Archinect - News

The NYT picks up on the 'gender mainstreaming' movement in urban planning

2024-07-25T19:32:00-04:00

A new planned community is built on the urban design philosophy known as ‘gender mainstreaming.’ [...] Ms. Kail acknowledges that the parameters of gender mainstreaming are in flux. Where there used to be “a focus on the everyday life of white, middle-class women and their children,” she said, over the past decade or so, a new crop of urban planners has widened the lens, just as she’s stepping out of it.

Vienna (the city previously declared by the Times to be a "renters utopia") owes a tremendous thanks to Eva Kail for its apparent equity strides. Though recently retired, the urban planner touts the new Aspern Seestadt development and its "female face" as the embodiment of the movement to infuse gender-conscious urban design concepts to socially engineer cities and suburbs into places of empowerment for women and other traditionally marginalized groups and classes.

The leading cities to embrace the movement toward "gender mainstreaming" include Stockholm, Glasgow, and Barcelona. In line with this movement, the UN-Habtitat also quietly announced the launch of its 'Women-led Cities' initiative last June.

Instagrammer creates architectural AI designs inspired by food

2024-07-05T18:23:00-04:00

Fatih Ekşi, the popular Istanbul-based architectural designer, has shared some thoughts on the creative process behind his work, which has garnered over a million combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

His followers were recently treated to some playful, food-inspired architectural creations made using AI tools by his visualization studio Blick 3D.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fatih Ekşi (@efatiheksi)

The latest series combines software with the principles of biomimetic architecture to produce designs whose form, structure, and building program utilize the natural geometries found in fruits, vegetables, and meat.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fatih Ekşi (@efatiheksi)

"I studied Architecture for five years at the Vienna University of Technology, where I was nearing graduation but had to return to my hometown due to family matters," Ekşi tells Archinect of his background. "I have been working in archit...

Junya Ishigami receives the 13th Kiesler Prize in Vienna

2024-06-18T18:38:00-04:00

Junya Ishigami, the Japanese architect and creative force behind his country's continued dominance on the international scene, has accepted his 2024 Austrian Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts via a special awards ceremony held yesterday in Vienna.

The 2019 Serpentine Pavilion designer and founder of Tokyo's Junya Ishigami + Associates was recognized by the Prize's jury this January for a boundary-pushing approach that has largely and by many measures contributed to contemporary architecture's embrace of more ethereal and open public space-oriented designs while earning his reputation as the “Master of the Void.”

House & Restaurant, Ube/Japan, 2022, photograph © junya.ishigami+associates

"Junya Ishigami is one of the most interesting architects of the younger generation. Both his persistent attitude and his visionary work make him the perfect Kiesler Prize winner," Kiesler Foundation president Elke Delugan-Meissi said prior to his acceptance. "His poetically sculp...

Vienna is back on top of the EIU list of the world’s most livable cities

2022-06-28T17:32:00-04:00

After two years, Vienna has overtaken Auckland as the world’s most livable city, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). The EIU said that Auckland’s position on the index dipped to the 34th spot this year because of higher Covid-19 infection rates and strict border controls in 2021. Although lockdowns ended in New Zealand in December, well-vaccinated cities in Europe and Canada had begun easing restrictions earlier.

The Austrian capital was joined by Copenhagen, Zurich, Geneva, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam as the other European cities on the list. Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto, Osaka, and Melbourne rounded out the Top 10 of the 172-city sampling.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine also impacted the makeup of the list, as did the Chinese government’s political crackdowns on Hong Kong, causing a loss of connectivity and cultural freedoms which dropped the city to 62nd overall.

IKEA completes bookcase-inspired store in Vienna, Austria

2022-05-23T10:57:00-04:00

Austria-based architecture office querkraft has completed an IKEA furniture store in the country’s capital Vienna, whose exterior was inspired by bookcases. Designed as a car-free venue, the scheme was developed with the vision of being a “good neighbor” for the surrounding community through a blend of public spaces and an active streetfront.

Photo © querkraft + christina häusler

The scheme’s defining feature is its shelf-like main façade. The 15-foot-deep zone envelops the building to provide shade for the indoors, while also accommodating terraces and greenery. In a move reminiscent of Paris’ Centre Pompidou, the external skeleton also houses infrastructural elements such as lifts, stairs, and building services.

Photo © querkraft + christina häusler

Inside, the 316,000 square foot scheme is supported by a 32x32 ft grid of reinforced concrete columns. From the ground level, a generous void extends up the building, visually linking the five retail floors occupied by IKEA. The top two...

Henning Larsen unveils a new campus center for the MCI in Austria

2021-12-15T17:01:00-05:00

Promising “a view of the Alps from every window,” Henning Larsen has unveiled new designs for a university building in Austria that will unite the diffuse Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) campus in a world-class learning environment, according to the architects.

Promoted as a standard-bearer for “openness, identity, communication, and design excellence”, the 35,000-square-meter (377,000-square-foot) building is located on the edge of the city center and was commended by the selection committee as an “ideal urban development of the new campus as a lighthouse project between the historic Hofgarten, the University of Social Sciences, and the new security center.”

Visualization by Sora courtesy Henning Larsen

MCI has been steadily growing since first being established in 1995. A byproduct of that growth has meant that the university’s facilities are now spread out across the city in a number of different areas of Innsbruck. Henning Larsen has thus leveraged its six decades of experience...

Studio Malka Architecture adds modular vertical extension to French Embassy in Vienna

2021-10-13T14:57:00-04:00

French firm Studio Malka Architecture has announced a new project that will see the addition of a striking collection of curved, modular extensions to the French Embassy in Vienna, Austria.

Built in the early 20th century, the embassy is situated within two buildings that express an Art Nouveau style. The project calls on the refurbishment and vertical extension of the two units that are both modern and informed by the site’s history. The result was the decision to develop a light and modular extension.

As noted by the architects, the curved, shell-like components serve as more than mere ornamentation but as functional pieces, “in the daily use of its architecture.” The system, which Studio Malka Architecture says was created in ancient Egypt, collects, amplifies, and diffuses natural light throughout the entire building, as well as creates natural ventilation.

“More than a century after its creation, the project of the new French Embassy in Vienna reconnects with Art Nouveau’s f...

Theaster Gates has been awarded the Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts

2021-09-14T15:27:00-04:00

Artist, educator, and urban planner Theaster Gates has been awarded the Frederick Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts by the Austrian Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation.

The 55,000 Euro ($65,000 USD) prize, awarded every two years by the Republic of Austria and the City of Vienna, recognizes outstanding achievement in architecture and the arts that relate to artist, designer, set designer, and architect Frederick Kiesler’s experimental and innovative approach to the arts.

“Spatial platforms that highlight the contributions of Black artists and designers have been long overlooked,” says Theaster Gates. “Projects that consider people as much as they consider the implications of the built form deserve merit. I’m so grateful to be part of this precedent and honored that the selection committee would acknowledge my practice as part of the amazing work by luminaries who have received this award in the past. I’m thankful to all who have supported my practice both wi...

Wolfgang Tschapeller awarded 2020 European Prize for Architecture

2020-10-19T14:11:00-04:00

Famed Austrian architect, architectural philosopher, academic, and theorist, Wolfgang Tschapeller has been awarded the prestigious European Prize for Architecture. An annual award is given to living architects whose work reflects and exemplifies the "highest ideals of European civilization and embodies vision, commitment, and a profound respect for humanity and for the social and physical environment."

See-through floors at new Cornell Fine Arts Library alienate users. Image courtesy of STV.

Presented by The Chicago Athenaeum president Christian Narkiewicz-Laine shares, "Wolfgang Tschapeller's works are stunning, dense, multifarious, complex, and remarkable achievements of the highest complexity."

Born in Dölsach, Austria, Tschapeller trained initially as a carpenter, then studied architecture at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and received his Masters of Architecture from Cornell University. His practice Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH opened in 2007 (now Wolfgang Tschapeller ...

Vienna defends top spot in Global Liveability Index with 'near-perfect' score in infrastructure, education, health care, culture

2019-09-05T14:43:00-04:00

On the EIU’s index, which ranks 140 cities on 30 factors bunched into five categories—stability, health care, culture and environment, education and infrastructure—Vienna scores a near-perfect 99.1 out of 100, putting it just ahead of Melbourne. [...] Higher crime rates and ropey infrastructure pull some bigger cities like London, New York and Paris down the league table, despite their cultural and culinary attractions.

Having seemingly cracked the 'perfect-city' formula, Vienna, once again, has topped a major global livability ranking. As The Economist reports, the Austrian capital scored a "near-perfect 99.1 out of 100," followed immediately by its perennial quality-of-life rival, Melbourne.

Unsurprisingly, the list of top-ranking locations contains familiar livability heavy hitters from Australia and Canada with a couple of Japanese cities entering the mix:

1. Vienna, Austria
2. Melbourne, Australia
3. Sydney, Australia
4. Osaka, Japan
5. Calgary, Canada
6. Vancouver, Canada
7. Toronto, Canada
7. Tokyo, Japan
9. Copenhagen, Denmark
10. Adelaide, Australia

The highest-ranking U.S. city was Honolulu at 22nd. Atlanta came in at 33rd, closely followed by Pittsburgh at 34th, Seattle at 36th, and Washington, D.C. at 40th.

The Global Liveability Index 2019. Video via The Economist Intelligence Unit on YouTube.

Dominating the bottom of the list of the 140 surveyed cities are rapidly urbanizing metro areas in de...

Upcoming exhibition highlights the work of MVRDV titled "Architecture Speaks: The Language of MVRDV"

2019-06-24T18:29:00-04:00

MVRDV is known for their interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary architecture and architecture's impact on urban issues. Designing innovative structures like the Tianjin Binhai Public Library and Glass Farm MVRDV will discuss their firm's design ethos and approach in an upcoming exhibition this July. Founding partner Nathalie de Vries shares in a recent press release the firm's excitement for the exhibition and the opportunity to reflect on their past work. According to de Vries, "...the creation and curation of Architecture Speaks was an opportunity for us to reflect on our work, to define theoretical categories and place projects from our firm's recent trajectory into a larger framework of ideas."

Image © MVRDV

The location of the exhibition will be held in the aut's Adambräu Building, a former brewhouse in Innsbruck, Austria. Architecture Speaks shows examples of MVRDV's design process using four towers which represent the spatial intervention of the following words "stack”, ...

Vienna tops global Quality of Living index once again

2019-04-08T14:52:00-04:00

Trade tensions and populist undercurrents continue to dominate the global economic climate. Combined with the spectre of monetary policy tightening and volatility looming over markets, international businesses are under more pressure than ever to get their overseas operations right. [...] Globally, Vienna tops the ranking for the 10th year running, closely followed by Zurich (2).

The annual Mercer Quality of Living survey with the world's most desirable cities for business professionals to relocate to was recently released in its 2019 edition, and the field of top-ranked locations has not changed much compared to previous years:

1st: Vienna, Austria

2nd: Zurich, Switzerland

3rd (joint): Auckland, New Zealand

3rd (joint): Munich, Germany

3rd (joint): Vancouver, Canada

6th: Düsseldorf, Germany

7th: Frankfurt, Germany

8th: Copenhagen, Denmark

9th: Geneva, Switzerland

10th: Basel, Switzerland

"In North America, Canadian cities continue to score highest with Vancouver (3) ranking highest for overall quality of living, as well as sharing the top spot with Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Calgary for safety," explains the announcement. "All US cities covered in the analysis fell in the rankings this year, with Washington DC (53) the biggest faller. The exception was New York (44), rising one place as crime rates in the city continue to fall. Detroit remains the US cit...

Snøhetta completes Swarovski's luminous crystal manufacturing facility in Austria

2019-01-30T20:49:00-05:00

Snøhetta's new Swarovski Manufaktur in Wattens, Austria brings creative design, rapid prototyping, and technical production under one porous roof.

To enter the Manufaktur, visitors first walk through a bridge from Campus 311, a new office location in an old factory building that has an interior with a dark color palette. Visitors then walk into the brighter interior of the Manufaktur, which features white walls and light birch wood panels that cover the floor and a sculptural platform on the second floor.

Photo © David Schreyer.

In designing the building, Snøhetta drew inspiration from the ephemeral elements of a crystal, like incorporating natural daylight. “Crystals only come to life with light, so for us it is the intense presence of that daylight that is the most important aesthetic aspect of this building,” said Patrick Lüth, Managing Director of Snøhetta’s Studio in Innsbruck.

The self-supporting, white steel ceiling consists of a r...

Vienna leads globally in affordable housing and quality of life

2018-07-25T15:05:00-04:00

With its affordable and attractive places to live, the Austrian capital is fast becoming the international gold standard when it comes to public housing, or what Europeans call “social housing” ― in Vienna’s case, government-subsidized housing rented out by the municipality or nonprofit housing associations. Unlike America’s public housing projects, which remain unloved and underfunded...

In Vienna 62% of its citizens reside in public housing, standing in stark contrast with less than 1% living in US social housing. The Austrian capital boasts regulated rents and strongly protects tenant's rights, while US public housing functions as a last resort for low-income individuals. Earlier this year Vienna was listed at the top of Mercer's Quality of Living Ranking, beating every city in the world for the ninth year in a row. Needless to say US cities have much to learn from Vienna's urban housing model.

Penda's Tel Aviv Arcades offer arches and terraces rather than the generic glass tower

2018-06-25T15:39:00-04:00

The Austrian branch of Penda reveals a residential high-rise for Tel Aviv defined by arches and cascading terraces. The design responds to the broad display of the city’s Bauhaus era and responds to the city's climate challenges rather than opting for another glass tower.

Tel Aviv Arcades rendering by Penda Austria. Image: Penda Austria.

Defined by the arch, the structure's design allows for views while still minimizing openings to direct sunlight in order to cooperate with the mediterranean climate. Varying terraces are used as a shading devices while also functioning as a vertical neighborhood for residents.

Tel Aviv Arcades rendering by Penda Austria. Image: Penda Austria.

The condominium tower measures approximately 380 feet in height featuring about 58 square feet of residential areas on 18 floors. The building will ...

3XN + Gerner Gerner Plus propose undulating aquarium at Vienna's Schönbrunn Zoo

2018-04-25T15:04:00-04:00

3XN and Austrian firm GERNER GERNER PLUS unveiled a new aquarium scheme titled “Poseidon's Realm”, which won second place in an international competition of the Schönbrunn Zoo in Vienna (A winner is yet to be announced). Working with aquarium specialists ATT, the team designed the aquarium with an undulating silhouette so that it appears like “a great, mysterious veil” across the zoo's landscape.

Image © 3XN.

Covering 6,000 m2 (65,000 sq.ft), the building is divided into four levels and topped with a green roof that is embedded within the zoo's path network — plus, the roof houses a bearded vulture aviary.

The aquarium features a glazed, wave-shaped welcome entrance that leads visitors into a “waterworld” tour. Changing temperatures, ambient sounds, lighting, and ceiling heights add to the experience. The main path widens into smaller bays that lead to individual tanks, creating a more intimate experience between visitors and aquatic life. At the end of the tour is a gi...

Vienna leads global Quality of Living index for 8th year in a row

2018-04-17T14:49:00-04:00

Despite increased political and financial volatility in Europe, many of its cities offer the world’s highest quality of living and remain attractive destinations for expanding business operations and sending expatriates on assignment, according to Mercer’s 19th annual Quality of Living survey. [...] Vienna occupies first place for overall quality of living for the 8th year running, with the rest of the top-ten list mostly filled by European cities.

The latest annual Mercer Quality of Living survey with the world's most desirable cities for business professionals to relocate to was recently released, and the ten top contenders are mostly the same familiar players:

Vienna, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Munich, Germany
Vancouver, Canada
Dusseldorf, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Basel, Switzerland

"In North America, Canadian cities take the top positions in the ranking," the survey summary states. "Vancouver (5) is again the region’s highest ranking city for quality of living. Toronto and Ottawa follow in 16th and 18th place respectively, whereas San Francisco (29) is the highest ranking US city, followed by Boston (35), Honolulu (36), New York (44), and Seattle (45). High crime rates in Los Angeles (58) and Chicago (47) resulted in these cities dropping nine and four places respectively."

Zaha Hadid's Nordpark Cable Railway stations turn ten

2017-12-27T09:15:00-05:00

Time flies mercilessly, and another iconic example of contemporary architecture is already celebrating its 10th anniversary: designed by the late Dame Hadid and shortlisted for the 2008 RIBA Stirling Prize, the four stations of Innsbruck’s Nordpark Cable Railway opened to the public in December 2007. Since then, over 4.5 million passengers have used the Hungerburg funicular railway between the city center up the Nordkette mountain.

Lowenhaus Station. Photographer: Hélène Binet.

From Zaha Hadid Architects: "The Hungerburg funicular (Hungerburgbahn) is part of Innsbruck’s Nordpark Cable Railway (Nordkettenbahnen) and begins at the Congress underground station in the centre of the city. Trains stop at Lowenhaus Station before crossing the bridge over the River Inn, then climbing to Alpenzoo Station and on to Hungerburg where passengers can continue their journey on the Seegrube and Hafelekar cable cars up to its summit at 2,300m. The Nordkette mountain is within the Karwendel, the large...

Unknown pioneer of solar energy, Konrad Frey, is given a second look

2017-10-18T17:23:00-04:00

Konrad Frey was a pioneer who designed and built solar houses based on data and scientific insights. Yet Frey and his work are largely unknown. A project by the architectural theoretician Anselm Wagner aims to change that.

"The architectural designs of Konrad Frey are characterized by the fact that their form is a consequence of function. Had he worked in Vienna, had his activities started in the urban context, his architecture would have become a topic of research long ago," says art historian and architectural theoretician Anselm Wagner.

Frey studied solar energy in the 1960s and designed Austria's first solar house in 1972, together with Florian Beigel, using a combination of active and passive harnessing of solar energy. "The Sun Houses of Konrad Frey: Environmental Research and Solar Design Knowledge", a research project funded by Austrian Science Fund FWF, will produce an online catalogue raisonné and a monograph of Frey work.

What U.S. cities can learn from Vienna's urban housing policy

2017-07-26T14:39:00-04:00

This is a two-part series on housing policy in Vienna and how it could be a model for progressive housing policy in Seattle, where I live, or other American cities struggling with affordable housing. The first part is an overview of financing and subsidies. Part two, coming tomorrow, looks in detail at how zoning and development supports housing affordability.

Mike Eliason, passivhaus designer with Seattle-based Patano Studio, penned an insightful two-part commentary for City Observatory, looking at issues of financing, zoning, affordability, sustainability, and quality of life in a side-by-side comparison of Vienna and Seattle.

Austria flip-flops over future of Hitler's birth house

2016-10-19T13:13:00-04:00

A day after the Austrian government said it was planning to tear down the house where Adolf Hitler was born, the interior minister now says it is likely to be redesigned. The idea is to prevent the property from being a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis. [...] "the new plan comes after members of a government-appointed commission on the future of the house suggested that erasing the house would give the impression Austria was trying to erase its past."

The tricky business of architectural preservation:

Eric Owen Moss wins top Austrian honor

2016-07-07T13:17:00-04:00

Very few people have a neutral reaction to Eric Owen Moss: in his conversation and his work, he can be abrasive, challenging, enlightening, and inspirational. For its part, Austria awarded him with its Decoration of Honor for Science and Art on June 21st, celebrating five decades of practice that have produced the Hayden Tract and the Albuquerque Rail Yards Master Plan, among other works.

Culver City's Hayden Tract, which has gradually filled out with Moss' buildings since he was initially commissioned to work on the project in 1991, is arguably one of the most compact yet engrossing architectural walking tours in Los Angeles. Formerly a strip of overlooked industrial warehouses, this part of the city has in the past few decades emerged as a low-slung cultural nexus, rewarding those who take the time to note the unusual and painstakingly rendered structural details. There's a raft of cactuses suspended mid-air, the Cold War afterimage of Stealth, the glass bisected Slash and Backsla...

Global warming is redrawing national borders

2016-06-16T12:35:00-04:00

"Climate change is happening so fast and on such a huge scale that it's forcing us to change the borders of a country," said head of the mapping expedition, Marco Ferrari... The borders of a country are "something we always consider as stable, as a political device, the foundation of the modern state, the most sacred thing, but this huge natural transformation makes clear how disruptive and alarming these changes are," he said.

"Even the biggest and most stable things, like glaciers, mountains—these huge objects, they can change in a few years. We live on a planet that changes, and we try to make rules, to give meaning, but this meaning is completely artificial because nature, basically, doesn't give a shit."

Global warming is one of the most visible aspects of the Anthropocene, a name for the era in which humans activity registers on the geological record. For more on the Anthropocene and its relation to architecture, check out past some past Archinect coverage:

Hyperloop announces plans for first European routes

2016-03-11T13:23:00-05:00

In a joint statement yesterday the Playa Vista, California-based Hyperloop Transport Technologies (HTT) and the Slovak Republic’s economy minister held out the future vision of the Hyperloop whisking passengers at 760 mph between Vienna in Austria, Budapest in Hungary and the Slovakian capital of Bratislava. A Bratislava-to-Vienna route would take just 8 minutes at full speed, while a Bratislava-to-Budapest route would take 10 minutes.

Hyperloop previously in the Archinect news:

Vienna holds top position as world's nicest city for business professionals

2016-02-29T14:08:00-05:00

Vienna has once more been named the city with the best quality of life for business professionals by Mercer Consulting, the world’s biggest human resources company. It headed a top 10 dominated by neighbouring cities in Germany and Switzerland, together with Auckland (3), Vancouver (5) and Sydney (10). The survey is intended to give multinational companies a reference point when deciding how to compensate staff for postings.

According to the Mercer report, the world's most desirable cities for business professionals to relocate to are:

Vienna, Austria
Zurich, Switzerland
Auckland, New Zealand
Munich, Germany
Vancouver, Canada
Dusseldorf, Germany
Frankfurt, Germany
Geneva, Switzerland
Copenhagen, Denmark
Sydney, Australia

"Problems with crime placed most American cities below that level, with the exception of San Francisco (28), Boston (34) and Honolulu (35). The most dangerous city in the US was Detroit (70), which is still recovering from the trauma of de-industrialisation."

Vienna plan world's tallest wooden skyscraper

2015-03-02T16:20:00-05:00

A wooden skyscraper that Austrian architects say will be the tallest of its kind in the world is to be built in Vienna next year. The 84-metre (276ft) HoHo project in the Seestadt Aspern area, one of Europe’s largest urban development sites, will house a hotel, apartments, restaurant, wellness centre and offices, and is expected to cost about €60m (£44m).

Designed by Rüdiger Lainer and Partner, the skyscraper would consist of 76% wood. The material choice, according to project developer Caroline Palfy of Kerbler, is largely ecological. While wood requires hewing down trees, its net environmental impact is far lower than concrete: construction would produce 2,800 tonnes less of CO2 emissions than an equivalent-sized concrete structure.

Of course, there's a reason why our cities don't tend to be populated by wooden towers. And the Viennese fire service has already expressed concern over the designs. But, with measures including "a more fail-safe sprinkler system," the building will likely pass muster.

An image of what the interiors could look like. Credit: Rüdiger Lainer and Partner via the Guardian

For others, criticism of the proposed skyscraper center around its height. Politicians and other civically-engaged Austrians have expressed concern that the tower will not fit into the historic city's skyline.

More generally, there's been a ...

Stand on the shoulders of giants as CERN's architect in residence

2015-02-05T15:40:00-05:00

A year before discovering the Higgs boson, aka “God”, particle, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) established its own arts residency. Formed in 2011, the Collide@CERN program pairs artists with CERN physicists in Geneva to collaborate on art and research projects, banking on the idea that artistic experimentation and theoretical physicists are both ultimately concerned with the same thing: "both are ways to explore our existence – what it is to be human and our place in the universe,” according to program director Ariane Koek. The first collaboration between artist Julius von Bismarck and theoretical physicist James Wells was so fruitful that CERN developed Accelerate@CERN in 2013, which enables a country to set up and sponsor a specific "Research Stay" within CERN’s labs. Now, Austria is looking for an architect to work at CERN.

What does this entail? For one month of pure research, an architect will be paired with a CERN physicist – to work, think, and ideate to...

Another big concrete panel falls off Zaha Hadid-designed library

2015-01-05T17:15:00-05:00

It keeps raining fiber-reinforced concrete at Vienna's latest educational facility: A large concrete facade panel weighing 80 kilograms (176 pounds) came crashing down from the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Library and Learning Center at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, reports Austrian newspaper Die Presse.

According to the source, this has not been the first incident of failing cladding elements at the award-winning building, which opened only a little over a year ago: In July of 2014, another concrete panel measuring 1.2 by 2.5 meters had fallen off the structure. The fault of the first case was blamed on "assembly error" by the contractor and eventually repaired. An independent consultant will now investigate the second event and publish the result by Thursday.

Luckily nobody was injured in both incidents, however the school has now cordoned off the area around the building and allows students to enter only through the side entrance of the Library Cafe.

Winner of "Adolf Loos: A Private Portrait" and "Escape Home: Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss"

2014-07-09T18:28:00-04:00

We have our book giveaway winner for Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait and Escape Home, Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss! The two memoirs were each written by family members of Austrian architect Adolf Loos.

Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait is the first English translation of the 140-page biography written by Adolf's last wife Claire Beck Loos, who wrote it to help pay for her husband's tombstone.

Escape Home shares the story of Vienna-born architectural designer and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Charles Paterson, who was the nephew of Claire Loos. Charles co-wrote the family memoir with his daughter Carrie Paterson.

Our lucky winner of these two great titles is Roy P. from Los Angeles, CA. Congrats!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

More details about the books here.

Win two memoirs from Adolf Loos' family

2014-06-27T18:56:00-04:00

Time for another book giveaway! We've got two great titles from DoppelHouse Press. The first is the first English edition of Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait by Claire Beck Loos, who was the last wife of Austrian modern architect Adolf Loos. The 140-page biography was originally published in German in 1936 to help pay for Loos' tombstone.

The second title is Escape Home, Rebuilding a Life After the Anschluss, a memoir about Vienna-born architectural designer and Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice Charles Paterson, who was the nephew of Claire Loos. Charles co-wrote the family memoir with his daughter Carrie Paterson.

For a chance to win both titles, fill out this survey by Wednesday, July 2nd. Two winners will be selected at random. Good luck!

Read on for more about each book:

Adolf Loos, A Private Portrait

"Lively and often humorous vignettes provide 'Snapshots' of the last years of Loos’ life (1929-1933), and reveal the personality and philosophy that helped shape Modern architecture in Vienn...