a_showcase 18: Johann Staber and the Vienna UNO-City

guests: Karl Grubich, architect, Büro Staber
Werner Zwickelsdorfer, formerly of IAKW
Hans Puchhammer and Gunther Wawrik, architects
Caroline Jäger-Klein, architecture historian, Vienna University of Technology
Sabine Plakolm-Forsthuber, art historian, Vienna University of Technology
students of Vienna University of Technology
moderated by Katrin Stingl, Az W

A portion of the estate of the architect Johann Staber (1928–2005) that was acquired by the Az W during an emergency salvage operation has been viewed, inventoried and analysed more closely in theoretical academic treatises by students at Vienna University of Technology (2010/2011).

In 1970 the Austrian architect Staber, who was almost unknown at the time, won the open competition launched in 1968 for ideas for the planned UNO-City (built 1973-1979). ‘a_showcase’ presents Staber’s project alongside those of his competitors — with a focus on the project by British architects BDP and their Viennese partners Puchhammer/Wawrik. Whether the commission was awarded for exclusively political reasons, a criticism levied at the time, or the winning project was genuinely convincing for its architectural and functional qualities is addressed in the course of the discussion. The presentation of original plans and documents also provides a first insight into the oeuvre of this architect, whose work has seldom been published.

admission free