Content Foreword Fragments See and think – Air water earth Building with questions ? On the preservation of old buildings Building also encompasses engineering Educating an architect Research and implementation Encounters with Karl Schwanzer Jürgen Joedicke: Karl Schwanzer, Architect Peter Blake on Karl Schwanzer Günther Feuerstein: Office Talk Laurids: A tiger-cum-conductor Sepp Frank: The Archinaut Gerhard Krampf: Why do we work with Schwanzer Karl Fleischer: Seilergasse 16 ... Exhibitions Commerce and Trade Exhibition 1951 Communal Service Exhibition 1952 Project Vindobona 2000 Exhibition 1967 World Fairs Pavilion for the European Council World Fair Brussels 1958 Austrian Pavilion World Fair Brussels 1958 Austrian Pavilion World Fair Montreal 1967 German Pavilion Osaka World Fair 1970 Project 1967 Residential buildings House Vienna 1962 Austrian Embassy in Brasilia 1974 Museums Gallery of 20th Century Art Project 1972 Museum of 20th Century Art Vienna 1964 Onion House Project Munich 1967 BMW Museum Munich 1973 Administration buildings Philips Building Vienna 1966 IBM Building Vienna Project 1966 The State Comproller’s Office Building Project Vienna 1972 BMW Building Munich 1973
Industrial buildings Perlmooser AG Cement Plant Mannersdorf 1970 BMW buildings Munich 1971-1973 BMW Car-park 1971 BMW Headquarters Building 1973 BMW Museum 1973 Building for the care of the sick Casualty Hospital Graz 1974 A children’s community The Municipal Kindergarten Montreal World Fair 1967 Municipal Day-Care Centre Vienna 1973 Dwellings for the elderly Old Age Pensioners‘ Home, Augarten Vienna,1974 Building churches Parish Church Pötzleinsdorf, Vienna 1964 Parish Church Leopoldau, Vienna 1972 Capuchin Crypt Vienna 1960 Public spaces The Albertina Square Project Vienna 1973 City Center Project Vienna 1968 A matter of training Institute of Business Promotion Wifi Vienna 1963 Electrotechnical Institute University of Vienna Project 1966 Institute of Business Promotion St. Pölten 1972 Zoological Institutes University of Vienna 1972 University of Vienna Extension Project 1973 Karl Schwanzer: Teaching at the University of Technology Vienna Aphorisms on student projects List of works Biography Credits
Foreword At the time it first appeared in 1973, Karl Schwanzer’s book ARCHITECTURE AS A PASSION was intended as a status report covering twenty-five years of his work. Following Karl Schwanzer’s untimely death two years later, it became his legacy as an architect and teacher. The thoughts he put to paper bear clear testimony to his endeavours to achieve a blend of man, landscape and architecture. In his work and teachings both in this book and throughout his life, he sought to convey with enthusiasm his prime concern over lending an identity of design to the task on hand. His desire for form and quest for environmentally adequate solutions in individual building projects reflect the diversity of a creative spirit. In contrast to specialised specificity he always opted for an individually accentuated form of universality in his approach to problems. In the fragmentary texts Schwanzer reveals his basic convictions and the development of his personality. For him architecture was always a cultural issue for society. Many of his far-sighted architectural solutions that he advanced for the many varied tasks confronting him years ago were dismissed as too audacious. Today, they have become part and parcel of architecture in general. His insistence upon peak performance, his joie de vivre and his ties with nature that were central to his treatment of our environment had primarily emotional roots. They reflect the major responsibility borne by a creative person, whose very creativity placed man at the centre of things and whose primary objective was to increase the design content and joyfulness of the world around us. Awareness of that responsibility which enabled Karl Schwanzer as an architect to identify with his approach to work is just as stimulating today as ever before. It was thus quite logical to provide a broad
Credits and interested readership access to his book in electronic form. So as to be able to transmit direct the spontaneity of an artistic person and the emotional depths of his thoughts and work, the contents and design of the original (1973) version of the book have been left unchanged. Only a few minor adjustments to the new medium proved necessary. The thoughts and issues that Karl Schwanzer touched upon are just as important today as they were then. Leonie Manhardt Vienna-Munich 2005
Karl Schwanzer Architecture as a Passion First published by modulverlag GmbH Vienna-Munich 1973. Electronic version 2004 Text: Karl Schwanzer Layout concept: Laurids Ortner Design, layout and cover: Angela Hareiter, Otto Kapfinger Executive production: Leonore Manhardt Photography: Archiv Schwanzer, Baum, Chmel, Fleckseder, Gerlach, Grünzweig, Hubmann, Komers-Lindenbach, Kriechbaum, Manhardt, Meyer, Neubert, Penz, Pfandler, Radler, Rokos, Schmucker, Schwanzer, Simoncsics, Wölfl, Zwietasch. English translation: Peter Lillie Electronic version 2005: Leonore Manhardt, Martin Schauer, Martin Schwanzer, Hannes Zechner