Austrian Architecture

For ten consecutive years, Vienna ranks first in the Mercer survey on cities with the best quality of life in the world. In this edition to the global ranking, eight Western European cities join the top ten, even when "trade tensions and populist undercurrents continue to dominate the global economic climate", as Mercer points out in its report.

Architecture and design practices Penda and Smartvoll have created a giant watermill for Austria's National Pavilion for EXPO 2020 in Dubai. ‘The Source of Everything’ was selected as a finalist in an international competition and marks the first collaboration between Penda Austria and Smartvoll. The project features a supersized mill that circulates water through the pavilion and brings an experience to the desert of Dubai that Austria is famous for: Refreshment.

The Viennese architecture office Querkraft has been selected to design the Austrian Pavilion for the EXPO 2020 in Dubai. The design combines traditional building materials with modern techniques to present Austria as a center of innovation. Former Federal Minister Beatrix Karl was appointed honorary commissioner for the world expo and will represent Austria externally. The Expo in Dubai will be the first world exhibition in an Arab country in the 170-­year Expo history. The Austrian Pavilion will center on questions of how resources can be used more thoughtfully and respectfully in the future.

As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Austrian Pavilion. To read the initial proposal, refer to our previously published post, "Austrian Pavilion at 2018 Venice Biennale to Focus on the Importance of "Free Space" in Urban Spaces."

3XN and GERNER GERNER PLUS have released details of their competition entry for the design of a new aquarium in Schönbrunn Zoo, Vienna. Developed in collaboration with aquarium specialists ATT, “Poseidon’s Realm” was designed to be “elegant, simple and mysterious, lying across the landscape like a great veil.” The scheme was awarded second place in an international competition for the aquarium’s design, with the winner yet to be announced.

In his latest photo series, "Viennametry," Hungarian photographer and printmaker Zsolt Hlinka captures the unexplored voids in Vienna’s patchwork of historical and contemporary architecture. After previously studying the symmetrical corner buildings of grandiose Budapest, Hlinka has moved north to Austria on his quest to find geometry and symmetry within the urban landscape.

For the ninth consecutive year, Vienna has placed first in Mercer rankings on cities with the best quality of life in the world. Despite the current economic volatility in the European continent, the Austrian capital joins eight other European cities in the top ten.

For 10 years this December, Zaha Hadid’s Hungerburgbahn have graced the built environment of Innsbruck, Austria. Since its conception, over 4.5 million passengers have visited one of the four train stations connecting them from downtown Innsbruck to the Norkette Mountain to Hungerburg.

In a new solo exhibition of the work of Erwin Wurm in the artist's home city of Vienna, the "Fat House"—created in 2003—is being publicly displayed for the first time amid the baroque splendor of the Austrian capital's historic Upper Belvedere. The central exhibition of Wurm's work at 21er Haus comprises over forty "performative sculptures" and statues, examining "extraordinary examples of architecture and objects of daily use."

Described by Richard Meier as an architect whose "groundbreaking ideas" have "had a major impact on the thinking of designers and architects," Austrian artist, architect, designer, theoretician and Pritzker Prize laureate Hans Hollein has worked in all aspects of design, from architecture to furniture, jewelry, glasses, lamps—even door handles. Known in particular for his museum designs, from the Abteiberg Museum in Mönchengladbach to the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt to Vienna's Haas House, Hollein's work manifests a unique, fascinating take on 1950s Modernism.