Boathouse, Fuscach, Austria - Marte. Marte Architects

https://www.marte-marte.com/

It is no exaggeration to call Roland Rainer the most influential architect in postwar Austria (and also beyond): as long-term professor at Akademie der bildenden Künst in Vienna, Vienna city planner from 1958 until 1963 and juror in countless competitions he was omnipresent way beyond the immediate postwar decades. But an aspect of his biography he studiously avoided to discuss was his involvement with German National Socialism although this period actually was formative for his architectural thinking and his postwar urban plannings. Rainer attended the „Deutsche Akademie für Städtebau, Reichs- und Landesplanung“ and acquired the knowledge he would apply in his quarter and urban plannings as well as numerous publications after the war. This notwithstanding several of his housing estates following the concept of a structured and dispersed city, among them „Am Mauerberg“ in Vienna or Puchenau near Linz, count among the best in postwar Austria.

In his final publication „Roland Rainer - Das Werk des Architekten 1927-2003: Vom Sessel zum Stadtraum: geplant errichtet verändert vernichtet“, published in 2004 by Springer, the architect again omits his origins but otherwise offers a broad overview of his massive oeuvre. For this Rainer dug deep in his personal archive and selected photographs (most of them by himself), plans, drawings, articles and interviews to document his work. Although the overall layout is quite dry the typologically ordered content offers deep and vivid insights into the architect’s work that as he documents was inspired as much by anonymous buildings in the Burgenland, Iran or China as it was by scientific research into dwelling units. Rainer in the first place was interested in the single-family row-house which he identified as the ideal, most compact and rational structure.

Although the book by its very nature doesn’t offer a critical evaluation of Roland Rainer’s oeuvre it nonetheless is a great point of departure for critical discussions of individual projects and plannings.

‘A NEW WAVE OF AUSTRIAN ARCHITECTURE’ HG. KENNETH FRAMPTON

- Missing Link @ MAK

HAAS HAUS, VIENNA - HANS HOLLEIN

The Sehzade Mosque in Laleli, Istanbul (detail), c. 1915. Ludwig Hans Fischer

Karlskirche, Vienna, Austria.

For #MosaicMonday + #NationalMothWeek:

House mosaics with nocturnal moth designs, 1230 Canavesegasse 6-8 Stg 5 & 6, Vienna, Austria. c. 1950.

Ludwig Passini (Austrian, 1832-1903) • Anna Passini on the balcony of Palazzo Priuli, Venice • c. 1866 • Aquarelle on paper

Il Redentore , Venice - Eduard Angeli , 2013.

Austrian, b. 1942  -

Pastel on canvas , 100 x 100 cm.

Walter Schmögner (Austrian, b. 1943), "Mezzanine", 2011

Urania (Muse of Astronomy)

Gabriel von Max 🇦🇹 (1840–1915)

Although it is the second-smallest state of Austria, Vorarlberg has a high density of stellar architecture that, among others, harks back to postwar pioneers like Willi F. Ramersdorfer (1922-2010) and German Meusburger whose collaboration established in 1951 bore a great number of interesting buildings. Ramersdorfer, a young architect who had studied under Sep Ruf at Akademie für Bildende Künste Nürnberg, thanks to Meusburger’s well-established networks from a young age was involved in a large number of commissions ranging from industrial to school and apartment buildings as well as churches. An early focus of the office also lay on the development of SOS children’s villages in Austria but also Africa and Asia. After the death of German Meusburger in 1973 Ramersdorfer continued the office as sole owner focusing on hotels, single-family houses and commercial buildings.

Patricia Ramersdorfer, the architect’s daughter who to this day continues the Ramersdorfer family business, in 2018 co-edited the first comprehensive publication on her father, published by Park Books, a lavishly illustrated and insightful book that effectively showcases the undeniable qualities of Willi Ramersdorfer’s architecture. In the first part of the book several authors elucidate the architect’s career path as well as the different focal points of his work. As regards his hotels carried out from the 1970s onwards Bernhard Tschofen doesn’t withhold a certain criticism in relation to the wooden exuberance of the buildings but also emphasizes the qualities hidden behind the rustic first impression.

The volume’s second part then contains a selection of twelve buildings, profusely illustrated with photos and plans, as well as a complete work catalogue. Together with the preposed personal introduction by Patricia Ramersdorfer the two aforementioned sections provide a highly readable, in-depth overview of the work of key protagonist of modern architecture in Vorarlberg. Warmly recommended!

KARL SCHWANZER BMW OFFICES, 1973 München, Germany Image © Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F062779-0027

Art is the symbol of the two noblest human efforts: to construct and to refrain from destruction.

Evelyn Waugh

Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, Austria.

A View of an Ancient City (detail), Hermann Burghart (Austrian, 1834 - 1901)

The Roman Ruins in Schönbrunn, by Friedrich Frank