Coop Himmelb(l)au

Coop Himmelb(l)au

Coop Himmelb(l)au is an architecture cooperative founded in Vienna in 1968 by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer. The firm gained international prominence through avant-garde projects and exhibitions that engaged with postmodern, deconstructivist, and high-tech currents, participating in dialogues connected to institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Venice Biennale, and the Centre Pompidou. Its work spans Europe, North America, and Asia, intersecting with debates involving figures like Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and Rem Koolhaas.

History

Founded in 1968 amid the cultural ferment associated with events like the Prague Spring and the May 1968 events in France, the cooperative emerged from the Viennese avant-garde and student movements linked to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and the Technical University of Vienna. Early interventions and manifestos placed the group in relation to movements around Superstudio, Archigram, and the work of Constant Nieuwenhuys. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Coop Himmelb(l)au engaged with European networks including galleries such as Galerie nächst St. Stephan, curators connected to the Documenta exhibitions, and critics writing for Domus and Architectural Review. The 1980s brought competition wins and commissions on par with practices like OMA and offices led by Aldo Rossi; the studio expanded internationally after projects in cities including Los Angeles, Berlin, Vienna, and Seoul. Institutional appointments, guest professorships at schools like the Southern California Institute of Architecture, and participation in venues such as the Serpentine Galleries consolidated its status in contemporary architecture.

Key Projects

Notable built works include the Rooftop Remodeling Falkestrasse in Vienna, which dialogued with local preservation debates involving the Austrian Federal Monuments Office and elicited comparisons with interventions by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown. The UFA-Palast project in Düsseldorf and the UFA-Palast in Berlin entered conversations alongside cinemas designed by firms like Cinema Architecture proponents and cultural commissions from municipalities such as the City of Berlin. The firm’s design for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles rooftop intervention connected to collections like the J. Paul Getty Museum and exhibition programs of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Other major commissions include the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, projects in Graz and Innsbruck, and urban competition entries for sites overseen by entities like the European Union and national ministries such as the Austrian Ministry of Culture. The firm's work also appears in biennials and retrospectives at institutions including the Guggenheim Museum and the National Gallery.

Architectural Style and Philosophy

The practice articulated a manifesto and pedagogical stance resonant with debates sparked by architects such as Peter Eisenman, Daniel Libeskind, and Ettore Sottsass. Their aesthetic vocabulary—characterized by fragmented geometries, dynamic forms, and expressive use of materials—entered dialogue with theoretical positions advanced at venues like the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies and journals including Oppositions. Structural collaborations with engineers from firms comparable to Ove Arup and fabricators associated with companies like Schlaich Bergermann Partner supported ambitious spans and cantilevers reminiscent of projects by Santiago Calatrava and Norman Foster. Philosophically, the cooperative engaged with themes explored by authors such as Aldo van Eyck and critics like Charles Jencks, situating programmatic flexibility against historicist contexts including sites in Vienna and Munich.

Notable Members and Collaborators

Founding partners included Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky, and Michael Holzer, who worked alongside collaborators and staff drawn from academies such as the Architectural Association School of Architecture, the ETH Zurich, and the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Long-term collaborators and consultants intersected with figures from engineering practices like Arup, fabricators linked to ThyssenKrupp, and artists associated with movements shown at the Tate Modern and Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. Guest lecturers, critics, and jurors associated with the office have included professors from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Columbia GSAPP, and TU Delft. Cross-disciplinary partnerships extended to curators and cultural producers who operate within institutions such as the Serpentine Gallery, the World Architecture Festival, and the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Awards and Recognition

The cooperative and its principals have received awards and honors from bodies like the Austrian State Prize for Architecture, entries on lists curated by the Pritzker Prize jury discussions, and accolades from organizations such as the Royal Institute of British Architects and the American Institute of Architects. Major retrospectives and prize attributions have been staged at institutions including the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Deutsches Architekturmuseum. Publications and monographs on the firm appear in series published by houses connected to Taschen, Rizzoli, and Birkhäuser, and critical essays have been featured in anthologies alongside texts on Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Category:Architecture firms Category:Contemporary architecture