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Architektur beginnt im Kopf. The Making of Architecture 16.10.2008 – 02.02.2009 Opening: Wednesday Oct. 15 2008, 07:00 pm Press Conference: Wednesday Oct. 15 2008, 11:00 am While people in one Paris’ architecture office shoot at clay blocks, another office breeds orchids for inspiration and prefers to design using words. The architects concerned are R&Sie(n), and Lacaton & Vassal. Ben van Berkel says of himself that he is passionate about using tools, and describes the role of the architect as that of a John Cage-style conductor in the middle of an orchestra. Gary Chang (Edge Design Institute, Hong Kong) specialises in fast-track design and enjoys using colourful Lego bricks to build small models that can quickly be taken apart. In complete contrast to this, Atelier Bow-Wow in Tokyo makes 50 to 60 scale models per building that document every alteration in the development of the space with extreme precision. With 1,600 employees among the largest architecture offices in the world, the firm SOM Skidmore, Owings & Merrill talks about the design process and the difficulties with wind in the development of the tallest building in the world, the Burj Dubai (completion in 2009). While Lux Guyer, one of the first Swiss woman architects to have her own office, liked to design from her bed using a small wooden triangle, Lina Bo Bardi, who was originally from Italy before emigrating to Brazil after the second world war, always had her studio in a Portacabin directly on the construction site – where she solved technical details together with her craftspeople, sometimes entirely without plans. In 1973 Yona Friedman threw the computer out of his studio, saying that it dictated too much to him. The key design tools for Alvar Aalto, who developed his ideas in the drawing process, was his legendary 6B, a yellow Koh-i-Noor retractable pencil, and Finnish sketching paper made by Tervakoski that is still being produced today. An old Aalto sketch on the back of the Klubi 77 Klubb cigarettes he smoked incessantly is also among the exponents in the show. THE EXHIBITION The exhibition Architektur beginnt im Kopf. The Making of Architecture, curated by Elke Krasny, shows how individually architects work with their tools, operate and design. With the support of Gudrun Hausegger and Robert Temel, Elke Krasny conducted research in 20 architecture offices and studios in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Flims, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Philadelphia, São Paulo, Tokyo, Vienna and Zurich. Field research with architects was conducted on the basis of their 'studio lives', inspired by the approach of the French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour, who wrote the study of scientists at work Laboratory Life with Steve Wolgar. Photographs document what it actually looks like in the studios during the work process. The work process itself is shown on the basis of one specific project from each office, by showing the means used for the design involved to provide unusual insights into the working world of architecture. Architektur beginnt im Kopf. The Making of Architecture shows how individual the creative strategies and design methods actually are despite a collective knowledge base of architecture production. A trip through time and the tools of the architect's profession is at the centre of the exhibition: from the Hardtmuth pencil, to Computer-Aided Design (CAD). In 1795 Joseph Hardtmuth (court architect to the Prince of Liechtenstein) made decisive improvements to what is still unbeaten as an architect's design tool, the pencil. The tools, drawing pens, Rapidographs, an airbrush, electronic lettering equipment, curve templates, T-squares, printing machines or copiers, are displayed in the middle of the hall; the set designer Alexandra Maringer has developed an individual presentation for each of the 20 international architecture offices and studios in line with the curatorial concept of the show. As there is not a museum in the world that specialises in the tools of the architect's trade, many of the exponents stem from private collections. The architect Gerhard Vana has opened his collection to the public, a collection that goes back over several generations and where the now famous Lissitzky-Zirkel compass turned up. The architect and designer Martin Mostböck has lent us the tools of his technology-obsessed father. The Vienna-based model maker's shop ARCHIDELIS — Materialien für Modellbau und Gestaltung is supporting the exhibition with both historic and contemporary tools. The historic Ideal drawing table made by the Viennese firm Jahoda has been lent by the Technische Museum Wien, and an original four-part showcase with around 100 compasses and drawing instruments has come from the Deutsches Museum in Munich that the firm Riefler used for their presentation at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 and then donated to the museum in 1905. The exhibition is a journey through the world of architecture creation, where the tools are as varied as the architects that use them. Architektur beginnt im Kopf. The Making of Architecture tells of the working world of architecture — how it develops and the processes that govern the completion of a project, and the tools that the architects work with. The catalogue The Force is in the Mind. The Making of Architecture is published with the kind support of the BIG — Bundesimmobiliengesellschaft; in English and German editions. ARCHITECTS / STUDIO LOCATIONS / PROJECTS ON SHOW: 1) Alvar Aalto / studio in Helsinki / project shown: Auditorium Otaniemi, Finnland 2) Lina Bo Bardi / studio on the relevant building site / project shown: SESC Fábrica da Pompéia, São Paulo, Brazil 3) Atelier Bow-Wow / studio in Tokyo / project shown: T-House in Manazuru, Kanagawa, Japan 4 Hermann Czech / studio in Vienna / project shown: Hotel Messe Wien, Austria 5) Diller Scofidio + Renfro / studio in New York / project shown: Alice Tully Hall in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, USA 6) Edge Design Institute / studio in Hong Kong / project shown: Gary Chang's own apartment in Hong Kong 7) Yona Friedman / studio in Paris / project shown: Graffiti Museum design for the Architekturzentrum Wien 8) Antoni Gaudí / studio on the relevant building site in Barcelona / project shown: Colònia Güell near Barcelona, Spain 9) The Jerde Partnership / office in Los Angeles / project shown: Namba Park in Osaka, Japan 10) Lux Guyer / studio in Zürich / project shown: Saffa Haus in Zurich, Switzerland 11) Steven Holl Architects, Solange Fabião / studio in New York / project shown: Cité du Surf et de l’Océan in Biarritz, France 12) Lacaton & Vassal / studio in Paris / project shown: School of architecture, Nantes, France 13) Rudolf Olgiati / studio in Flims / project shown: Casa las Caglias in Flims, Switzerland 14) Charlotte Perriand / studio in Paris / project shown: L'espace Thé de l'Unseco in Paris, France 15) R&Sie(n) / studio in Paris / project shown: He Shot Me Down in Heyri, Korea 16) Theiss & Jaksch / project shown: Herrengasse high-rise, Vienna; Schwalm-Theiss & Gressenbauer / studio in Vienna / project shown: school in Stadt Haag, Austria 17) Karl Schwanzer / office in Wien / project shown: Austrian World Exhibition Pavilion, Expo 67, Montreal, Canada 18) SOM Skidmore, Owings & Merrill / office in Chicago / projects shown: North Bund Tower Shanghai, China, and the Burj Dubai, UAE 19) UNStudio / office in Amsterdam / project shown: Villa NM in Upstate New York, USA 20) Venturi Scott Brown & Associates / office in Philadelphia / projects shown: Tsinghua University Campus Beijing, China, and the chapel of The Episcopal Academy, Philadelphia, USA Curator: Elke Krasny Project coordination and research assistance: Gudrun Hausegger Research assistance: Robert Temel Scenography: Alexandra Maringer / assistant: Bernadette Krejs Setting: Dietlind Rott Exhibition design: Thomas Kussin, buero8 Catalogue: Architektur beginnt im Kopf. The Making of Architecture / The Force is in the Mind. The Making of Architecture Birkhäuser Verlag AG Editor: Elke Krasny, Architekturzentrum Wien Graphic design: Alexander Schuh English and German editions The Az W receives grants from: Geschäftsgruppe Kultur und Wissenschaft, Wien / Geschäftsgruppe Stadtentwicklung und Verkehr, Wien / The Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture The Az W is supported by: Architecture Lounge |
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Press page Current events Past events Gallery: Images for the press: Opening event Images for the Press: The Exhibition Images for the Press: Architektur beginnt im Kopf. The Making of Architecture Dates: Architektur beginnt im Kopf The Making of Architecture Downloads: Information for the Press: Architektur beginnt im Kopf Information: Ines Purtauf Tel.: +43 (1) 522 31 15 - 25 Fax: +43 (1) 522 31 17 Email: purtauf@azw.at |
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