Architecture in Austria since 1968

The proposed research project is the continuation of the two year FWF Project titled Architecture in Austria since 1970. (P 12303-ARS). The starting-point and approach of the first research project are still valid: -readoption of the scientific art historical analysis of on-going contemporary architecture - in this aspect Viennese art history is able to refer to great tradition up to the 1920s. -examination of on-going contemporary architecture in a historical context. -addition to an international context. The preceding project revealed that a meaningful historical curve should include the development in the 1960s, in more concrete terms, all trends in architecture which even beforehand seismographically reacted to the radical social changes around 1968. This experimental movement and the contribution of Austria`s architects are to be analyzed in the continuation of the project. Since the emphasis of the previous two years of research was predominately a theoretical elaboration of the subject, concrete analyses of buildings should be the focal point of the continuation. The requirement for that is on-site examination. Furthermore, the continuation project should serve to high light important developments in Austrian architecture outside of Vienna. In this connection on-site examination as well as discussion with architects and builders is a requirement. In addition to that, specific themes that arose in the course of previous research are to be investigated: -the role of builders since the 1960s / "Democracy and Construction Culture" -analysis of urban concepts since the 1960s: innovative projects and reality -"self-determination by the user" as one of the crucial challenges for future architecture -repercussions of "democratization of the media", of access to general information (internet) in the last ten years on the appearance of architecture -integration of nature/landscape and architecture as an essential characteristic of architecture in the twentyfirst century -examination of interaction between "economization of culture" and a "culturalization of economy" especially since the late 1980s -investigation of the changes in job outline and position of architects The listed themes will be analyzed in regard to utilization of history/research for contemporary questions. In view of our complex "post-modern situation" (historical) research / the concrete examination of circumstances and correlations will become a substantial part of the development of architecture. Exchange / publication will be seen as an integrated part of research: the proposed project will make a continuation of the discussion series "Architecture and me" possible. It was met with great interest. The first volume, interviews with Austrian architects in their seventies, will come out in June 2002 as a book. Volume II will cover the generation born during World War II. The interview series showed that an integral part of understanding a work should include personal life stories and the time context influencing each generation. In addition to all that, the results of the previous and proposed research project should result in a book which expounds "Architecture in Austria since 1968" in its complex genesis, the lines of development and (comprehensive) interconnections.

Based on the results of the previous project, which investigated the architectural development in Austria in an sociopolitical and international context, the focus of the following examination was directed at the rapid change in the last decade. At the end of the 60s federal regulations favoured regional architectural developments pertaining to the Austrian provinces. This subsequent formative development takes on, in context with EU membership and a globalized architectural scene, a transformation and a certain disintegration. Topics, such as urban and regional planning, professional image, clients, technology and materials, teaching and critic, were examined in comparative time cross-sections: i.e. 1968 - 1985 - 2000. This method sharpens the insight for the idiosyncrasy of the individual projects. Another concern of the project was the investigation of projects, which include "landscape" as an element of urban and architectural design. The disintegration of clear boundaries between city and country, between urban and rural life is an essential development, already premeditated in the urban projects of the 60s. One aspect of the examination was also to pursue the "aging" of buildings, ideas and personal careers in the course of this time span. Architecture of the 60s and 70s has reached "monument`s age", as the recent discussion about preservation of 70s architectural icons in Austria shows. The concept for the book "Die Architektur und ich. Eine Bilanz der österreichischen Architektur seit 1945 vermittelt durch ihre Protagonisten" is based on the hypothesis that each generation is up to a certain degree commonly shaped and that personal life stories are relevant for the individual architectural approach. Volume I (published 2003) presented protagonists of the generation 70+ in discussion. Volume II (in preparation) deals with the following generation, born during the war. On-site-analysis of relevant international architectural stations and the exchange with experts there were part of the project: Rotterdam on occasion of the exhibition about architecture in the 70s in Holland in the Nai, London`s housing projects as models for experimental housing in Austria in the 60s and 70s, Berlin as a role model for (middle) European urban development, Lille and Genoa as examples of urban development dependend on large investor projects and on mass events (culture capital).