Archinect - News

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 ...

See-through floors at new Cornell Fine Arts Library alienate users

2019-11-22T14:45:00-05:00

In a HyperAllergic opinion piece, Sarah Rose Sharp details the shortcomings of the recently completed Mui Ho Fine Arts Library at Cornell University, where "Architect Wolfgang Tschapeller says the library was designed with books in mind — but the grated floors fail to account for slushy snow boots, skirts, assisted mobility devices, and more." The Detroit-based writer outlines how users "inclined to wear skirts are feeling even more on display than the 100,000 books" held within the space.

Sharp writes that the slatted gratings at the upper levels, which are meant to allow air and light through the space, instead encourage indecorous sight-lines. Additionally, the perforated surface presents challenges for guests wearing heels as well as those with assisted mobility devices, writes Sharp.

According to the article, second-year graduate student Nicole Nomura, told Metropolis, "Knowing that I have to think about what I’m wearing as I enter the library is off-putting to me. What was Co...

6 POINTS FOR A “NEUE ANGEWANDTE” by Wolfgang Tschapeller

2012-03-01T18:35:00-05:00

Viennese architectural firm Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH has won the First Prize in an international competition that seeks to overhaul the campus of the Angewandte, a group of buildings that house the University of Applied Arts, as well as the Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. Tschapeller's winning entry, together with fourteen finalist submissions, will be on view in an exhibition at the Museum for Applied Arts from March 9 through 25.