architektur + analyse

Softcover
16.5 x 22.5 cm
English or German

“architektur + analyse” is a series of books by the Institute of Architectural Theory, History of Art and Cultural Studies at Graz University of Technology, edited by its director Anselm Wagner. The series deals with topics relating to international architecture and architectural debates of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including certain regional issues of international relevance that have an impact on the current discussion. All volumes take a critical and analytical approach to architecture, which is always presented within a wider cultural, social, and political context. The spectrum ranges from the monographic analysis of exemplary buildings to the discussion of theoretical issues regarding future developments.

“architektur + analyse” is targeted towards architecture and art history experts and students, as well as towards architecture enthusiasts. Volumes of the series will be published in German or English.

Up until today, the “Graz School” is one of the most well-known phenomena of twentieth-century Austrian architecture. Contrary to previous publications, which concentrated more on the expressive and deconstructivist use of forms of the “Graz School,” this publication focuses on the less well-known utopian designs and structuralist concepts of the nineteen-sixties, developed by the architecture students at Graz University of Technology. Apart from analytical essays, the volume comprises numerous personal articles by the protagonists of that era.

With contributions by Peter Blundell Jones, Konrad Frey, Volker Giencke, Bettina Götz, Eugen Gross, Bernhard Hafner, Gabu Heindl, Eilfried Huth, Dörte Kuhlmann, Tomás Valena, Manfred Wolff-Plottegg, and others.

Der “Verein für Heimatschutz in Steiermark“


“Good” and “bad,” “wrong” and “right”: such oppositions are a prominent feature of many of the publications written by cultural heritage organizations, resulting from the international cultural reform movement that established itself rapidly also in Austria, as a reaction to the landscape and cityscape transformations around 1900. The “Verein für Heimatschutz (Cultural Heritage Association) in Steiermark” (Styria), located in Graz, was founded in 1909 and is still in existence today, although it has been renamed “BauKultur Steiermark.” Based on the example of this local organization, an interdisciplinary team of authors examines the evolution of the cultural heritage agendas over the course of the twentieth century, in the context of national and regional searches for identity and (cultural) policy cooperations, but also of historical events and international architecture debates.

Zankel solar house in Prévessin in France, near Geneva, designed from 1976 by the Graz architect Konrad Frey and built in 1978–85 by the CERN physicist Karl Zankel for his family, is the result of a congenial partnership that is very rare in architecture: the architect and the builder delighted equally in the risky experiment, enabling the project to become a raison d’etre and the building to become a work of art. The result can only be described in terms of contrasts: experimental solar workshop and vernacular estate, expressive spatial sculpture, and ecological research station, representative social stage and alternative daycare center for children, postmodern collage and technoid residential machine, mannerist “folly” and monastic cell. It is all the more surprising then that this unique building has not yet been given a noteworthy mention in architectural criticism—it is the unknown masterpiece of the “Graz School.” This book was created as part of the masterclass at Graz University of Technology for documenting the building that is facing demolition.

Over the last three decades neoliberal ideology has irreversibly changed our political and economic reality. But what—if any—relationship exists between neoliberalism and our built environment? Is There (Anti-)Neoliberal Architecture? seeks to complement the prevailingly geographical and sociological approaches to neoliberalism by (re)addressing the subject from the specific perspective of architectural theory. The articles collected in the volume focus on various dimensions of the contemporary architecture-system including: architectural practice, disciplinary status, discourse, exemplary projects, theoretical concepts etc. The result offers a multifaceted picture of architecture in the era of neoliberalism and its crisis.

Contributions by Ole Fischer, Maria S. Giudici, Rixt Hoekstra, Tahl Kaminer, Ana Llorente, Olaf Pfeifer, Andreas Rumpfhuber, Ana Jeinić, Oliver Ziegenhardt, and Gideon Boie.

Essays on the History of Ideas


Rem Koolhaas has been part of the international avant-garde since the nineteen-seventies and has been named the Pritzker Architecture Prize for the year 2000. This book, which builds on six canonical Koolhaas projects, traces the discursive practice behind the design methods used by Koolhaas and his office OMA. It uncovers recurring key themes—such as wall, void, montage, trajectory, infrastructure, and shape—that have structured this design discourse over the span of Koolhaas's oeuvre. The book moves beyond the six core pieces, as well: It explores how these identified thematic design principles manifest in other works by Koolhaas as both practical re-applications and further elaborations.
In addition to Koolhaas's individual genius, these textual and material layers are accounted for shaping the very context of his work's relevance. By comparing the design principles with relevant concepts from the architectural Zeitgeist in which Koolhaas has operated, the study moves beyond its specific subject—Rem Koolhaas—and provides novel insight into the broader history of architectural ideas.


Published with the generous support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF).


Despite the prominence and notoriety of Rem Koolhaas … there is not a single piece of scholarly writing coming close to the … length, to the intensity, or to the methodological rigor found in the manuscript by Ingrid Böck… (Ole W. Fischer, University of Utah, Salt Lake City)

… an innovative and comprehensive analysis of all existing interpretative frameworks of the work of Rem Koolhaas. (Albena Yaneva, University of Manchester)

… an excellent exploration that could pave the way for an advanced study of … recent architectural history.  (Carsten Ruhl, Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)

Even for a reader familiar with the literature on architecture theory, Ingrid Böck's book offers countless fresh observations and intriguing new associations. (Kari Jormakka (†), Vienna University of Technology)

As an alternative to the standard mass housing construction of the postwar years, in the 1970s an independent typology developed in Styrian social housing construction. It was the combination of reformist politicians, visionary officials, and architects and clients willing to experiment that brought forth the Modell Steiermark (“Styria Model”) housing construction until the beginning of the 1990s that drew wide international attention. Planned participatively together with the future residents, the projects bear witness to both the distinctive individualism and the community spirit of the “Graz School.” Andrea Jany’s monograph recounts for the first time the historical-social development story, presents the 28 housing projects and evaluates them according to a residential satisfaction survey from a present-day user point of view.

For the 75th anniversary of Austria's liberation from the Nazi regime, teachers and students at the Institute of Architectural Theory, Art History and Cultural Studies at Graz University of Technology spent a semester conducting intensive research on the history of resistance to National Socialism in Styria. Employing tools of forensic architecture, four selected case studies—in Deutschlandsberg, Leoben, Eisenerz and Graz—form the starting point of the extensive research. The new insights based on the results of the archive inquiries were presented in an exhibition in public spaces of each city in the summer of 2020, including 3D visualizations, plan representations, diagrams and graphs. The publication at hand documenting the four exhibitions compiles research and design results, alongside with contributions by relevant scholars who categorize and contextualize the case studies within national and international academic discourse.

With contributions by Janika Döhr, Lisa-Marie Dorfleitner, Ema Drnda, Florian Eichelberger, Christian Fleck, Flora Flucher, Max Frühwirt, Daniel Gethmann, Nicole- Melanie Goll, Heimo Halbrainer, Georg Hoffmann, Matthias Hölbling, Thomas Hönigmann, Waltraud P. Indrist, Thomas Lienhart, Lung Peng, Anna Sachsenhofer, Alice Steiner, Milan Sušić, Katharina Url, Viktoriya Yeretska, Armin Zepic

The graphic design of this volume is by Soybot—Marie Vermont, Gerhard Jordan

The Werkgruppe Graz designed the terraced housing estate in Graz-St. Peter in 1965 during a period of societal upheaval. The complex was eventually built between 1972 and 1978. The planning group—members of the avant-garde artists’ association Forum Stadtpark—took a stand against the established system of residential construction, which was characterized by monotone design and the urban sprawl of single-family homes. Instead, they championed the utopian approach of involving residents in the planning process, which is reflected in the development’s basic structuralist framework with adaptable living units. Comprised of four terraced housing blocks in exposed concrete at the edge of Graz, the estate’s sculptural, brutalist appearance received international acclaim.
Gelebte Utopie is the first book to provide a collection of texts offering architectural commentary and context on the settlement. It additionally offers insights into the inhabitants’ living spaces and is enriched with artistic projects.