AH 230 - Modern Architecture in Vienna

The objective of this course is to provide an overview of the main ideas in modern Viennese architecture. The course will focus on architectural ideas and social concepts in architecture that were invented in modern Vienna (starting with Loos, Wagner, Sitte, Holzmeister, Hollein, Hundertwasser, Feuerstein, to contemporary architects such as Coop Himmelb(l)au, Krischanitz, Delugan-Meissl and others) and that have influenced the international architectural discourse.

Rather than a chronological survey, the course will be organized thematically, with numerous examples drawn from early modernism up to contemporary practice. Even today the most challenging examples of Viennese architecture and city planning (Frauenwerkstatt, Miss Sargfabrik, Gürtelbögen, Pilotengasse, Flugfeld Aspern etc.) derive their tone and ethos from the heady years of the 1910s and 20s, when manifestos circulated in Vienna among young artists and architects and sponsored ambitious architectural projects such as Karl Marx Hof, the Einküchenhaus Heimhof or the large Gänsehäufl baths, to name but a few.

Coursework involves analysis, interpretation and written assignments of 20th-century theories and buildings in Vienna. Selection of buildings varies from semester to semester. Site visits and field study included.