Vienna: The Latest Architecture and News

The headquarters of the Verbund AG is a block perimeter development built around a central courtyard in Vienna’s first district. It was erected between 1952 and 1954 to designs by Carl Appel and is bordered on three sides by public streets or squares. The street facade extends from the square known as Am Hof along Heidenschuss towards Freyung and into Tiefer Graben. The block perimeter development is made up of two volumes, one facing onto Am Hof and the other towards Freyung. In formal terms the building refers back to the architecture of the interwar period. On the other hand the economical use of design and decorative elements, for example the window reveals of real stone, is characteristic of the post-war era. As this facade design had reached the end of its useful life, an invited competition was set up for the redesign of these areas. This competition was won by SOLID Architecture. More images and architects’ description after the break.

The Vienna Design Week 2011, now in its fifth year, is Austria’s most important international design festival. From September 30 — October 9th, 2011, it will bring some of the best designers of our time to the Austrian capital while simultaneously fostering the talents of tomorrow. The festival is diversified in content — comprising positions of product design, industrial design, and furniture design. For more information, please click here.

With exhibitions, venue-specific installations, theme specials, talks, and of course plenty of opportunities to party and network, Vienna Design Week is an attraction not only for the international design scene. It most explicitly aims to appeal to a wide public audience in Vienna, including international guests: in cooperation with many partners – museums, institutions and companies – the whole city becomes a platform and a showcase for design. The Vienna Design Week does not have the character of a trade fair, but instead offers a variety of venues and approaches specific to Vienna. More information on the event after the break.

The design proposal for the extension to the National Library of Austria by Prechteck is to be seen as an extension of the bordering park and takes off at its northwest end to cross over the drop-off lane on 4.5m with a twist. The design then arches back to the ground level to blend into the landscape. More images and description after the break.

The conference is organized by the Institute for Interdisciplinary Building Process Management, Department for Industrial Building and Interdisciplinary Planning, of Prof. Christoph Achammer. 20 speakers will be presenting current topics on “Refurbished Future“ from diverse angles providing the participants an insight as well as mirroring the necessity of broad and interdisciplinary action in the field.

Situated in Vienna, Austria, PPAG Architects shared with us their winning competition entry for the campus project consisting of a kindergarten, primary and junior high school. Their design is based on the new and ambitious education guidelines of the city of Vienna. The project promotes a typological paradigm shift regarding the spatial articulation of classroom and interior-exterior activities across the entire campus. More images and architects’ description after the break.