After the University of Applied Arts Vienna chose a winner for its campus redesign competition in 2012, the proposal is just now being made a reality—much to the disappointment of another prominent Viennese institution, Coop Himmelb(l)au.

The University selected Riepl Kaufmann Bammer Architecktur’s design for a major renovation and expansion of its current buildings, totaling 9,500 square meters of new space. On July 6, the University broke ground on the project, and on July 8, Coop Himmelb(l)au’s communications office sent out an email decrying the design, comparing it to a “prison courtyard” and asking “does it necessarily have to be the worst project which will now be realized?”:

Commonly, Architecture is understood to be a three-dimensional imprint of content. Following this view, the rendering – boastfully called “inwards facing campus” – looks rather like a prison courtyard. If that image was a reflection of the University of Applied Arts’ curricula, one should definitely be concerned about the future of Art and Architecture.

The redesign covers seven floors with facilities for teachers, employees, and students, with costs estimated at 66 million Euros. Coop Himmelb(l)au’s email goes on to question whether or not such design is justified, at such cost:

Architectural renderings always show just the bright side of a future project and the built reality will usually be much worse. This design emanates refreshingly talentless pragmatism. You are wondering who is responsible for this? The client? The architect? The future user? And the Institute of Architecture is accepting this banality without objection: Taken leave of their senses!

The firm’s email also includes examples of other “international” architecture schools, such as Morphosis’ Cooper Union building, ZHA’s Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, and OMA’s Milstein Hall at Cornell University, potentially as counter-suggestions for more appropriate designs.

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