Hans Hollein

Hans Hollein (1934 – 2014) – Austrian architect, artist, designer, winner of the Pritzker Prize (1985), one of the leaders of European postmodernism, who proved himself as a master of a small unique form and expressive details. He considered architecture and art to be inseparable, and himself an artist. In its architecture features of neohistoricism, slick-tech, lendform architecture are visible. His style is very metaphorical. Considering architecture as a system of signs and a communication medium, he developed a collage and citation approach that would allow a new spirituality to emerge. In his work, there is a noticeable desire to return to the old-fashioned monumentality to release the magical, symbolic and poetic potential of archetypal forms.

Key ideas of his work:

A designer, philosopher, theorist, he called architecture “body temperature control”, “protective casing” and “mental conditioning”. Whatever Hollein designs, his things have their own face, which will be remembered for a lifetime.

According to him, unlike the usual addition of tectonic forms, construction by subtraction gives more freedom, plasticity, a complex spatial concept and an expansion of real volume. Therefore, Hans Hollein’s architecture, like any postmodernist, is quite syncretic – it is very difficult to draw a line between different types of art in it. His early works were solutions in the field of creating a minimal environment, taking into account the human body, temperature, insulation and its movement in its own space. Historical self-reflection occupied an important place in his work. He loved to display forms and materials from different periods and cultures, interpreting them in accordance with postmodern aesthetics. His shape does not follow function. He proposed a return to architecture as an art form – “architecture without a purpose”. What we build will find its usefulness. In each of Hans Hollein’s transformations, the object becomes monumental and visually dominates the space in which it is located.

Main structures:

1. Retti Candle Shop, (1966) Austria, Vienna;
2. Jewelry store Schullin, (1974) Austria, Vienna;
3. Museum of Glass and Ceramics, (1978) Iran, Tehran;
4. Museum Abteiberg, (1982) Germany, Mönchengladbach;
5. Shopping center Haas-Haus (1990) Austria, Vienna;
6. Museum of Contemporary Art (1991) Germany, Frankfurt am Main;
7. Embassy of Austria (2001), Germany, Berlin;
8. Vulcania – European Center for Volcanology (2002), France, Saint-Urs;
9. Titanium canopy “Wing of Soravia” over the entrance to the palace of Archduke Albrecht (2003), Austria, Vienna;
10. Rothschild Castle. Reconstruction (2005) Austria, Waidhofen an der Ybbs;
11. House Generali – penthouse (2005), Austria, Vienna;
12. Skyscraper SBF (2018) China, Shenzhen.

Hans Hollein’s postmodernism in the architecture of Vienna and other cities. In his early work, Hans was one of the leaders of postmodernism, worked with small shapes.