How is architecture conceived? Putting this question to Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera-Polo (alias Foreign Office Architects) you may hear the answer that behind a good project is an evolutionary process which generates the organism best able to respond to necessity.

Filled with metaphor, an exhibition about them at the MAK in Vienna brings together thirteen models and around thirty wall panels to explain that what is really necessary in architecture is flexibility and the capacity for adaptation.

This is demonstrated by the highlights of a career begun in 1992 that in just over ten years has produced results which are more than positive. Projects which stand out particularly are the Bluemoon hotel in Groningen in Holland, the city theatre of Torrevieja in Spain and the innovative and spectacular terminal in Yokohama.

With an evolutionary approach worthy of the father of modern genetics, the design of Moussavi (Iranian, born in 1965) and Zaera-Polo (Spanish, born in 1963) is compared to the history of evolution of the species. The functions of the building (cells) proliferate, as time passes, in different environments (design restrictions). The final result? An organism. Sorry, a building.

until 3.8.2003
Foreign Office Architects
Species - foa's phylogenesis
MAK Gallery, Stubenring 5, Vienna
T +43-1-711360
https://www.mak.at