:: arcspace.com

Diving platform
©Lars Lerup

The opening exhibition at the new Architekturzentrum Wien, in the Museums Quartier, has a deliberately programmatic message. An institution that is dedicated to the mediation and propagation of architecture has to question these very mechanisms at a time when it is repositioning itself. Architecture exhibitions always tend to present documentation and allude to existing buildings. This capability to represent the permanently absent is treated thematically in Sturm der Ruhe. What is architecture? and new possibilities for mediation are sought.

Why "Sturm der Ruhe - What is architecture?"
"Work on the theme for this opening exhibition has been very intense, and we initially started out by doing research into contemporary minimalism. Not just in architecture, but also in the visual arts and lifestyles. The issue was not, however, either one of form or style, but why these kinds of reduced spaces exercise so much fascination. This led to the question of the perception and the spatial experience as the spectacular, even the minimalist spectacular, often do not permit an experience beyond the moment of astonishment. The mediation of architecture lies like a waterproof foil over the objects concerned. The market demands sensations and asks no further for actual qualities. So we wanted to create an awareness of architectural qualities in and around the unspectacular. Hence the title: Sturm der Ruhe'
(Note: the German translated as a 'storm of tranquility'.)"
Dietmar M. Steiner

The subject matter of the exhibition is situations and buildings that do not reveal any architectural intention to the layperson. They are apparently and genuinely casual solutions that nevertheless generate moods and an atmosphere. The nothing is not merely nothing - the personal and physical experiences of new architecture develop from scratch in terms of their utilisation in the media. Projects that appear cool and smooth in most publications open up entirely new sensual parameters when viewed differently. The visitor should be able to experience the abstract architectural facets such as the mood, the atmosphere, the smell, awareness, the traces of usage or the space's tactile qualities. In the exhibition thirty such situations are being presented in different forms.

"Lego-House"
Model Herzog & de Meuron
© LEGO Company

Models, building materials and drawings that do not show the preparatory steps behind the architecture on a small scale, but the density of concepts and ideas behind the design and the material manifestation of what is built.
Alongside anonymous pieces of architecture there are projects to be found by , among others, Kurt Kappa-Kocherscheidt, Adolf Loos, Heinz Frank, Herzog & de Meuron, Haus-Rucker-Co, Cukrowicz+Nachbaur, Morger & Degelo/Christian Kerez, Gigon+ Guyer, Dominique Perrault, Lacaton&Vassal, Thomas Bernhard, Gluckman Mayner Architects, John Pawson, Donald Judd, Adolf Krischanitz, Gerhard Merz, Diener+Diener and Riegler & Riewe.

Usine Aplix
Dominique Perrault architecte
© ADAGP, photo André Morin

One of the most distinguished architectural exercises is the generation of well-being, mood and atmosphere. This notion is pursued by Eichinger oder Knechtl in their design for the exhibition space in the Neue Halle of the Architekturzentrum Wien. The entire space - the floor, the walls and the ceiling - is covered in a single colour. The individual thematic groups are presented in eight booths. Forming a central element is a large screen showing a 60 minute video montage by Eichinger oder Knechtl based on the videos commissioned specially for the exhibition.

Photo: Kirsten Kiser

Photo: Malene Anthon
The new restaurant under construction. A dominant element of the design for the space is the vaulted ceiling, which has been clad in oriental tiling.
A new restaurant is part of the reopening of the Architekturzentrum. Responsible for the design and the realisation are French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, who have, entirely in the tradition of the interiors at the Architekturzentrum Wien, made a philosophy out of building as the intelligent treatment of a minimalist approach to using materials. With a project by these two French architects the international architecture scene is being incorporated into Viennese restaurant and bar architecture.

The exhibition catalog, published by Pustet Verlag, has texts by: Marc Augé, Gernot Böhme, Diller & Scofidio, Gigon+Guyer, Herzog & de Meuron, Donna Harraway, K. Michael Hays, Rosalind Krauss, Michelle Murphy, John Pawson, Merleau Ponty, Mark Rakatansky, Bruno Reichlin, Michel Serres, Martin Steinmann, Wilfried Wang and others.





				Features
		Architekturzentrum Wien Sturm der Ruhe - What is architecture? October 10, 2001 to March 4, 2002
		Diving platform ©Lars Lerup The opening exhibition at the new Architekturzentrum Wien, in the Museums Quartier, has a deliberately programmatic message. An institution that is dedicated to the mediation and propagation of architecture has to question these very mechanisms at a time when it is repositioning itself. Architecture exhibitions always tend to present documentation and allude to existing buildings. This capability to represent the permanently absent is treated thematically in Sturm der Ruhe. What is architecture? and new possibilities for mediation are sought. Why "Sturm der Ruhe - What is architecture?" "Work on the theme for this opening exhibition has been very intense, and we initially started out by doing research into contemporary minimalism. Not just in architecture, but also in the visual arts and lifestyles. The issue was not, however, either one of form or style, but why these kinds of reduced spaces exercise so much fascination. This led to the question of the perception and the spatial experience as the spectacular, even the minimalist spectacular, often do not permit an experience beyond the moment of astonishment. The mediation of architecture lies like a waterproof foil over the objects concerned. The market demands sensations and asks no further for actual qualities. So we wanted to create an awareness of architectural qualities in and around the unspectacular. Hence the title: Sturm der Ruhe' (Note: the German translated as a 'storm of tranquility'.)" Dietmar M. Steiner The subject matter of the exhibition is situations and buildings that do not reveal any architectural intention to the layperson. They are apparently and genuinely casual solutions that nevertheless generate moods and an atmosphere. The nothing is not merely nothing - the personal and physical experiences of new architecture develop from scratch in terms of their utilisation in the media. Projects that appear cool and smooth in most publications open up entirely new sensual parameters when viewed differently. The visitor should be able to experience the abstract architectural facets such as the mood, the atmosphere, the smell, awareness, the traces of usage or the space's tactile qualities. In the exhibition thirty such situations are being presented in different forms. "Lego-House" Model Herzog & de Meuron © LEGO Company Models, building materials and drawings that do not show the preparatory steps behind the architecture on a small scale, but the density of concepts and ideas behind the design and the material manifestation of what is built. Alongside anonymous pieces of architecture there are projects to be found by , among others, Kurt Kappa-Kocherscheidt, Adolf Loos, Heinz Frank, Herzog & de Meuron, Haus-Rucker-Co, Cukrowicz+Nachbaur, Morger & Degelo/Christian Kerez, Gigon+ Guyer, Dominique Perrault, Lacaton&Vassal, Thomas Bernhard, Gluckman Mayner Architects, John Pawson, Donald Judd, Adolf Krischanitz, Gerhard Merz, Diener+Diener and Riegler & Riewe. Usine Aplix Dominique Perrault architecte © ADAGP, photo André Morin One of the most distinguished architectural exercises is the generation of well-being, mood and atmosphere. This notion is pursued by Eichinger oder Knechtl in their design for the exhibition space in the Neue Halle of the Architekturzentrum Wien. The entire space - the floor, the walls and the ceiling - is covered in a single colour. The individual thematic groups are presented in eight booths. Forming a central element is a large screen showing a 60 minute video montage by Eichinger oder Knechtl based on the videos commissioned specially for the exhibition. Photo: Kirsten Kiser Photo: Malene Anthon The new restaurant under construction. A dominant element of the design for the space is the vaulted ceiling, which has been clad in oriental tiling. A new restaurant is part of the reopening of the Architekturzentrum. Responsible for the design and the realisation are French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal, who have, entirely in the tradition of the interiors at the Architekturzentrum Wien, made a philosophy out of building as the intelligent treatment of a minimalist approach to using materials. With a project by these two French architects the international architecture scene is being incorporated into Viennese restaurant and bar architecture. The exhibition catalog, published by Pustet Verlag, has texts by: Marc Augé, Gernot Böhme, Diller & Scofidio, Gigon+Guyer, Herzog & de Meuron, Donna Harraway, K. Michael Hays, Rosalind Krauss, Michelle Murphy, John Pawson, Merleau Ponty, Mark Rakatansky, Bruno Reichlin, Michel Serres, Martin Steinmann, Wilfried Wang and others.