Discover Germany, Switzerland & Austria
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Special Theme
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Top Architects and Urban Planners of 2025 MuseumsQuartier & Dragonfly (MQ Libelle) on the roof of Leopold Museum, Vienna. Photo: DroneProject Robert Smely / O&O Baukunst
ORTNER & ORTNER BAUKUNST – CREATIVE RESPONSIBILITY According to architect and partner Markus Penell, they plan and build in cities and places from all eras: “Every situation and task is different, and we read that very carefully.” Today’s O&O Baukunst office has undergone an interesting development. Since its beginnings in 1967, the brothers and founders Laurids and Manfred Ortner created projects that moved between free art and architecture. As of the mid-1980s, Ortner & Ortner Baukunst has been working as an architectural firm with clients from local authorities, institutions and the private sector. Markus Penell says: “With O&O Baukunst, we are facing up to the many questions of the present, not just the architectural ones.”
MUSEUMSQUARTIER WIEN – ART & CULTURAL CENTER FOR THE 21ST CENTURY In 1990, O&O Baukunst was commissioned to build one of Europe's largest cultural centres, the Museumsquartier Wien. For this, the former 36
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Issue 125
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January 2025
court stables of the Habsburg emperors (built by J. Fischer v. Erlach in 1723) were enriched with a series of striking, contemporary buildings: With the 'mumok' (Museum of Modern Art Vienna), the Kunsthalle Wien, the Leopold Museum and the 'MQ Libelle' on the roof of the Leopold Museum, an art and cultural centre for the 21st century was created. As a center of contemporary art located in the immediate vicinity of the Hofburg and Court Museums, the Museumsquartier offers an ideal link between contemporary culture and historical tradition.
MAJOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT PROJECT IN BERLIN ‘Urbane Mitte am Gleisdreick’ in Berlin is another large-scale urban development project: The design shows seven trapezoidal buildings between 25 and 90 meters high, laid out in a loose band, which together form a new type of urban layout. The city and the park landscape at Gleisdreieck are linked by
complex relationships. A play of perspectives and scales is created between the solitary buildings, creating shifting perceptions from near and afar.
TRANSFORMATION AND RENEWAL Markus Penell explains plans and projects for the near future: “Current projects include the House of Austrian History in Vienna's Museumsquartier and the conversion of the Zoogesellschaftshaus in Frankfurt into a children's and youth theatre. Both projects integrate the existing listed buildings and are being carried out using timber construction. Furthermore, the Rothneusiedl district in Vienna is a particular example of sustainable construction. Berlin-based projects include the master plan for Siemensstadt², the Uferhallen Wedding, the Urbane Mitte at Gleisdreieck and a high-rise residential building at Alexanderplatz.” The requirements for the transformation and renewal of our environment are now at the forefront of all O&O Baukunst projects. www.ortner-ortner.com
TEXT: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI
For the team around the three partners Roland Duda, Florian Matzker and Markus Penell of O&O Baukunst, each project is unique.