Werkgruppe Graz 1959–1989

Werkgruppe Graz 1959–1989

Architecture at the Turn of Late Modernism

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The complete work of this extraordinary group of architects in post-war Austria, for the first time in a comprehensive monograph.

 

 

Title Information

Edited by Eva Guttmann, Gabriele Kaiser, HDA Haus der Architektur Graz. Essays by Hubertus Adam, Bettina Götz and Richard Manahl, Gabriele Kaiser, and Otto Kapfinger. Photographs by Helmut Tezak

1st edition

, 2013

Text English and German

Paperback

318 pages, 116 color and 263 b/w illustrations and diagrams

22 x 29 cm

ISBN 978-3-906027-28-9

Content

The Werkgruppe Graz, consisting of Eugen Gross, Friedrich Gross-Rannsbach, Herman Pichler, and Werner Hollomey, played a major role in post-war Austrian architecture. All four architects were educated at the Technical University in Graz and began their collaboration in the late 1959, with the first building completed in 1963. The group was an important precursor of what became known as the “Graz School” in Austrian architecture. In addition to their architectural work the group also edited a series of poetry books, to which many of their friends from various circles contributed as authors.

Socially progressive, with a participatory as well as scientific approach they realized projects that remain significant milestones until the present day. Their most significant building, the Terrace House Estate in Graz-St. Peter (1965–78) and the Students’ Hostel “Am Hafnerriegel” (1961–64) are both examples of typological, special and social innovations.

The new book Werkgruppe Graz 1959–1989 is the first comprehensive documentation of the group’s work. A conversation and two essays put them in historical and international context. Some 30 buildings and projects are presented in detail. A complete catalogue of their work rounds out this monograph. It is an important contribution to the examination of the architectural legacy of post-war Austria.

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Authors & Editors

Hubertus Adam

, born 1965, was director of Schweizerischen Architekturmuseums SAM in Basel from 2013–2015. He also works as an architctural critic and publicist.

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Bettina Götz

studied architecture at the Graz University of Technology. Since 1987 office ARTEC Architekten in Vienna. Since 2006 she has been professor of Design and Building Construction at the Unversity of Arts in Berlin.

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Eva Guttmann

 is a freelance architecture publicist based in Graz and Vienna and an editor with Park Books.

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Haus der Architektur Graz

 is a non-profit organisation for architectural education, founded in 1988. It provides a platform for a variety of events, such as exhibitions, workshops, symposiums on architecture, urban and spatial development.

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Gabriele Kaiser

 lives and works in Vienna as freelance architecture publicist, writer, and curator.

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Otto Kapfinger

 is a freelance architectural scientist and publicist in Vienna who has had numerous publications and has held many lectures.