The year 2010 saw the first installment of the ideas competition “Project Vienna – A Design Strategy. How to React to a City?”. This competition was initiated by the MAK in cooperation with departure, the creative agency of the City of Vienna, and it took place as part of the joint MAK and departure program “design> new strategies.” On 22 April 2010, the jury selected 20 projects from a total of 101 submissions from 20 countries, and from these finalists they chose the three winners. The essential factor in the jury’s decision was the extent to which the projects exhibited model-like and conceptual approaches with a high potential for development above and beyond the object produced. Unusual perspectives on the city and its residents were opened up in ways both humorous and critical. The submissions of the winning architects Klaus Stattmann, Gregor Hoffelner and Sebastian Schmid, as well as by the designers Marei Wollersberger and Jessica Charlesworth, will form the focal point of the exhibition, which is to open on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 at the MAK DESIGN SPACE. This exhibition will be accompanied by a publication documenting all 20 selected projects.

Klaus Stattmann (Büro für Architektur und Forschung) will present his A.R.S.A #1 Architecture Saves Austria: a wall-sized cartoon collage will contain a narrative describing the functionality of the so-called “visual prosthesis” which he developed for the Pallas Athena statue in front of the Parliament Building. This project proposes an intervention in the architecture of the Ringstraße as a statement on the political culture of Austria as well as on the historic and historicist architecture of the city of Vienna. In this context, the Parliament Building is identified as a genius loci and the neuralgic point at which to attempt a possible improvement of today’s growing sociopolitical ills. The reason for political events’ running off course is identified as having to do with the gaze of the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athena, who poses before the building: the fact that her gaze is focused on the passers-by and the Ringstraße means that her back is turned on the Parliament itself. With the help of a visual prosthesis and an integrated, extendable rear-view mirror, she would for the first time be able to properly fulfill her true mission— particularly as concerns recent political scandals.

Architects Gregor Hoffelner (VERY Architects) and Sebastian Schmid (ex.it- architektur) are represented by their winning project UPgrading VIENNA. In a model-like utopia, they show how the city would be perceived if protected Viennese landmarks were to tower over the city from the elevation of the Kahlenberg (the tall hill at the city’s northwestern edge). In Vienna, there is a time-honored tradition of not permitting modern architecture to disrupt historical sightlines. This vision would honor that tradition while permitting that—elsewhere—the city would be allowed to grow, sprawl, develop and modernize itself in whatever way it pleased. Space would be created for independent design and vibrant architecture. In doing so, the pedestal architecture underlying the historic structures would conform to all the necessities of this future city. With the decision to raise the important structures of bygone eras to the elevation of the Kahlenberg, Vienna could thereafter circumvent the strict requirements of being a world cultural heritage site while at the same time reinforcing its avant- garde role in a global Europe.

The designers Marei Wollersberger and Jessica Charlesworth were recognized for their project Citizen Evolution. On display will be the humorous and hypothetical scenarios “Microbe Sky,” “Pigeonpoo Roofgarden,” “Zentralfriedhof Power Plant” and “Pharmaceutical Distribution Network” done as schematic, graphic training aids. Each picture will be complimented by a “narrating” object (such as a homemade hand tool) to be used within the context of the scenario. The two designers worked based on the hypothesis that the central systems of provision and distribution upon which we currently rely will cease to work—an entirely plausible situation in these times of crisis. To prepare for this case, the Viennese would be equipped by the State with all manner of systems for self-sufficiency—above all with open-source biotechnology. This would give them the ability to manipulate and regulate the city’s climate via microbial infusions into the clouds; in a similar vein of thinking, bacterial cultures grown in pigeon droppings on the roofs and on organic remains of the dead at the Central Cemetery would satisfy energy needs. The “Gänsehäufel” outdoor bathing area, on the other hand, would become the habitat of genetically modified pigs that would serve the Viennese populace as antibody reservoirs and ensure the provision of healthcare—with the necessary vaccinations being carried out on a regular basis by mosquitoes. All this adds up to a scenario, which marries the Viennese obsession with morbidity to approaches from the life sciences and the actual current state of global events.

Alongside the three winning projects, the walls of the stairwell will be used to present the competition’s other submissions as a collage representing a pool of ideas, which is meant to serve visitors as inspiration to go out and do their part to shape the city. In addition to the catalogue, this exhibition will be accompanied by the publication of a special Vienna city atlas entitled Project Vienna. How to React to a City, edited by Peter Noever and Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, which will include the three winning projects and the 17 other finalist submissions, as well as texts written by Andrea Branzi, Sam Jacob and Elisabeth Samsonow.

Images from above:
Büro für Architektur und Forschung (Klaus Stattmann): A.R.S.A #01 Architecture Saves Austria. © Büro für Architektur und Forschung
VERY Architects / ex.it- architektur (Gregor Hoffelner und Sebastian Schmid): UPgrading VIENNA. © VERY Architects / ex.it- architektur
Marei Wollersberger & Jessica Charlesworth: Citizen Evolution. © Marei Wollersberger & Jessica Charlesworth