First Architectural Log in the Czech Republic

One of the activities of the Vienna Forum for Experimental Architecture is the organization of discussion meetings between studios. The main organizer of the project, Jan Tabor, invited several Czech architects to Vienna in previous years to present their work. After the presentation of Zdeněk Fránek's studio at "the lodge" at feld72, Jan Tabor decided to organize the first foreign meeting in return in Brno at Fránek's studio.
Together with Tabor, Albert Wimmer (www.awimmer.at) arrived in Brno on Friday, June 8, to present his work. Tabor deliberately chose Wimmer because, like Fránek, Wimmer had been overlooked by the Austrian scene for many years. Recently, he gained attention by winning several competitions and, above all, by realizing football stadiums in Klagenfurt, Salzburg, and Innsbruck for Euro 2008.
In the introduction of his lecture, he presented the winning project for the construction of Vienna's Main Train Station. The task of the new station is to unify the three existing stations of East, South, and West and to create a modern transit hub for the planned European corridor. A very important aspect of the design was the revitalization of the entire area around the station. The form of the building was inspired by the movement of passing trains.
For Wimmer, the operation of buildings is an important factor in conceptualizing designs. He demonstrated this both with the stadiums and with another Vienna station, Praterstern. During the screening and commentary of the individual stadiums, Wimmer paid tribute to Tabor by appreciating one of his texts that touched on the collective experience of spectators in the stands of the stadium. The individual stadiums faced the problem of their capacity. Wimmer enjoys bold steel constructions, explores the lighting properties of facades, and strives for the changing atmosphere of his buildings.
At the end of the presentation, architect Wimmer showcased his residential projects. He devoted a larger part of his time to the apartment building on Odeongasse, where he was confronted with a lack of space and tried to integrate the new construction into the heavily functionally mixed surrounding structure. Among the residential projects, Ville Verdi, located in close proximity to the Vienna Gasometers, also caught attention. Wimmer expressed his desire to work with the rooftop landscape of apartment buildings, where he often places penthouses - similar to family houses - and with the ground floor of the buildings, which he often leaves open to allow the natural environment to flow freely without interruption.
Wimmer presented himself as an experienced architect-professional with a number of major realizations. His respect for the user and the place was evident in every presented building or project. Questions from the audience were particularly focused on competitions and their victories. Wimmer pointed out the crucial moment when developing a competition proposal: the selection of the right variant. Especially one that is the best at that particular social moment and has the greatest potential to win. It took him ten years to recognize this most important aspect of competing. He emphasized that architects should only participate in competitions if they have something to say on the given topic. He places more weight on the concept of the project than on an impressive presentation.
In the second part of the evening, in return, architect Fránek presented his work. From the completion of the castle in Opatovice, he transitioned through a series of family houses to his latest projects and competitions. Architect Wimmer was clearly fascinated by Fránek's experiments with arch constructions in the first half of the 1990s. The more relaxed style of the lecture was complemented by "behind-the-scenes stories" that were new for most of the onlookers.
At the end of the meeting, architect Fránek took advantage of Jan Tabor's presence and invited him to christen his very first catalog, which anticipates the upcoming autumn exhibition in Prague. We present a review of the book elsewhere.
However, it was not just a single christening, as Doc. Rezek joined in with good spirits and, together with Petr Kratochvíl, presented Rezek's latest book. A symbolic conclusion to the official part of the evening was Rezek's author reading as a goodnight gesture.
The audience in Brno, unlike the Vienna "lodges," proved to be inexperienced in discussions, but hearty and warmly welcoming. Jan Tabor's next step is to invite architects from Brno's D.R.N.H. to Vienna.

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Zdeněk Fránek: Stavby / Buildings picture

Zdeněk Fránek: Stavby / Buildings
2007
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