Getting Things Done:
Evolution of the Built Environment in Vorarlberg
Getting Things Done shows the many facets of building culture in Vorarlberg. It clearly conveys the contribution architecture makes to the active design and perception of the cultural landscape as well as the conditions favourable to the creation of high-quality architecture.
Bernardo Bader, House on the Moor, Krumbach
Photo: Adolf Bereuter
Some 230 projects with over 700 photographic images are presented on more than 70 panels. They illustrate the development of Vorarlberg's building culture, from its roots in the late 1950s up to the present. Large-format textile prints with detailed descriptions, plans, and photographs show the evolution of the buildings and their natural, urbanistic, sociopolitical, economic, and cultural context. Architecture is presented in terms of the uses to which it is put and in relation to the surrounding landscape or built environment. A mobile library and a series of interviews make it possible to explore the content on display in greater depth.
Oskar Leo Kaufmann / Albert Rüf, House R, Schnepfau
Photo: Adolf Bereuter
Oskar Leo Kaufmann / Albert Rüf, House R, Schnepfau
Photo: Adolf Bereuter
firm Feldkircher and Moosbrugger, Jöslar Tavern, Andelsbuch
Photo: firm
firm Feldkircher and Moosbrugger, Jöslar Tavern, Andelsbuch
Photo: firm
Architecture is a key factor in the way a community lives together. For building culture is not the work of a few people; rather it is an attitude adopted by a community that develops dynamically. The main question is how we want to live together. And this question must be constantly revisited and new answers found. Respect and tolerance, communication and spatial conditions need to be considered in answering this question. Here sensitivity to issues like spatial planning, urban development, and urbanization are also relevant.
Bruno Spagolla, Primary School, Marul
Photo: Bruno Klomfar
Building culture in the region – which became known as the Vorarlberg School of Building, with a reputation going far beyond the borders of the state – began its extraordinary process of evolution in the late 1950s. The style of this architecture is connected with all aspects of life. It is not a unique or self-referential phenomenon but rather part of a complex and extensive chain of creation. That architecture can provide relevant responses to the questions of our time both in social and design terms is clear when one considers the active shaping and evolution of Vorarlberg's cultural landscape. Specific cultural and social constellations manifest themselves in the local building culture.
baumschlager eberle, Office Block 2226, Lustenau
Photo: Eduard Hueber
Peter Zumthor, Werkraum Bregenzerwald, Andelsbuch
Photo: Florian Holzherr
Fink Thurnher Architekten, Agricultural College, Altmünster/Upper Austria
Photo: Walter Ebenhofer
Ecological sensitivity and values based on traditional and innovative craft techniques, on investment in young designers, and on a profound understanding of the local materials and landscape have paved the way for Vorarlberg's architecture to become the epitome of innovation, quality of life, and sustainability on the international scene. An understanding of the importance of the historical dimension of a constructed space and the significance of unique buildings in the context of a specific instance of village or town development is ubiquitous in Vorarlberg and is also being imparted to the next generation and beyond.
