TransModernity. Austrian Architects

Opening: Wednesday, May 22, 6:00 P.M.
Opening hours: daily (except Sundays) 10:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.

For the opening exhibition of the new Abraham edifice the Architekturzentrum Wien will be presenting three teams of Austrian architects under 50, whose oeuvre is pointedly representative of the broader, more differentiated architectural scene in present-day Austria. The concept of “TransModernity” constitutes the theme and origin of this exhibition.

The works of henke und schreieck, Jabornegg & Pálffy, and Riegler Riewe perpetuate the human vision of classical modernism, but not as the refinement of technological prowess or avant-garde form. Rather, they offer a kind of open structured “musical score,” spatial orientation plans for a multitude of uses, which are quite in agreement with Josef Frank’s motto – Modern is not a style. Modern is only that which gives us complete freedom.

The group gangart has formulated the spatial concept in which these three teams will be introduced and shown.

Inauguration speakers:
Dietmar M. Steiner, Director Architekturzentrum Wien
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Director Austrian Cultural Forum New York

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue in English (Verlag Anton Pustet, Salzburg – München, published by Architekturzentrum Wien).

Supported by:
Geschäftsgruppe Stadtentwicklung und Verkehr, Stadt Wien
Wien Kultur
Kunst Bundeskanzleramt
Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur
Arch+Ing, W, NÖ, B

Sponsors:
UNIQA Versicherungen AG
Zumtobel Staff Österreich Vertriebs-GmbH

Press Release

Opening: Wednesday, May 22, 6:00 P.M.
Opening hours: daily (except Sundays) 10:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.

What is modern?
Today more than ever, the debate about modernity in architecture is focused upon the topicality of style. Of course, the question “what is modern?” has a long and distinguished history. Even the proponents of the heroic phase of the 1920s to 1930s diverged sharply on this matter; the issue ignited conflicts between Loos and Hoffmann, Mies van der Rohe and Häring, Wright and Gropius, Frank and Meyer, Schindler and Johnson, and many others. Two great ideological poles framed the discourse between which all rhetorical positioning and re-positioning oscillated: the propaganda of form and the propaganda of technology.

20th century Austrian architecture in general and the Viennese contribution to the international discourse of this period in particular presented a less spectacular yet topically explosive attitude of creative skepticism about modernity’s attentiveness to primary form or technological expression. This mind-set pervades Adolf Loos’ critique of culture and the Secession, is present in Josef Frank’s distance to the Bauhaus and Rudolph Schindler’s formulation of the modern as stylistic idea, it influences the critical inquiry into culture and design of Bernard Rudofsky as well as Roland Rainer’s stance vis-a-vis the decorative arbitrariness in postmodernism.

Also the new Austrian Cultural Forum building (ACF) in New York by Raimund Abraham is a manifestation of an essential poise that stands apart from current and fashionable trends, neither allowing itself to be reduced to the hermetics of personal style nor to be blown-up into market-friendly “Star” Architecture.

The Exhibition
For the opening exhibition of the new Abraham edifice, the Architekturzentrum Wien will be presenting three teams of Austrian architects under 50, whose oeuvre is pointedly representative of the broader, more differentiated architectural scene in present-day Austria. The works of henke und schreieck, Jabornegg & Palffy and Riegler Riewe are exemplary of the continuing creative skepticism of Austrian architecture. The humanitarian and artistic claim of modernity is present in these architects’ constructions and projects as well – yet not in terms of pointed technological prowess or slick formal glamour. For these teams, modernity is not an issue of style or a notion of performance reduced to schematic action. Instead, it provides a sober yet liberal starting point for giving form to our contemporary world, quite in agreement with Josef Frank’s motto – Modern is not a style. Modern is only that which gives us complete freedom.

Responsible for the exhibition design in which the three abovementioned teams will be displaying their work is the group gangart. The following projects will be visualized
(Links lead to german language websites !):

henke und schreieck
– School of Social and Economic Sciences at the University of Innsbruck, Tirol
– Vocational School for International Management, Kufstein, Tirol

Jabornegg & Palffy
– SKWB Schoellerbank, Vienna
– Judenplatz Museum, Vienna

Riegler Riewe
– Institutes of Information Technology and Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Styria
– BiSoP (Teacher Training School for Social Professions), Baden, Lower Austria

Inauguration speakers:
Dietmar M. Steiner, Director Architekturzentrum Wien
Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Director Austrian Cultural Forum New York

The Exhibition Catalog
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog in English with texts by Otto Kapfinger, Bart Lootsma, Dietmar M. Steiner, and Christoph Thun-Hohenstein. (Verlag Anton Pustet, Munich – Salzburg, 96 pages, numerous color illustrations, published by Architekturzentrum Wien, ISBN 3-7025-0445-1).

Thursday, May 23, 2002
Symposium at the ACF New York
Within the scope of the exhibition a symposium has been planned, which will include short talks by the teams participating in the exhibition.

Press
Architekturzentrum Wien: Ulrike Kahr-Haele
Phone: ++43-1-522 31 15 Ext. 23
Fax: ++43-1-522 31 17
E-mail: press@azw.at

Austrian Cultural Forum New York: Andrea Schwan
11 East 52nd Street, New York, NY 10022
Phone : 001 (212) 873-3284
E-mail: andrea@andreaschwan.com
Web: http:// www.acfny.org

Initiated by: Austrian Cultural Forum New York / Christoph Thun-Hohenstein
Overall Concept: Architekturzentrum Wien / Otto Kapfinger, Dietmar M. Steiner
Exhibition Design, Video: gangart

The exhibition TransModernity will be presented at the Architekturzentrum Wien from August 29, thru October 28, 2002 (Opening: Wednesday, August 28).

Supported by:
Geschäftsgruppe Stadtentwicklung und Verkehr, Stadt Wien
Wien Kultur
Kunst Bundeskanzleramt
Bundesministerium für Bildung, Wissenschaft und Kultur
Arch+Ing, W, NÖ, B

Sponsors:
UNIQA Versicherungen AG
Zumtobel Staff Österreich Vertriebs-GmbH

Biographies

(The following links lead to german language websites !)

henke und schreieck
Wien Neubaugasse 2/5a
A-1070 Vienna
AUSTRIA
Phone +43 (1) 526 21 18 – 0
Fax +43 (1) 526 72 43
E-Mail: henke.schreieck@aon.at

Dieter Henke and Marta Scheieck were first featured at the 1996 Venice Architecture Biennale with a residential dwelling on Vienna’s Frauenfelderstrasse. Their university building for the Innsbruck School of Social and Economic Sciences now ranks among the most influential turn-of-the-century constructions in Austria.
Their palette of programs elegantly translated into large-scale, functional spatial figures is supplemented through the school building in Vienna/Leberberg, the “BauMax” showroom store in Schwechat, and the vocational school in Kufstein/Tirol that opened in 2001. henke und schreieck transform the modern ideal of transparent architecture into a powerful presence: abstraction is brought into relaxed, yet profound balance with precise spatial and human sensitivity.

Dieter Henke, born in 1952 (A)
Marta Schreieck, born in 1954 (A)

1983 founding of the joint architectural practice.
Various lectureships, including at the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna.

Built projects (selection):
1990-93 apartment building ÖBV, Frauenfeldstrasse, Vienna
1992-94 redesign of the Hackinger Steg footbridge (with Prof. W. D. Ziesel), Vienna
1993-95 terraced apartment building Seefeld, Tyrol
1993-96 Dr. Bruno Kreisky-Schule, primary and secondary school of the City of Vienna
1989-99 Sociology and Economics Faculty building of the Leopold Franzens University Innsbruck, Tyrol
1996-98 bauMax (builders suppliers) Schwechat
1999-01 specialist third level educational institute Kufstein, Tyrol

Projects at the construction/planning stage:
comprehensive secondary school, Vienna
Zürich-Kosmos office and commercial building, Vienna
Parkhotel Hall, Tyrol

Awards (selection):
1998 Award of the State of Tyrol for “Neues Bauen”
1993, 1999 Client Prize
1995, 1997 Adolf Loos-Architecture Prize
2000 Prize of the City of Vienna

Jabornegg & Palffy
Wiedner Hauptstrasse 17 / 5
A-1040 Vienna
AUSTRIA
Phone ++43 (1) 505 54 48
Fax ++43 (1) 505 54 48 – 16
E-Mail: jabornegg.palffy@chello.at

With the exhibition galleries for the Generali Foundation in Vienna and their architecture for `documenta X’ in Kassel Christian Jabornegg and András Pálffy have made themselves well known, especially in and around the art scene. Their conversion of the Schoellerbank and their construction of the Judenplatz Museum in Vienna exhibit their perfection of surgical interventions into historical contexts and their mastery of difficult site conditions and programmatic requirements.
Their work forms a remarkably unperturbed alliance between conceptual radicalism and subtle handling of materials and constructions. The structured void as paradigm of modernity lies at the heart of their architectural perspective.

Christian Jabornegg, born 1956 in Wels (A)
Andras Palffy, born 1954 in Budapest (H)

1988 founding of the joint architectural practice.

Built projects (selection):
1991-95 Generali Foundation, exhibition spaces for contemporary art: extension and conversion, Vienna
1996-1997 documenta X, exhibition spaces for contemporary art: temporary conversion, Museum Fridericianum Cassel, Germany
1996-97 DB-AG, exhibition spaces for contemporary art: south wing of the Central Railway Station, Cassel, Germany
1997-2000 SKWB Schoellerbank, offices, Vienna
1996-2000 Museum Judenplatz, exhibition spaces for mediaeval archaeological finds, Vienna

Projects at the construction/planning stage:
Since 1999 Künstlerhaus, exhibition spaces for contemporary art, Vienna

Riegler Riewe
Griesgasse 10
A-8020 Graz
AUSTRIA
Phone ++43 (316) 72 32 53 – 0
Fax ++43 (316) 72 32 53 – 4
E-Mail: office@rieglerriewe.co.at
URL http://www.rieglerriewe.co.at/

Together with residential buildings and the Graz airport, their institute and college complexes in Baden and Graz have enjoyed international recognition and debate. Florian Riegler and Roger Riewe enjoy a privileged position in the global spectrum of a new minimalism. Their designs are a process of shaping polyvalent and sustainable spatial structures into concrete and robust materiality that span the range from the domestic to the urban scale.
The simplicity of form, geometry and detail transcends any debate of style. Beyond categories of functionalist or autonomous space, their structures are at once open and precise: low tech formed into high fit.

Florian Riegler, born 1954 in Münichwald (A)
Roger Riewe, born 1959 in Bielefeld (D)

1987 founding of “Architekurbüro Riegler Riewe” in Graz, Austria
1996 founding of “Riegler Riewe Architekten ZT-GesmbH” in Graz, Austria
1997 founding of “Architekturbüro Riegler Riewe” – branch office in Cologne, Germany

Various lectureships, including at the Berlage Institute Amsterdam, Netherlands; the RWTH Aachen, Germany; ESARQ (UIC) Barcelona, Spain; TU Prague, Czech Republic, Lindauschool, Lindau, Germany; TU Graz, Austria; ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

Built projects (selection):
1991-92 Cosa Nostra housing development, Graz, Austria
1992-94 Graz-Strassgang housing development, Styria, Austria
1994-98 Graz Airport, Austria
1997-98 Federal Institute for Social Paedagogy, Baden, Lower Austria
1997-2000 Computer Science and Electro-Technology Institute of the Graz University of Technology, Inffeldgründe Graz

Projects at the construction/planning stage:
Innsbruck Central Railway Station, new building
Franz-Nabl-Institut, Literature House Graz
Neue Galerie, Graz
Feldkirch, Kalsdorf and Werndorf railway stations
Bruck a.d. Mur railway station

Awards (selection):
1987 Austrian Housing Prize
1990 and 1994 Architecture Prize of the State of Styria
1993 Austrian Client Prize

Links

(Most of the following links lead to german language websites !)

henke und schreieck on “nextroom – architektur im netz”

Jabornegg & Palffy on “nextroom – architektur im netz”

Riegler Riewe
Riegler Riewe on “nextroom – architektur im netz”
The Search for a Conditioned Openness
The simple is not simply simple. by Marc Boutin, MAIBC

Austrian Cultural Forum New York