Exhibition
Featured Architects
Featured Architects
01 apm Architekten
02 Caramel Architekten
03 Georg Driendl
04 Eichinger oder Knechtl
05 Feyferlik / Fritzer
06 Gerhard Fischill
07 Hans Gangoly
08 gerner°gerner plus
09 Gohm & Hiessberger
10 Erich Gutmorgeth
11 Hertl.Architekten
12 Herzog_Hrabal
13 hobby a.
14 HOLODECK.AT
15 junger_beer architektur
16 Hermann Kaufmann
17 Johannes Kaufmann
18 Oskar Leo Kaufmann
19 lichtblau.wagner architekten
20 LP architekten
21 Poppe*Prehal
22 propeller z
23 querkraft architekten
24 Hans Riemelmoser
25 Schneider & Lengauer
26 stöckler_gruber
27 x architekten
28 yes architecture
“Home Stories. An Inside Look at Single-Family Houses in Austria”, views of the exhibition at the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City.
Az W in NEW YORK: Home Stories
On December 9, 2005, the Austrian Cultural Forum in New York City will unveil the exhibition Home Stories: An Inside Look at Single-Family Houses in Austria, a presentation of 28 recently built single-family homes in Austria. Curated by Ulrike Haele of the Architekturzentrum Wien, the exhibition will fill the public viewing spaces of the Forum tower and will remain on view through February 25, 2006. Home Stories was produced by the Architekturzentrum Wien together with the Austrian Cultural Forum and has been made possible with the support of the Arts Division of the Federal Chancellery of the Republic of Austria.
Departing from the DIY cookie-cutter approach to home building that had dominated the scene since the postwar years, Austria has experienced the emergence of a trend for homeowners to design and build in collaboration with architects. The result: a broad range of innovative structures that cleverly respond to the surrounding topography and employ the latest construction materials in the quest for low-energy, highly efficient solutions. Daring in design, one thing that all of these houses have in common is that they are a synthesis of the expertise of the architects and the vision of the people who live in them.
Moving beyond the usual form of architectural presentation, Home Stories provides an unfamiliar and thought-provoking view of the process of creating architecturally valuable homes for real people. Portraits of the people and families who live in 28 recently built single-family homes are presented in the show alongside photographs and plans of the buildings. The homes range from financially, spatially, and environmentally optimized little gems to intelligent solutions with agendas for classic and new family situations. The houses, all constructed since 2000, were selected from the Architekturzentrum’s Architektur Archiv Austria where more than 160 homes have been catalogued over the past five years.
The Exhibition
Photographic portraits of the people and families who live in the 28 houses play the leading role in the exhibition. The photographers cooperative fotoK was given the assignment to capture the inhabitants in their personal environment and document the structures in active use – without being constricted by the confines of architectural photography. The distinct visual language of each of the four photographers responds to the situational conditions and results in a multilayered portrayal of people and their homes throughout Austria.
The very private, medium format photographs are positioned on the walls in rhythmic sequences. The related documentary material, including plans, brief descriptions, and photographs, is presented on horizontal table surfaces in stacks of posters that visitors can peruse and even take home. The crates used to transport the exhibition from Austria are arranged for seating. Like suitcases, they symbolize the journey of the people in the portraits from their private environments to the public context of an exhibition.
Home Stories is a novel approach to the architectural undertaking of building single-family homes. It confirms that there is no way to fully understand architecture without looking at the people behind it.
We would like to express special thanks to everyone in the portraits for graciously inviting us into their homes and allowing us to photograph them for the project.
Curator | Ulrike Haele, Architekturzentrum Wien |
Assistance | Martina Frühwirth, Architekturzentrum Wien
Concept photography | Pascal Petignat, Martin Scholz, fotoK
Photographs | Patrizia Gapp, Karin Großauer, Udo Leitner, Hao Lo
Exhibition design and graphic design | Nicole Six and Paul Petritsch, with Annja Krautgasser