as well as the uniform wooden grids in all the rooms underscore the link to craftsmanship and its design potential.

Wifi Vienna

House Vienna 1962

The Austrian Pavilion at the Expo in Montreal: In order to present the polymorphism of Austria in one impressive building, a structural motive was selected which bore association with crystalline structures. By simultaneously reducing the building components to typical basic elements, the design of the building offered a wide range of possibilities. Its geometric precision was reminiscent of the molecular structure of a cubic crystal. Thoughts of mountains, precious stones and landscapes should be evoked as well as ideas of precision, geometry, technology and systematics. Despite the structural limitations imposed by the reduction to similar triangular elements, the lay-out permitted a generous degree of differentiation with a noticeable lack of schematism. The pre-fabricated components consisting of an aluminium frame with honeycomb panels in the same material, a selfsupporting structure, comprised the internal and external walling in one. By linking the triangular surface components, which were joined at regular intervals to form cubes, a degree of variation was achieved which lent the building a vital property as it permitted both growth and change. The Austrian Pavilion was to transcend the basic requirement of housing the items on display and enter a plea for creative and aggressive exhibition architecture using industrially manufactured building components. ‘Austrovision‘ was the prime information medium in the Austrian pavilion. The ‘space theatre‘ on the upper floor used audio-visual means to present a fairy-tale illustration of Austria’s past and present. In a mere fifteen minutes, the spectator was able to penetrate the many layers of Austria with background music drawn from a wealth of familiar melodies. All those taking part bore witness to the changes of history and those factors that made up the Austrian image.

Austrian Pavilion World Fair Montreal 1967

Those taking part were: Venus of Willendorf (some 17,000 years old) – Tabula Peutingeriana – the chalice of Tassilo – the vulgate version of the Bible – the monastery of Melk – the castle of Hochosterwitz – cherubs – horse-drawn carriages – the flower seller – a lady selling balloons - a Viennese roundabout – The Spanish Riding School – the National Library in Vienna – cathedrals – churches – puppet shows – Papageno – the fortress at Salzburg – dwarfs – the Austrian countryside – the Austrian economy – the imperial crown of Austria – Maximilian’s grave – the arsenal of Graz – farmers –Karamustapha’s tent – an imperial musketeer – a Turkish soldier at the time of the siege – tin soldiers – Fanny Elssler – Johann Strauss – Gustav Klimt – Egon Schiele – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – skiers – a coffee-house – a performance of Jedermann in Salzburg – the State Opera in Vienna – the four in the jeep – the Opera Ball – St. Stephen’s Cathedral – Parliament – Opera – Red/White/Red. Twelve large-scale projectors were used to project a series of three thousand slides on to three screens measuring 1.100 square metres in all. A quadrophonic amplifier ensured the synchronous reproduction of sight and sound impulses, as well as the background music on a dual-track recording.

Austrian Pavilion World Fair Montreal 1967

Austrian Pavilion Montreal 1967

Austrian Pavilion Montreal Austrovision Space Theatre

Analogy to structural systems

Project Vindobona 2000 Exhibition 1967

Onion House Project Munich 1970

Project German Pavilion at the Osaka World Fair 1967 Atmospherium A further development, a departure from exhibition architecture, an expression in itself of modern thinking, a biologicalgeometric form, container, package, envelope, simple foundations, stability in high winds using hawsers, quake-proof pneumatic structure, compressed cellular membrane, double-skin air chambers, air as a building material, compressed air as energy, energy as a building material of the future, non-transparent heat-reflecting outer layer, air chambers as insulators, transparent lower segment offering view of interior, impressive from a distance, easily comprehended form, conceptually memorable, signal, symbol, attraction, a talking point ...

Gallery of 20th Century Art Project 1972

Idea: a museum, not an art depot, not a temple of the arts, no isolation in the social environment, but a pole of communication, a source of activity, collect, obtain, preserve, prepare, display, transmit, inform, teaching, interpretation, presentation, learning processes, discussion, workshop, lecture, symposium, music, theatre, meditation, action, cooperation, studies. Museum integrated into an urban environment via zones, cultural arteries. Museum as a means of contact for society, culturally oriented leisure time, link to recreational area for the young, activity area for adults, recreation, sport, culture,

an event for the elderly, calm, encounter, lingering, recreation, artistic experience, walks, variety. Architecture as an integral expression, significance, signal, building with content, housing, container, preservation, conservation, design related to content, dynamic, an expression of the times, possible to build, possible to demolish, enveloping spatial design, trees, independent construction, growing, communicative, simple, light, hovering, reflecting the environment, distinctive, transparency in the green area, continuity of pedestrian experience, continuation of green area.

Gallery of 20th Century Art Project 1972

Museum of 20th Century Art 26

Museum of 20th Century Art Vienna 1964

Events at the Museum of 20th Century Art

Director Dr. Alfred Schmeller about the museum I wanted to make a living organism out of a dead shop – to create an area of freedom for the visitors and my associates. Seized with this revitalisation, the visitor should become an active participant in the dialogue with art and other phenomena of this century: not forgetting, of course, the dialogue with himself or his interlocutors. The didactic side of the exhibition, including the pictures permanently on view, will be brought to the fore, even culminating in a ‘critical exhibition’. Thus, the walls will be hung not only with beautiful pictures –‘mural ornamentation’ has no place in a museum! – but the visitor will also be encouraged to go beyond simple enjoyment and think. As a collector, I endeavour to collect with a view to the future.

Events at the Museum of 20th Century Art

Air, water, earth, flora, fauna and unspoiled nature comprise the environment into which we are born. With animals it constitutes the world in which we human beings organize our lives. The overwhelming size and breadth of the firmament in comparison to man, the sequence of night and day, summer and winter, microcosm and macrocosm are the wonderful outcome of a plan of the most divine concept and power. The perfection of our everyday existence calls for humility on the part of man and his imperfect labours. The purity and beauty of an organized world was bestowed upon us, and without a second thought we accepted it, assuming no serious responsibility for accepting this divine gift, using it in a meaningful manner and shaping it harmoniously. Awe in the face of the innate beauty and power of nature must be the basis from which man proceeds in his endeavours to change the world artificially. Since he has been granted the ability to subdue the world, he builds: he lays his bricks, casts his concrete, constructs and exploits the riches of the earth. In a blind frenzy and spurred on by ever greater demands he has now reached the limits of selfdestruction and is destroying the dignity of sublime natural beauty. Joie de vivre which is essentially linked to enjoyment of the environment withers away to depression as we gradually realize that through technology we are on the verge of losing our biological foundations. Technology, however, is an organic selfregenerating factor of life, the natural justification for which is to be found in the reciprocity of human procreation. Our interests and endeavours, however, should not be directed exclusively towards the amazing process of production, but also to the healthy survival of humankind. Understanding and contributing to that survival comes into immediate conflict with the design of our artificial environment and, in particular, with architecture as an instrument of human fate.

On the preservation of old buildings

We can only really consider preserving those buildings whose structural substance is worth handing down to future generations. The yardstick used to judge which buildings are really worth preserving will vary in terms of the equivalence between traditional preservation values, cultural content, economic utilization and running costs. It would thus not seem meaningful to freeze with immediate effect all demolition proposals since that might hinder the grand development of new buildings which in a later period or epoch would appear just as worthy of preservation. Architectural history has shown us that large-scale solutions often take their toll of victims. Small-mindedness in the sense of a misconceived preservation order hampers new powerful developments and furthers the mummification of an all too lethargic Vienna.

Project IBM Building Vienna 1966

On the preservation of old buildings

Project IBM Building Vienna 1966

Philips Building Vienna 1966

Philips Building Vienna

Perlmooser AG Cement Plant Mannersdorf 1970

Perlmooser AG Cement Plant Mannersdorf Cross-section through drying unit

BMW Car-park Munich 1971

BMW Car-park Munich Pre-fabricated components

BMW Car-park Number of parking slots Number of pre-fabricated components

1,586 1,852

Cubic content Built-up area

101,557.15 cbm 6,387.65 sqm 26

BMW Car-park Number of parking slots Number of pre-fabricated components

1,586 1,852

Cubic content Built-up area

101,557.15 cbm 6,387.65 sqm 26

?? who ? whom ?? what ?????? why ?????????? what for ????????? where ?????????????? on what ??????????????? how ????????????????????? when ??????????????????????? how much ?????????????????????? but why ??????????????????????????? for what reason ???????????????????????? with what ???????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????? really ???????????? building with questions ????????????

Institute of Business Promotion St. Pรถlten 1972

Spatial programme for the Institute of Business Promotion, St. Pölten In compliance with the functional requirements, an open easy-to-organise building was to be built. The aim was to provide for multifunctionality in the individual spaces and the groups of rooms so as to be able to adjust to the constant changes in the commercial sector and production techniques and reflect the same in the training curriculum, while achieving maximum possible efficiency with an appropriate degree of utilisation. It was also required to provide for the following functional groups: Workshops: Provision was to be made for 71 different trades/crafts in 21 workshops or groups of workshops. Food sector: Bakery: baker, pastry cook; Butcher’s shop: butcher, curer; Tourist management school: works canteen, show kitchen, teaching kitchen, waiting courses, cookery courses, business management; Small workshops: Hairdresser’s shop: hairdresser, manicure, chiropodist, beautician, masseurs; Tailor’s shop: dressmaker, corset maker, milliner, furrier; Language and stenography laboratory: language courses for commerce and business, shorthand courses; Electrical laboratory: electrician, electronics engineer, radio and TV mechanic, electronic data processing; Medium-sized workshops: Synthetics: scale model building, commercial applications; Materials testing shop: material tests; Plumbing: plumber (gas and water), heating; Multi-purpose workshops: opticians, shoemakers, orthopaedic shoemakers, decorators, upholsterers, plasterers; Paint shop: painters and decorators, special courses; Interior decoration shop: window dressing,

shop fittings, sample sales; Heavy-duty workshops: Builder’s yard: bricklayer, roofer, tiler, stove-fitter, stone-mason, composition tiling, chimney sweep, joiners and fitters; Wood-processing: hand tools and automated workshops; Paint shop: polyester spray shop, nitrocellulose spray and drying dock, nitrocellulose spray bay; Car repair shop: car mechanics, agricultural machinery mechanics, panel beaters, electricians, diesel test bed; Welding: oxy-acetylene, electric arc and protective gas welding; Smithy: Metalwork shop: tinsmith, locksmith; Lathe shop: lathe operation, milling, grinding; Area for theoretical training: 16 rooms of different sizes were to be provided for teaching purposes. Meeting centre: 2 seminar rooms;

Foyer to exhibition hall: displays, multipurpose hall, bank of display windows; Exhibition hall: exhibitions, auditorium for lectures and events; Lecture hall for max. 470 persons (cinema, festival hall, balls, fashion shows, retirement parties, seminars) Visitors’ foyer: reception desk for boarders and visitors’ reception area; Visitors’ corridor: institute demonstrations, exhibitions; Administration area: Local institute management; Catering management; Buildings management; Training course offices; Registration and information; Offices for heads of master courses and workshops; Stores and depots; Workshop and equipment store; Supplies; Exhibition storage area; Guest house:

4 service flats; 4 boarding units, 24 beds each and 1 supervisor’s room, for participants in the two-year tourist management course (catering). 4 boarding units, 24 beds each, for participants in long-term courses; 2 boarding units, 24 beds each, for participants in short-term courses together with 3 teacher’s rooms; 4 guest rooms; 2 sick bays; Seating areas; Space for technical equipment and supplies; Links to public utilities (gas, water and electricity); Transformers and distributors; Air conditioning and ventilation units; Stand-by generators; Cooling system and compressed air supply; Well and industrial water supply.

Institute of Business Promotion St. Pรถlten Views of interior

Building also encompasses engineering ever since we have made a conceptual distinction between supports and loads. The statics of a blade of grass has always fascinated me. The lightness of its materials, its elasticity, economy, beauty and internal functions serve as an example for any building structure. Natural forms per se, for example crystals, have their inner geometric and mathematically exact structural systems composed along linear lines. They are examples of divine planning and design in the uniformity of building materials. Governed solely by the physical constraints of natureâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s laws, building is an organic, beautiful and optimally economic process. By way of contrast, how confused we have become with our use of the countless different products available today.

BMW Building Munich 1973

Open-plan spaces Duly modified, open-plan spaces, a slogan of our times, can provide a human environment that offers personal privacy as well as an enhanced feeling of togetherness. A new working atmosphere is obtained: human, cheerful, happy, animating and communal. With its roundness, the room provides an allembracing envelope, an intellectual stimulant for far-sighted ideas that extend beyond the periphery. At the same time,

the space furthers the concentrated formation of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;polesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, a confluence of concentrated thought. The group, the team, identifies with the interior and, through its outward transparency, with the urban panorama of Munich. The individual employee can look up from the confines of his own desk out into the distance: nevertheless, he senses the spirit of neighbourliness and togetherness, the essential features of the modern team spirit and team work. The clover-leaf or

quatrefoil floor plan groups four teams of thirty persons (size of a standard class in school) in a neighbourly environment. The team bonds by virtue of the structure, promoting esprit de corps as well as a competitive spirit with the emphasis on performance. Like a round-table, a round room brings the community closer together, offers seats of the same status to all and in a single round unites people, offering the same opportunities without any preferences.

BMW Building Munich 1973

BMW Building Munich

Statics and construction

The building is a suspended concrete structure, 100 m tall. The suspension system permits the use of very slender supports and work can be carried out simultaneously on both the shell and finishing. Pre-stressed concrete has the advantage of deforming only very slightly. The high compressive strength of the concrete can be used to the full in conjunction with pre-stressing.

The building core, four pre-stressed open shafts in reinforced concrete with inner partitions and landings, each floor interlinked via beams and slabs, is designed to absorb and transmit to the foundations all vertical loads exerted by the deadweight and live load, as well as the horizontal wind force. The coreâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s static system comprises a frame, its uprights are the shafts and its beams the cross-members.At the

top of the 100 m tall building, the four arms of a cruciform beam project some 16 metres. This cruciform beam bears the total load of the hanging floors transmitted via four suspension columns and transfer it to the core walls. Under full load conditions on all floors, each of the suspension columns bears a load of 4600 Mp.

BMW Building Munich

Statics and construction

BMW Building Munich

Main entrance

Entrance, ancillary building

BMW Building Munich

Main entrance

Entrance, ancillary building

Floor with individual offices

Standard floor

Floor with technical equipment

Floor with individual offices

Standard floor

Floor with technical equipment

Elevator banks Anteroom, directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office Corridor leading to visitorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; restaurant

Roof, ventilation exhausts Suspension area from below

Cruciform beams

Casualty Hospital, Graz Under construction in 1974

Buildings for the care of the sick present the architect with a major challenge. The ambience to be created demands of the architect a heightened degree of sensitivity and responsibility. The requirements set by the doctors, the additional needs of the administration and the limited budgetary resources constrict the architectâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plans. In addition to the purely practical considerations, the human quality of the rooms should not be lost. Upon entering hospital, a sick person is all too conscious of the change from his accustomed environment. His ailment adds to his excitability, his need for care and attention makes him dependent on others and the unfamiliar surroundings increase his feeling of insecurity. Under these circumstances it is all the more necessary to bring the influence of architecture to bear in a sensitive manner. Of course, close attention has to be paid to the technical planning aspects, in particular the co-ordination of the numerous engineers working on various technical facilities. Above all, medical technology needs to be functionally incorporated in the building structure. Furthermore, provision has to be made for a flexible design that allows for future developments. The planning itself is carried out under the moral pressure of time. The sooner a new hospital can be opened, the more decisive that date becomes in terms of the health of a large number of potential partners, their treatment, care, recovery and survival. The architect thus faces a major social obligation. Given the extent of coordination required for all the different determinants, organizing the planning process becomes a key operational factor. The casualty hospital in Graz will have 220 beds as well as facilities for 800 outpatients. The hospital will also have the requisite ancillary housing for the nursing and other staff, a kindergarten and an office building for the Graz Accident Insurance Authority. Construction started at the beginning of 1974. 26

Casualty Hospital, Graz Under construction in 1974

Ground floor

Casualty Hospital, Graz Under construction in 1974

Ground floor

A children’s community Children play and occupy themselves according to their own plans. A child’s personality should be permitted to develop through creative games. The Viennese kindergartens are considered exemplary. Their experience has accumulated over a century of pedagogical achieves. A children’s community can also teach adults a thing or two. Free of prejudice, children can develop a more human society for tomorrow. The outside of the municipal kindergarten at the World Fair in Montreal was designed to establish a link between the visitor and the children’s world. Consequently, the strict simplicity of a modular system was felt to be the solution best suited to children. By including familiar toy elements in the modular system, the child would be helped to develop an inner relationship and a liking for the as yet unfamiliar atmosphere of the kindergarten community. The children were to enter the building dedicated to them with a feeling of joy. Aroused by memories of the time they played with their own bricks, they should feel the urge to return. In contrast to the bright exterior, the building’s interior was kept in one colour. This allowed the children to develop their own fancies to the full, creating an environment suited to their own needs where they could stipulate and set the touches of colours they wanted. The well-tested configuration of rooms as used in a Viennese kindergarten comprised a generously dimensioned dayroom, a cloakroom and sanitary amenities. The dayroom contained a housekeeping corner, a dolls corner, a bricks corner, a painting nook and other crannies devoted to various children’s games. The dayroom opened onto a central open space, linking the interior and exterior in a communal living space for the children.

The Municipal Kindergarten Montreal World Fair 1967

Municipal Day-Care Centre, Vienna 1973

Dwellings for the elderly

Planning must be based on the endeavour to maintain the personal independence of the elderly for as long as possible and to ensure as intensive a contact as possible with their surroundings. In terms of functionality, the amenities have to meet the organisational requirements and be suited to social demands. The design should reflect genuine sensitivity so that the elderly do not feel that they have been excluded by society. The old age pensionersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; home in the Augarten in Vienna offers help and relief to its elderly occupants who are no longer able to live alone and complete their daily chores. Meals are provided; care and personal attention are part of the service. The living unit is spacious and can be furnished according to the occupantâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wishes. If they are to feel happy, elderly people should not be deprived of their accustomed surroundings. Meeting this demand is a primary requirement.

Dwellings for the elderly

Old Age Pensionersâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; Home, Augarten Vienna Under construction in 1974

195 single-bed units 39 double-bed units Sickbay and 11 special-care rooms Dining-cum-multi-purpose hall for 300 persons TV room Small hall, games room, hairdresser Library, mailroom, furniture storage Workshops, amenity areas Service and supplies area Administration, secretariat, accommodation for doctor and nurses Kitchen, store rooms Machine and boiler rooms Staff quarters

Old Age Pensionersâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC; Home, Augarten Vienna Under construction in 1974

Parish Church, Pรถtzleinsdorf Vienna 1964

Parish Church, Leopoldau Vienna 1972

Parish church, Leopoldau

Building churches

Today the spiritually dominant position of the church in society is being questioned, and there are even plans afoot to incorporate its function in structural terms into residential buildings: a concept which in principle runs counter to the urban significance of communal amenities. An urban setting, the reciprocity of experience and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;differencesâ&#x20AC;&#x2DC;, nurtures life in terms of the growth, development and change that a community needs. The proper integration of a church is only possible if instead of merely leaving a building lot open for social amenities in a town of shoe boxes and uninspired rabbit hutches, the church is planned as belonging to the communal facilities of a residential area. No merit lies in understating the task; a forceful statement must be made. The task of building churches as individual structures of a particular character still has a meaning and justification. Its content is determined by the challenge it represents. It is fruitless to attempt to establish a relationship to the different structures in the vicinity, if the latter are bad. Important is the establishment of a relationship with the residents, the people living around the church, who have had enough of living in their little boxes and yearn for something other than what they experience in their restricted, alienated and monotonous environment. The churchâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s external relationship to these people is established by means of paths and open spaces where they can meet and get to know each other (churchyards!) or benches and playgrounds. The church as a structural contrast to the sterile waste of prefabricated buildings becomes something desirable in a spiritual sense.

Building churches

Capuchin Crypt Vienna 1960

The tomb of the Hapsburgs The Capuchin crypt dates back to1618. It embodies three centuries of Austrian history. The splendiferous names of those buried there are closely associated with the evolution of Austria. The distinctive artistry of the tombs bears witness to sentiments of grandeur and transience. In the span of one generation an imperial mausoleum has become a monument to Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s past. An extension stretching under the monastery garden was to offer as a more dignified setting for the tombs. Despite limited financial resources, a meaningful solution had to be found for the crypt which was completely below ground. The untreated cast concrete walls create the impression of an excavated grave, while the pitched ceiling meets the structural demands and lends the chamber an air of earnest. 26

Capuchin Crypt Vienna 1960

The preservation of buildings

An architect who is not a member of a clique finds himself standing on the sidelines. His opinions suffer a similar fate: for example, his thoughts on the preservation of historic buildings in our city. Historic buildings and their preservation are an increasingly popular – albeit increasingly loud and intrusive – topic of discussion, argued from the urban, architectural, historical, cultural, local, touristic and countless other angles. In Vienna, fashion dictates that in principle almost anything erected before 1925 is worthy of preservation, which inevitably leads to the mummification of the city. Even people with a progressive attitude towards life feel themselves obliged to follow suit and chime in with ‘My mother was a Viennese’ when it is a question of preserving buildings linked with Vienna’s past. In this respect, things are often slightly overdone. In the final analysis, we should all have the courage of our own convictions, and the endeavours directed towards the conservation of our country’s cultural heritage should not be allowed to paralyse the immanent power of new forms of documentation. Relatively speaking, more money is spent on the conversation of old buildings than on the development of new architecture, the latter being left to building speculators or a ‘miracle’ in architectural history. The fear evoked by the pick-axe that things might be irretrievably lost inhibits the creative power of modern design. The impassioned conservators cry ‘demolition is a crime’ and ‘new buildings are a crime’. My question: where does impunity lie? Solely in mediocrity?

The Albertina Square Project Vienna 1973

The preservation of buildings

The Albertina Square Project Vienna 1973

City Centre Project Vienna 1968

In every age bridges have been centres of commercial activity. In Vienna the area around the Danube Canal, more specifically between two bridges, the Marien- and Schwedenbrücken, is a metropolitan backwater. It has to be revitalised; given the intensive building activity in the northern sector of Vienna, it would appear desirable to establish a closer link to the inner city. A vibrant ‘meeting point’ could thus happily bond the rather shabbily treated district to the north with the inner city core. A meeting point or information centre amidst the throbbing life of a major city is more essential than ever before, particularly where tourists are concerned. In this instance, the meeting point would be centrally located and easily found even by newcomers, with assured access via public transport. The site could be the starting point for all city sightseeing tours and other tourist attractions. It could also accommodate other municipal services, such as youth clubs, welcome services, information offices, hotel accommodation, escort services, city

guides, travel bureaux, sightseeing tours, medical services, social services, police, commercial information, display areas for permanent municipal exhibitions. For instance, the Schwedenbrücke could be used to house a permanent exhibition area with a series of shows displaying the cultural and communal activities of Vienna or provide commercial space. The site could be a meeting pace for the local citizens and visitors to the city, Of course, an essential element would be commercial activities that would enhance the area with attractive boutiques for visitors from abroad. The City Centre would have a car park located on the first deck spanning the Danube Canal between the two bridges, above which pedestrian malls would be built. The latter would be linked via steps to the walkways in the adjoining urban area. In the City Centre itself, which would include stations for both the metropolitan and underground railway systems, visitors would be able to catch buses for sightseeing tours that start from

the tourist centre. Furthermore, the airport shuttle service could also be advantageously located on the site. Numerous boutiques and shops on various levels would generate brisk pedestrian traffic similar to shoppers in a large department store and thus inject a dose of city life. A coffee house situated above the middle of the canal with a panoramic view of the Kahlenberg would prove a popular attraction in the inner city The City Centre would also demonstrate that Vienna does indeed lie on the Danube as people would embark here for round trips along the Danube. The City Centre would thus create a central point which, by its very existence, would provide a landmark for modern Vienna – not only in terms of urban or touristic convenience, but also as an impulse for modern architecture. The silhouette cast by the translucent roofing spanning the site would lend the City centre both visual attractiveness and a force of attraction.

City Centre Project Vienna 1968

Project The State Comptrollerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office Building Ringstrasse Vienna 1972

A matter of training

Educating an architect Any attempt to design a degree course for architects must be predicated on the fact that in essence an architect is a planner. Through his plans, the architect determines the organizational form of our environment. The task confronting him can be broken down into social, artistic and technical components. If a plan attempts to anticipate the future and determine future actions and systems with a view to achieving predetermined objectives, in other words if it attempts to conceive and discover something as yet non-existent, the architect is socially obliged to work on himself. For an architect, a profound intellectual basis, theoretical knowledge, a methodological and technological awareness are to be seen exclusively in the example he sets, in the buildings he builds as the sole vital outcome of his creative capabilities. The pre-requisites are a command of the technical, constructive sciences, powers of economic reasoning, knowledge of material properties and man’s relationship thereto. Devising the technical possibilities of the future demands not only imaginative farsightedness, but also an exact analysis of the historical evolution of building techniques. Based on historical precedent, the artistic qualities of an architect are responsible for his being set firmly among the intuitive creative aesthetes. Here too, attempts are being made to formalize unqualifiable elements. The secrets of aesthetics are being closely scrutinised from all angles: in the newly conceived information aesthetics, for example, aesthetic processes are interpreted as the trans-mission of information. The architect is thus compelled to acquire an even more profound knowledge of other sciences than hitherto. In the final analysis, the social

components reveal the architect’s task to be the design of a biologically acceptable environment in the broadest sense of the term. Architecture is no longer pure art, but an integrated environment. Social developments demand to an ever increasing degree permanent planning in the field of environmental design. Hitherto the architect was often only called upon in the final phase of the planning process – i.e. at the stage of object-related design – whereas others were responsible for setting the goals and preparing the programming and planning steps, while the actual building operation followed on as a subsequent function. In the future, however, the architect will have an important role to play at the decisionmaking stage. The attempt to control future thinking, the efficiency of planning as a means of controlling events within in the overall framework of the social system, calls for techniques that are systematic and creative. Increased significance will have to be accorded to the architect in the interdisciplinary team as a planner, even at the stage where problems are analysed and systems identified, objectives set and programmes elaborated, decisions prepared and alternative solutions drawn up. Thanks to his many skills, an architect would appear better suited than many a specialist to working in an interdisciplinary team. Admittedly, he will have to acquire a knowledge of other sciences and learn to understand and apply their language, if he is not to appear a mere dilettante in other fields. He will have to work in theoretical and applied sciences that are of eminent importance to environmental design, such as mathematics and the social sciences, political science and economics, and, to a

greater degree than ever before, he will have to exercise a didactic function, in order to be able to integrate the realization of his plans into the social system, and thus in the final analysis make them possible. Architecture cannot be an issue for proselytisers; it must be presented as a social task - in other words, society must be made aware of it as a task. The role of training facilities can thus be derived from the foregoing. In the techno-constructive and economic subjects greater use is made of experimentation, ‘lab tests’, as a means of research. In workshops, models are used to simulate future events; attempts are made to present complex problems so as to come one step closer to a creatively determined Utopia. The didactic prerequisites are a knowledge of group dynamics, teamwork methodologies and the incorporation of individual performance, as well as familiarity with the methods used to transmit and process information. Further requisites are a knowledge of mathematics, the theories of combination and information, computer techniques and programming, statistics and public opinion polling, forecasting and research into trends, sociology, behavioural science, management techniques and economics, human biology, social psychology and psychosomatics, and last but not least, the science of planning, the theory and methodology of planning plans. In future, the training of an architect will no longer be completed at the end of a statutory degree course, but will evolve into a form of permanent education: a continuous life-long training process with the active participation of the universities.

A matter of training

Project Zoological Institutes University of Vienna 1972

72.000 m≥ cubic content 18.000 m≤ gross floor area 2 research units for 800 students comprising laboratories, common working areas with lecture hall, four large practical areas and seminar rooms. Other facilities include: administrative section, library, workshops, animal quarters and building plant. Additive ‘spatial module’ - measuring 14.30 x 14.40 x 3.96 m. Extension of the ‘spatial modules’ in two directions creates a network-structure with potential for expansion. The load-bearing structure of each module comprises four corner supports and a ceiling slab: a ‘table’. Each ‘table’ comprises a centrally located traffic area, four laboratories as well as four cellular ‘think-tanks‘ attached to each laboratory. Services are kept separate from the structure. The service ducts are accessible from the traffic area. Horizontal distribution direct from the service ducts to the service elementsin the laboratories and ceiling area. Dimensional co-ordination of the shell, fixtures and fittings: Horizontal module 0.60 m Vertical module 0.165 m

Project Zoological Institutes University of Vienna 1972

Project Electrotechnical Institute University of Technology Vienna 1966

University of Vienna Extension project 1973

Thoughts on an idea and concept

Based on the project data relating to the implementation of a cité universitaire in Vienna on a selected site within the city bounds, a generous concept was elaborated: generous both in terms of the site to the covered and in terms of the construction phases envisaged. Designing a new educational centre in an urban environment for some 20,000 students requires a conceptual model on a scale far in advance of practical developments, yet one which examines possible developments commensurate with the scope of the project.

The assignment offered the closing decades of the twentieth century an opportunity to express itself in a condign manner, to manifest its political and intellectual power and to develop it in such a manner that it would be of benefit to future generations. The task confronting ‘education as a central event of our time’ – not merely in the strict sense of teaching, but also as something generally present in the cultural life of the urban population and the state – must of necessity mobilise the means and ends by which the central task of ensuring a nation’s intellectual survival is assured. A university as ‘an educational centre’, a repository of general knowledge and information, lends a city cultural power and a basis for its intellectual existence and urban being. Awareness of the fact that over and above the economy, culture must also be one of the prerequisites for the prime objective of survival will set new standards for future educational policy a basis will be set for a much broader approach than had originally been conceived in the basic planning strategy. Proceeding without extensive guidelines is not the right way to embark upon the unique opportunities offered by such a large building assignment and scarcely does justice to the scale and responsibilities inherent in the solution of this secular problem. The history of the past thirty years reveals only too clearly the opportunities that have been missed in both Austrian education policy and urban planning, as well as the substantive and economic blows that have been wrought by short-sighted measures. Today, in an era of unequalled economic prosperity, an attempt should be made to adopt a generous conceptual approach for the next thirty years or at least a conceptual model that can be implemented on a large or small scale in keeping with the current economic and political situation. The low groundwater level in the building area enabled the planner to house the facilities in a multi-terraced structure. This

‘structure’, with its close ties to the surrounding terrain and featuring four graduated floors with terraces, fitted in harmoniously with the surrounding buildings. It took account of pedestrian traffic, created intermediate spaces which sloped downwards and inwards, opening onto green spaces without revealing the bulk of the building. In principle, all horizontal surfaces were landscaped and open to the general public; the only visible structural components in the landscape were windows, doorways, entrances, stairwells and ramps. The functional design of the proposed building provided for non-university (public) use (outsiders using the shopping facilities, cafés and restaurants), semipublic use (lecture halls and others amenities used for both curricular and extra-curricular activities) and university use, as well the incremental areas for the individual institutes (offices and laboratories). The net-like lay-out provides for short communication links between the institutes, heed being paid to interdisciplinary research, and thus permits a large degree of variability in the utlilisation of the building’s volume (increasing, decreasing or interchanging institutes areas). Some 18,000 students were to be accommodated in some 704,000 square metres of effective (usable) area on the project site, due consideration being given to the building schedule. Close study of an architectural landscape shows that with a far-sighted approach, it is possible to create a structural volume that can offer both extensive landscaping and high utilisation factor without having to take recourse to enormous blocks or monumental monstrosities. Admittedly this new idea, which offers new urban alternatives on a large scale in an old urban environment, calls for a generous, progressive attitude towards the procurement of land and re-settlement: something that is hardly conceivable under the present circumstances.

University of Vienna Extension project 1973

Thoughts on an idea and concept

University Project Vienna 1973

Austrian Embassy Brasilia Under construction in 1974

Competition design

Site plan

Austrian Embassy Brasilia Under construction in 1974

Competition design

Site plan

Experiences on the building site From the very outset, it was noted that the term ‘highly qualified‘ as used in the brief was to be interpreted in such a way that the best locally available version was to be taken as a yardstick. Furthermore, various materials specified in the brief had to be substituted as local supplies failed to meet the requisite quality standards. The large number of sub-contractors, the technical solution envisaged had to be adapted to local skills. Generally speaking, however, the building materials were of good quality. Almost everything was manufactured locally; however, owing to Brasilia’s isolated location, supplies were still often erratic. Consequently, deliveries were repeatedly delayed and schedules went by the board. ‘Amanha’ need not, strictly speaking, mean the very next day; it can also imply the next day but one, possibly a week or a month thereafter. Complaints about deadlines not being observed were usually met with incomprehension. Out of sheer politeness, a Brazilian would never jib at a deadline once set. Should he, however, for all his good will and adroitness (locally termed ’jeito‘) fail to meet the deadline – and this happens ninety-nine times out of hundred – it is simply a matter of fate ‘kismet‘.

BMW Museum Munich 1973

The basic architectural design concept was the continuation of the ‘road’ as a functional space for vehicles in a building encased in a bowl and dedicated to traffic. The aim was not to create a parking area for motorcars and so set static museumrelated values, but to heighten the impact of the car as a medium in an appropriate setting, using multimedia to evoke the best possible memories. By excluding the outside world, the bowl-shaped building was designed to rouse the visitor’s curiosity and interest, while the glimpses of the interior afforded by the glazed base encouraged contacts and invoked a relationship to the content. Inside the building, an escalator takes the visitor to the uppermost platform where the projection of panoramic images onto the inner wall immediately creates the illusion of a moving car. This projection establishes an intense relationship to the car as a ‘vehicle’ and means of transport. The joy of driving is engendered even before the means of transport, the product ‘motorcar’ or ‘motorcycle’, is presented in

individual impressive displays. The visitor is then gently guided downwards via a series of ramps from one platform to the next and past the items on display: motorcars, engines and equipment that he had caught a glimpse of when taking the escalator upwards. Interesting overlapping spatial forms give rise to surprising dynamic effects that are particularly suited to a building in its function as a showroom for vehicles. The unusual is experienced from unconventional angles. Contrary to institutionalised viewing habits, the visitor sees the items as a new visual experience. Computer-controlled lighting and sound effects make for a clear message in a compressed form. The basic design concept is such that this

new type of museum provides for a series of ever-changing exhibitions, using different programmes for the panorama projection an the display techniques on the platforms and the inner bowl wall. The curvature of the latter is particularly suited to creating associations with the cornering characteristics and a dynamic impression of the handling properties of the vehicles on display. The experience of the interrelationship — vehicle – road – space – together with the simulated panorama effect is heightened by the small apertures in the bowl wall that offer glimpses of street life outside. Thus, yet another interrelationship between the abstract world of the exhibition and real everyday life is established.

BMW Museum Munich 1973

BMW Museum Munich

Floor plans

Building phases

BMW Museum Munich

Floor plans

Building phases

BMW Museum Munich

BMW Museum Munich with Olympics site and TV tower

List of works

Completed assignments 1947-1950 Exhibition structures in Vienna, Brussels Chicago Shop fronts Furniture design Cinema fixtures Workshops

1951-1955 Municipal housing for the City of Vienna Exhibition structures in Paris, Stockholm, Chicago, Toronto, Vienna Trade and Commerce Exhibition, Vienna Cinemas Shops and stores Workshops

Exhibition „Communal Services“, Vienna Viennese coffee shop, Chicago Travelling exhibition, West Africa Roto Show USCOA Single dwellings Austrian Electricity Board Exhibition, Linz Fair pavilions for the Austrian Chamber of Commerce at trade fairs in Milan, Chicago, New York, Toronto, Stockholm, Vancouver, etc Austrian Electricity Board Exhibition, Vienna Pavilion for the US Ministry of Trade and Commerce at the Vienna Fair 1956-1960 Residential developments Cinemas Shops and stores Petrol stations Car show rooms Exhibition at Milan Pavilion for the US Ministry of Trade and Commerce at the Vienna Fair Austrian Pavilion at the World Fair in Brussels Pavilion for the European Council at the World Fair in Brussels Single dwellings Industrial buildings First Viennese high-rise parking facility Extension to the Capuchin Crypt, Vienna

1960-1965 Palais Auersperg restaurant, Vienna Institute for Business Promotion, Vienna Industrial buildings Extension to theAcademy of Applied Art, Vienna (jointly with Fellerer-Wörle) Museum of 20th Century Art, Vienna Parish church, Pötzleinsdorf, Technical centre and office building for the Austrian Automobile Association Exhibition structures Municipal housing for the City of Vienna Ancillary hostel, Institute for Business Promotion, Vienna

Laboratory building, Messrs.Peter Stoll Shops and stores Philips building, Vienna GIG office building Industrial buildings, Isovolta and Stolllack

1966-11970 Residential buildings Shops and stores Old age pensioners’ home, Viennese Chamber of Commece Austrian pavilion, World fair, Montreal Vienna municipal kindergarten, World fair, Montreal GIG industrial plant Exhibition structures in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver Dispatch area for the Perlmoser cement works Industrial plant for the Perlmoser cement works BMW indoor car park, Munich Service facilities, Philips, Vienna

1971-1973 Institute for Business Promotion with ancillary hostel, St. Pölten, Lower Austria Industrial plants for Stolllack, Eybl, Isovolta Peter Stoll service plant Aluminium plant, Teich Ltd. Storage area for the Schwechat Brewery Day-care centre, the City of Vienna BMW administration building, Munich BMW museum, Munich Austrian embassy in Brasilia Aluminium plant, Messsrs. Teich Riyadh University master plan Under construction Senior citizens’ home Augarten, Vienna Casualty hospital, Graz Nurses residence and administration building for the Graz Accident Insurance authority Automobile service station, Messrs. Denzel, Graz Senior citizens’ home, Munich Astrian Consulate, Munich

Office building, Lenbachplatz, Munich Projects and competitions Leisure centre, Ostende Free University, Berlin Opera house, Madrid Electrotechnical Institute, University of Technology, Vienna Bank for labour and Economyy (BAWAG) Indoor stadium, Bottrop Lorenz-Boehler-Hospital, Vienna IBM building, Vienna Sports grounds for the University of Innsbruck Jubilee Exhibition Vindobona 2000 City Centre Vienna Atmospherium - German pavilion for the World Fair Osaka Hotel chain in the Harz mountains, Germany University of Bielefeld Mobil Oil building, Hamburg General hospital, Ingolstadt IVG office building, Munich Onion house, Munich (in structural cooperation with Finsterwalder) State Comptroller’s Office, Vienna Freihaus site, Technical University of Vienna Cove – Bavarian Communal Bank Sprengel Museum, Hannover ‘Diagnosis street’ University planning, Vienna Office building, Zedlitzhalle Garage structures, etc.

List of works

Completed assignments 1947-1950 Exhibition structures in Vienna, Brussels Chicago Shop fronts Furniture design Cinema fixtures Workshops

1951-1955 Municipal housing for the City of Vienna Exhibition structures in Paris, Stockholm, Chicago, Toronto, Vienna Trade and Commerce Exhibition, Vienna Cinemas Shops and stores Workshops

Laboratory building, Messrs.Peter Stoll Shops and stores Philips building, Vienna GIG office building Industrial buildings, Isovolta and Stolllack

Teaching at the University of Technology, Vienna Research and Implementation Building Theory – Diversity of Design Work

Teaching by learning Research as a basis for subsequent applications is meaningless unless followed by the evaluation of theoretical findings. Training cannot possibly be set up without synchronous practical work in which research findings are put to the test. The architect, in particular, is only able to establish the resonance of his work through confirmation of his plans. His task of building the social environment of tomorrow obliges him to apply continuously his intuition, knowledge, experience, research and experimental

skills: in brief, the criteria of true ‘learning’. In the building sector, the saying ‘You never stop learning’ holds particularly true. Every assignment is fraught with new problems that have to be meticulously studied. In examples, analogies, developments and research into the basic characteristics which, across a broad spectrum, have to be effectively applied in connection with scientific findings. It is the content of a task that comes increasingly to the fore. The technical solution becomes an instrumental task; it is expected as a foregone conclusion; it belongs as an integrated component of our everyday existence. Technology is a standard premise and no longer an object of amazement. At the same time, however, it means that building techniques have to be fully mastered. They cannot merely be learnt in theory for ‘’application’ alone substantiates possibilities and assumptions. An uninterrupted learning process, gathering experience, which first confirms and then deepens theoretical knowledge, is the primary task of the professional architect. First, awareness of the meaningfulness of the continuous

‘learning process’ leads on to ‘teaching’. Thus, the practical work of an architect cannot be separated from theory: furthermore, ‘theory’ only becomes credible when confirmed in practice. Building theory, in particular, which should be an introduction to the multiplicity of design, calls for a breadth of experience that stands in crass contrast to the current trend towards specialization. On the other hand, perhaps not if universality is held to be genuine specialization. One-sided overspecialization threatens to fall victim to stereotypification or banal schematics. Mastery of variety is fascinating and provides inner satisfaction in a genuine creative process. Specialisation bears the innate risk of onesidedness; breadth of performance that of superficiality. The permanent confrontation with differentiated tasks, however, lends strength and a capacity an original form of expression and new ideas. Of course, the efficiency of this approach is far from lucrative. However, contentment with work and satisfaction one’s approach to life is equal to many a mediocre financial reward.

‘Teaching’ implies primarily ‘informing’ and ‘letting others share one’s findings’. Teaching architecture cannot be limited to theory alone. ‘Theories’ must be unquestionably proven by means of examples and stand up to such tests, if they are to transmit anything of value to the person learning. Examples lend encouragement. Examples, be they good or bad, challenge the critical faculties. A structure is an essential fact which can be studied. Man in his imperfection will continue to make mistakes, yet striving for perfection spurs the artist continuously on. Man as he exists is a complex being: with his knowledge and his passions. Logic without feeling is not complex. Thus, knowledge must be allied to intuition and experience, while experience, i.e. knowledge of being, has to be transmitted through theory. ‘Stockpiling’ experience brings progress. Young people accept known facts as givens and their knowledge is formed as a continuation thereof. They are thus interested in experience and putting things to the test. Pure science without feedback is

inconceivable. Consequently, each student seeks and expects this reflective process. Teaching without the experience of learning would thus be incomplete. Hence, the university professor is obliged to work practically, to prove himself, to test things and put matters up for discussion. Young people are, by their very intuition, critically inclined and base their judgement on examples. Undoubtedly, theoretical knowledge must be transmitted and acquired. Information and knowledge of concepts, methodologies and techniques have to be learnt. However, the development of a personality can only be achieved by means of example. In this case, the university teacher must confront the young and give them what they want: an example of conscience, effort and proven quality. One thing constantly links those learning with those teaching: awareness of the need to learn and recognition that theory is derived solely from what is learnt. In other words, teachers and those taught have constant learning in common, and this mutual bond will provide an important link where the future of our universities is concerned.

Teaching at the University of Technology, Vienna Research and Implementation Building Theory – Diversity of Design Work

Aphorisms on student projects

Aphorisms that appeared as marginal notes on work submitted by students at the Technical University

The work of an engineer is that of discovery; a synthesis of findings from other areas Each project has to have a core concept to be pursued in all consequence. If your basic concept is landscape, you have to find a structural form commensurate with that concept.

A town is not a residual traffic area. The need for culture is not solely a function of competition and pressure to perform, but merely a part thereof. A lecture is something more than a mere excerpt from transcripts.

The methodology of planning is a tool that provides creativity with room for manoeuvre.

I cannot share your point of view. When I read Krämer, I read something different to what you read. If we take up your suggestion, we could move on to a synopsis of literature as a whole. But then you would have to read that synopsis, and then you would reduce that to a synopsis of the synopsis - and ultimately to an excerpt of an excerpt. It’s very much like making tea, in the end you have nothing but water. I have always been in favour of a basic course that each student must take; the basic course is like taking up the original document. The basis must have immediacy.

Maximum impact should be achieved with minimum input.

Pedestrian economy is inherent in humans.

We need identifiable architecture.

Instead of green areas, you should speak

Usually people criticise the use of building, not so much its form. A system is a coherent logical chain of interdependent functions. Technology is built up on functions. If the tram tracks were a different gauge on every other street, it would hardly qualify as a system.

of urban green. And then there’s vertical green as well. On the walls of buildings.

city above the other you provide the humus you need for the new seed-bed above.

Remarks on individual projects

On an extension to a building identical in style: The son of the main building? No artist would ever dream of placing next to his statue a copy in miniature.

On a project comprising truncated pyramids: This bucket architecture has neither rhythm nor non-rhythm. On a model built from bits of wiring, plastic tubing and the like: The aim of studying architecture is to come to some form of reality; models built from junk are hardly adequate to that purpose. You need a guide to get your bearings in this building. On an entrance similar to an umbilical cord; An entrance is a meaningful threshold und must be assertive in character. On building a city suspended over another: It is quite conceivable that by building one

The relationship to the other buildings is lacking. You cannot transplant organs from a cow to a horse. In response to a student in a lecture who talked of crossing beams: You can’t cross beams, you can cross dogs – and the result is a mongrel. At an examination: Ah, you’ve got a tape-recorder with you. Have you brought your lawyer with you? Might I propose for the duration of this exam that we address each by our first names so that we are on equal terms.

Aphorisms on student projects

Aphorisms that appeared as marginal notes on work submitted by students at the Technical University

The methodology of planning is a tool that provides creativity with room for manoeuvre.

Maximum impact should be achieved with minimum input.

Pedestrian economy is inherent in humans.

We need identifiable architecture.

Instead of green areas, you should speak

of urban green. And then there’s vertical green as well. On the walls of buildings.

city above the other you provide the humus you need for the new seed-bed above.

Remarks on individual projects

On an extension to a building identical in style: The son of the main building? No artist would ever dream of placing next to his statue a copy in miniature.

Karl Schwanzer Biography

1918, May 21 born in Vienna Studied at the University of Technology, Vienna 1940 Diploma, 1941 Doctorate since 1947 Freelance architect in Vienna / own architectural practice in Vienna 1947-1951 Assistant to Oswald Härdtl at the Academy for Applied Arts, Vienna 1954 Josef-Hoffmann Award, Wiener Secession 1958 Silver order of merit for services to the Republic of Austria Grand Prix for architecture at the World Fair in Brussels Chevalier de l’Ordre de Léopold, Belgium 1959 Architecture Prize, City of Vienna Professorship at the University of Technology, Vienna Head of the Institute for Building Theory and Design 5 1963 Honorary Corresponding Member of the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) 1964-1965 Visiting Professor at the University of Technology, Darmstadt, Germany 1965 Officier du Mérite Touristique, France 1965-1966 Dean of the Faculty of Construction Engineering and Architecture, University of Technology, Vienna 1967 Visiting Professor at the University of Technology, Budapest, Hungary Honorary Fellow of the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Set up office in Munich, Germany 1969 Honorary Member of the BDA (Association of German Architects) Grand order of merit for services to the Republic of Austria

1972 Visiting Professor at the University of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia 1973 Visiting Professor at the Universities of Technology in Darmstadt, Germany and Budapest, Hungary 1975 Concrete Architecture Award of the Association of the German Cement Industry Died in Vienna, August 20 Austrian State Award for the Fine Arts (posthumous)

Karl Schwanzer Biography