Diagonal Strategies: Berger+Parkkinen Architekten 9783035610635, 9783035612004

Table of contents :
Diagonal Strategies Berger+Parkkinen Architekten
Contents
Foreword
Essay Diagonal Strategies Berger+Parkkinen Architekten
Biography
Interview. August Sarnitz in conversation with Alfred Berger, Tiina Parkkinen, and Hubert Lobnig
Catalog
Team
Authors
Imprint

Citation preview

Berger + Parkkinen Architekten

Diagonal Strategies

August Sarnitz (Ed.) Francisco Barrachina Pastor

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Timo Penttilä our teacher and friend and his view of people and architecture

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Diagonal Strategies Berger+Parkkinen Architekten

Diagonal Strategies Berger+Parkkinen Architekten

August Sarnitz (Ed.) Francisco Barrachina Pastor

Birkhäuser Basel

Contents Foreword   August Sarnitz

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Essay   Diagonal Strategies   Berger+Parkkinen Architekten   Francisco Barrachina Pastor

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Biography 110   Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen Interview 111   August Sarnitz in conversation   with Alfred Berger, Tiina Parkkinen,   and Hubert Lobnig Catalog

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Team 140 Authors

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Foreword August Sarnitz “Architecture needs to start from an idea” reads the statement made by Berger+Parkkinen in the publication 40 under 40, a documentation published in 2002 about young architecture firms in Finland. With this postulate Alfred Berger and Tiina ­Parkkinen position themselves in the tradition of artistic intellec­ tuality and idealism, where the world of ideas surpasses the real world. The idea – from the Ancient Greek idéa for “pattern”, “appearance”, “essence”, or “arche­ type” – has very different connotations in philo­ sophical and artistic contexts. Latest since the modern era, René Descartes defined “idea” in the broadest sense as any type of content of consciousness. So it is in the interest of the architect to refine this definition of “idea” and to formulate the thoughts along which one intends to act – the idea as instruction. Thus, the meaning of the plan or intention is also intrinsic to the notion of the “idea”, and as such has a very architectural quality.

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Projects by Berger+Parkkinen undergo an intense transformative process – the evaluation and re-evalua­ tion of planning aspects lead to trademark design and material-oriented implementation. In this light, Berger+Parkkinen pay respect to Gottfried Semper’s “Theory of Dressing” (Bekleidungstheorie) as materi­ ality is a key factor in their architecture. Two other aspects accompany the projects of the archi­ tecture office: the social component and the represen­ tation of the interior as the primary quality of architec­ ture – wholly in line with August Schmarsow and his dictum of architecture as spatial art. In the work of Berger+Parkkinen the social compo­ nent in the architecture always manifests as a space-­defining element, as an integral part of the design: as a meeting zone and plaza at the Embassies of the Nordic Countries in Berlin, as loggias at the Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna, as an inner courtyard at the Uni­ versity of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, or as a stair­ case in the Wood Housing project in Vienna’s Aspern See­stadt.

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Many built architectures are only known as objects with photos of the façade as the interior spaces possess modest qualities. In the case of Berger+Parkkinen it is quite the opposite. Here, the inner space plays a main role, not just in the documentation of their projects but also in the competition process. An exem­ plary project in this regard is the competition for the Paracelsusbad and Kurhaus in Salzburg. With the sweeping panorama view across the water to Hohen­ salzburg Castle (the symbol of the city and one of the largest preserved castles in Europe), the design anchors the complex in the topos of the city. Visitors to the swimming pool have a direct connection with the city: They are not swimming in the middle of nowhere – they are in Salzburg. With the intelligent move to situate the pool on the upper floors Berger+Parkkinen reinterpret the natural experience of the water: Water always flows with the slope to lower elevations – with the exception of the mountain lake, the sea marks the zero line of water. The artificial mountain lake in the middle of Salzburg puts the

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Paracelsusbad, swimming level, Salzburg 2012–2019

Students Mario Kaya, Julian Nocker, LMVDR Animated Collage (original: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Collage for Resor House, 1939), HTC Design Studio Building the Design 2012/13, Angelika Schnell, Eva Sommeregger, IKA, Academy of fine Arts Vienna.

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quality of the topos above the traditional typology of the indoor swimming pool. In the representation of their ideas Berger+Parkkinen also demonstrate their knowledge of architectural history. When Mies van der Rohe presented his designs for the Resor House (1937–1939) in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he defined the quality of the house primarily through the “view” to the landscape and explained the situation through a large-scale architectural model. His presentation drawings “framed” the view to the landscape. The quality of the architecture resided in the connection between the house and the topos and finding the optimal anchoring of the building. Mies used a reproduction of Paul Klee’s “Colorful Meal” for the Resor House collage. The viewer of the drawing is placed inside the house and looks at horse riders linger­ ing on the grounds of the ranch. Berger+Parkkinen employ a similar strategy to convey the idea and the quality of the Paracelsusbad: The main depiction of the interior illustrates how the build­ ing is anchored into the urban landscape of Salzburg

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with the historical view to the castle while making a conscious connection between the seasons and the usage of the wellness area. The architecture develops a potential of positive repre­ sentation – the ideal connection between outside and inside as well as an orchestrated view in the spirit of a “landscape window”.

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Essay Diagonal Strategies Berger+Parkkinen Architekten Francisco Barrachina Pastor

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Beauty today can have no other measure except the depth to which a work resolves contradictions. A work must cut through the contradictions and overcome them, not by covering them up but by pursuing them. Theodor Adorno, Functionalism Today

Salzburg’s mountain landscape, 2016

Lake near Inari, Lapland 1999

Recollections Childhood memories of a Finnish birch forest, a room with a view of the snow-capped peaks surrounding Salzburg, a revealing study trip through North Africa, the geometries of an Islamic lattice work, ­Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 21, the endless splendor of the narthex of a Romanesque church in southern France, a solitary barn blurred by the morning fog. Archi­ tecture can mold thoughts, experiences and feelings and transform them into spaces; it can capture past consciousness and give it a tangible, built form. Very often architects enjoy the idea of giving second oppor­ tunities to the things they have seen or experienced, second chances to the recollections unconsciously recorded in their memory. They often envisage an ar­ chitecture which arises from a harvest of fragments and

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Manoir de Kerazan, Brittany 2012 (double page) Sanssouci Palace, park, Potsdam 2013 Romanesque church, Burgundy 2014

which enables agreements and disagreements between things, places and memories. The most compelling and absorbing projects are not necessarily those that emerge influenced by a single built reference or a particular case study, but are also those that arise from an effort to attach irregularities, arbitrary connections between random facts, memo­ ries and ideas. Indeed, architecture can probably only emerge if there is a generating idea. As the architects Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen proclaim, “leaving architecture is maybe the best way to achieve archi­ tecture”. Although neither the immense plains of Finland nor the rugged and mountainous region of Salzburg explain by themselves the germ of Alfred Berger’s and Tiina Parkkinen’s architecture, it is surely helpful to know that these diagonally opposed geographic envi­ ronments forged the character of the two founders of this Viennese practice. Tiina Parkkinen was born in Vienna but grew up and spent most of her youth in Finland, daughter of an Austrian mother and a Finnish father – the architect

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Morocco, 2015

Risto Parkkinen, author of a long list of remarkable projects including the Finnish National Opera in Helsinki. As a consequence, Tiina was involved with architecture from an early age, so for her the decision to come back to Austria and begin to study archi­ tecture at the Academy of Fine Arts was a very smooth transition, a sort of continuation. Throughout her life, as Tiina herself recognizes, she has never taken a break from architecture – at least not consciously. Alfred’s interest in architecture also started at a very young age. He was born and raised in Salzburg in a family with a strong link to French culture instilled by his mother’s side. His father was a renowned Austrian physician who was very keen on music and arts. Encouraged by his family, Alfred followed his vocation and decided to study architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna where he would meet Tiina, both of them having enrolled at the master school of the notable Finnish architect Timo Penttilä. After Alfred graduated he initiated a short but successful association with his schoolmate Werner Krismer. During this period he also assisted Penttilä at the Academy and

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1 This collaboration between Alfred Berger, Timo Penttilä and Werner Krismer is explained in great detail in the book written by Roger Connah, The School of Exile. Timo Penttilä, for and against architecture theory. Datutop 33, Tampere, 2015. 2 G. Deleuze, Le pli Leibniz et le Barroque, Paris, Les éditions de Minuit, 1988, p. 79. Unlike the “contradiction”, which is only a logical principle, the “vice-direction” is, according to Gilles Deleuze, the engine for a veritable dialectical development. 28

Millennium Park, The Bean, Chicago 2010

collaborated with him in a couple of public competi­ tions before they decided to dissolve the partnership1. Following this period, Alfred joined Tiina in order to establish a new and long-lasting partnership. From the very beginning, they opened two twin offices in Vienna and Helsinki; an action that demonstrated the clear international aspirations this practice had from the outset. For the last two decades, this Austro-Finnish team of architects has persistently challenged architecture’s most dominant currents, confronting some of its fun­ damental credos. A sort of diagonal relationship be­ tween the site and the building constitutes a distinctive feature of their architecture; a dialogue able to gen­ erate a cluster of accidental and unexpected links with social, cultural, historical, contextual and program­ matic aspects. Their work explores in depth the strained relations between the contemporary intervention and the mem­ ory of the place. This strategy usually implies an inner contradiction and the emergence of a kind of “vice-­ direction” 2, according to structuralist terminology.

Lighthouse Eckmühl, Brittany 2012

In the process there are always two phases; in the first place a phase of selection – very much sensitive to the forces of the place – in which aspects related to the context are identified. In the second place, a phase of deliberate omission, in which some of these same aspects are intentionally expurged. The oblivion is pre­ sented here as a positive faculty, an active inhibition capacity, in the Bergsonian 3 sense of the word. Such a schema implies the overlapping of a will of continuity (to root the project in its context) and a need for discontinuity (to legitimize the act of creation itself). On one side we find signs of respect for, and com­ promise with, the context; on the other side signs of singularization that threaten its persistence – both intentions manifested at the same time and place, and defended with the same strength in diagonally op­ posed directions. The materialization of these dialectically opposed forces seems to inform most of their architectural work. The tension generated by these forces often manifests itself dramatically at the intermediate or transitional spaces, where an interesting and sequenced interplay takes

3 For Henri Bergson the oblivion is the result of the active selec­ tion of memories which are not useful for the present action of a sub­ ject, as stated in his book, Matter and Memory, 1896. Tzvetan Todorov gives a more recent and also quite interesting contribution on this same issue in his book Memory as a Remedy for Evil, 1995. According to him, the oblivion is not opposed to the memory. Remembering is always an active interaction between forgetting (erasure) and complete preser­ vation. This could be interpreted as if the oblivion was an active and necessary agent in charge of molding or sculpting the memories in order to shape them. 31

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Embassies of the Nordic Countries, copper band with birch forest, Berlin 1999

place between the predictable and the unexpected. Quite often the fracture manifests in a literal way; this theme is thus ineluctable in the oscillating game of opposites. Generally, the coexistence of these con­ trasting pairs doesn’t attempt to accomplish any kind of synthesis; their architecture seems to go beyond this duality, searching for something else than a simple balance between the parts; it doesn’t look for a recon­ ciliation or a happy medium which would eventually have an apathetic outcome. This logic of complement by contrast is about using one to overcome the other, which means that they are ineluctably entwined and mutually reinforcing.

I would like there to exist places that are stable, unmoving, intangible, untouched and almost untouchable, unchanging, deep-rooted; places that might be points of reference, of departure, of origin. Georges Perec, Species of Spaces

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, aerial view, Berlin 1999



Backdrop for urban life

James Gowan defended the idea that every new building is a variant of two fundamental types; the castle and the pavilion 4: the first closed and timeless, the second open and fashionable. Many are indeed crossbreeds between both and this is surely the ambig­ uous category to which the Embassies of the Nordic Countries in Berlin (1995–1999) belong. The project was from the moment of its inauguration the object of wide international recognition5, hailed as one of the most captivating and absorbing architectural real­ izations of the late XX century and lauded as one of the most photogenic projects seen from above in the pre-Google Earth era. It is perhaps appropriate to recall that at that period the city of Berlin as a whole was probably the biggest construction site in the

4 J. Gowan, Style and configuration, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1994, p. 58. James Gowan (1923–2015) was a post-modern Scottish architect, well-known for his works in association with James Stirling, among them the Engineering Building at the University of Leicester. 5 The project was published worldwide, highly awarded and exhibited (i. e. Biennale di Venezia 2004, Finalist Mies van der Rohe Award 2001). 35

6 This issue regarding Nordic architecture and identity is masterfully developed at the book edited by K. Kjeldsen New Nordic – Architecture and Identity, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2012. 7 Gottfried Semper (1803–1879) was a German architect, art critic, theorist and professor of architecture, who designed and built the Semper Opera House in Dresden and The Burgtheater in Vienna, among other famous buildings. 36

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, copper band, Berlin 1999

world, attracting attention like no other place; an out­ standing showcase from which to reach public opinion. Among the many achievements of this cele­ brated project, which brought widespread recogni­ tion to Berger+Parkkinen, we shouldn’t overlook the essential role that this building has played in the ges­ tation and development of the Scandinavian identity, reaching almost the status of Nordic cultural icon, serving as a paradigmatic and laudable example of how modern architecture can contribute to the de­ velopment of a collective memory and transnational identity.6 At first sight, the building achieves a nearly woven ef­ fect; a feature that can be dated back to the statement promulgated by Gottfried Semper 7 in his famous text The Four Elements of Architecture, in which he af­ firms that the facade origin is closely related to the art of weaving. A sort of sharp ambiguity is displayed throughout this facade: at once insisting on the solid and rigid character of its cooper band, while at the same time showing a textile-like finesse in its attention to detail. The powerful physical presence of this

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, roof garden in the Felleshus, Berlin 1999

element is somehow reminiscent of the impenetrable forests painted by Max Ernst 8 using the “grattage” technique. It also has clear echoes of the wrapped structures of Christo and Jeanne Claude 9. This corporeal character of the facade, which works as a unifying skin and as a backdrop for urban life, characterizes the first period of the architecture of Berger+Parkkinen. This feature can be found in other early office projects like the Central Library in Turku (1998), the project at the Île Seguin in Paris (2004), or at the competition project for the Musical Theater (MUMUT) 10 in Graz (1998). All of these are somehow involved in the reinterpretation of longlasting elements of the history of architecture such as the facade, the monumental entry or the portico. In this Berliner project, the architects were able to configure a band that has optical, spatial and emotional qualities using primary and elemental materials. The choice of using this metallic band as a cohesive sym­ bol in this particular geographical context, where bar­ riers and iron curtains still had such strong historical connotations at that time was indeed quite audacious. 8 Max Ernst (1891–1976) was a German painter renowned for his works linked with the dada and surrealist movements. The “grattage” technique, which he invented, involves scraping the paint across the canvas so that the paint takes on the imprints of objects located beneath it. 9 Christo Vladimirov Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) were a couple of artists widely known for their environmental works of art. One of their most celebrated works included the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin in 1995. 10 The massive folded wood facade of the MUMUT was designed in collaboration with the Austrian composer Christoph Cech. It consists of 12 flat parts interrupted by narrow glass slots, distributed according to Arnold Schönberg’s twelftone method. The principle of the twelftone composition is surely one of Austria’s most important contributions in the field of modern music. 39

Here, the wall unifies instead of separates, creating a sense of place rather than an oppressive no man’s land, as ­Liane Lefaivre wisely asserts in her commen­ tary about this project 11. Despite the dimensions of the building – which occupies an entire block – it achieves a certain modest quality, a subtle mass, and primary materials give the feeling that the architec­ ture doesn’t want to be bigger than the Tiergarten’s cluster of trees which surrounds it. The almost organic copper band, full of haptic qualities, also seems to be a conscious response to this particular environment. Through an alternating process of expansion and contraction the project becomes a fluid and ambigu­ ous spatial composition, an architectural body wrought from motions, accelerations and pauses. This sophisticated and studied dialogue with the environs constitutes an incitement to wander around the complex realizing the constantly varying relationship with it. From inside, the relationship between the building and its surroundings remains equally appropriate; framing the environment on different levels, alternat­

11 L. Lefaivre, A. Tzonis, Critical Regionalism, Architecture and identity in a Globalized World. Prestel, Munich, 2003, p. 88. 40

ing different degrees of transparency. The subject of gaps providing views between edifices is recurrent in the work of Berger+Parkkinen. This exercise of framing views works both ways; framing views of Tiergarten, but also framing work activities in the opposite direction; people at their offices, discussing on the pedestrian paths, eating at the canteen or chilling out on the terrace. It is well known that when you frame an activity, it becomes something differ­ ent, a representation; everybody becomes an actor. This is also an old theme in the history of archi­ tecture – the building as a frame for human activity. Berger+Parkkinen were quick to grasp the essence of the place and the polarities between the side fac­ ing the Tiergarten, where the skin tends towards laconic, and the meridional side with a more urban character and where the cooper band vanishes abruptly. This fracture allows the project to become all of a sudden more extroverted. The exterior and interior become separate projects, one giving to the city the illusory sense of the unity of a reference object and the other a cluster of fragmented units

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12 According to the definition proposed by J. Alban and T. Florian in their book Fundamental Concepts of Architecture, The Vocabulary of Spatial Situations, Birkhäuser, Basel, 2014, at the “intermediate spaces” the characteristics of inside and outside, body and space, closure and openness, private and public need not represent irreconcilable polarities, but the one can be achieved with the assistance of its counterpart through reciprocity. 13 “house for everyone” in Danish. 42

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, exhibition area in the Felleshus, Berlin 1999

addressing programmatic contingencies. The dialec­ tic and tension between opposites; void yet full, transparent yet opaque, massive yet light, autarkic yet contextual, subdued yet sharp, continues in the interior, where the built elements are cut out of a solid whole; a tension of emptiness is suspended between the buildings like an enduring memory of that whole. The void transformed into an open space communicates and at the same time provides the necessary distance for the specific position of the five embassies. These intermediate spaces 12 constitute an invitation to reflect on what is communal and what is individual. The Felleshus 13 building, situated directly at the entrance area, holds a prominent position and has a strategic role within the complex. It is open to the general public and intended for cultural and artistic activities, receiving itself over one hundred thousand visitors per year. The edifice also contains the consular offices of the five Scandinavian countries and other communal dependencies. Inside the building, the separation between structure and program remains

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, staircase in the Felleshus, 1999

visible. Some disrupting solutions, like the idea of placing a column in the middle of the bathroom, emphasizes this taste for unexpected discontinuities and denotes a certain sense of playfulness. This theme of the solitary column in the middle of intimate and narrow spaces would reappear years later as a trademark in the residential projects the architects undertook in Vienna or at the access ramp of the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg, located near Linz in Upper Austria. The column is present­ ed here as if it were something futile, an almost wan­ dering element with a lack of consistency in clear opposition with the sense of structural rigidity usually associated to it. These contrasting elements seem to develop inside the building like something inherent to its condition and in no way like something incor­ porated to deliberately create conflict. Viewed as a whole, the building is a great piece of city making, a city in a city as stated by Klaus Dieter Weiß 14, or an inspired urban cell that somehow returns and up­ dates the concept of the “Berliner islands” developed by Oswald Mathias Ungers 15 in his book Berlin: A

14 K.D. Weiß, Berger + Parkkinen. Die Botschaften der Nordischen Länder, Axel Menges, Stuttgart, 2006, p. 15. 45

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, canopy entrance area, Berlin 1999

Green Archipelago. A building that ultimately brings to mind the real facets of civic life, the adjacencies, tensions and tergiversations that merge to make big metropolises such colorful places flooded with con­ tradictions.

15 Oswald Mathias Ungers (1926–2007) was a German architect and architectural theorist, known for his rationalist designs. In 1977 he wrote his influential work The City in the City: Berlin: A Green Archipelago a manifesto calling for a new model for the “shrinking city”. Advocating for the idea of a dense and polycentric urban system. 46

Villa V6, staircase, Vienna 2005

Memory is like the most stupid dog, you throw it a stick and it brings you any old thing. Ray Loriga, Tokyo Doesn’t Love us Anymore

Exquisite cadaver

Architecture is probably the discipline that keeps the most complex relationship with the past. There is surely no other in which the reconciling of former configurations and current needs is more challenging. The two projects Berger+Parkkinen did for the Resi­ dence of the Royal Norwegian Embassy (2004–2007) in Vienna’s 19th district and the architects’ private residence (2002–2005) located in the 13th district of the same town, are two extraordinary examples show­ ing these conflicting and paradoxical relationships with the past. The demand in both cases was to reno­ vate an historical building and reconfigure the dwell­ ing in response to the challenges of the age. These two projects play with the same idea of skin grafting, and curiously both of them use the insertion of a glazed volume containing the staircase in order to dislocate the configuration of the existing building,

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Villa V6, sauna, Vienna 2005

displace its boundary and activate a visual relation to the hinter-garden. In both cases the direct contact between the new and the old unleashes a game of opposites without any synthesis; there is merely a kind of surrealistic encounter, an architecturally exquisite cadaver16. At the private residence located in Hietzing17, Vienna’s 13th district, the architects projected two extensions flanking both sides of a traditional country house in order to enlarge and adapt this XIX century dwelling to modern use. The western extension constitutes an extraordinary vaulted space that functions as a living room, a splendid interpretation of the Mediterranean vernacular architecture very much connected with the Corbusean tradition, and provoking an almost Mo­ roccan feeling. On the other side, another extension was completed a few years later. Here, the architects projected a wooden-clad three-story volume resembling a traditional barn designed to complete the sense of a traditional farm. Considering that until the middle of the XX century this place was an extensive agricul­ tural area located between the gates of Vienna and the

16 The exquisite cadavre or “cadavre exquis” is a composition method invented by the surrealist movement, in which a group of words or images without any apparent relation are collectively assembled and put together. 17 Hietzing is the 13th municipal District of Vienna area with many residential buildings, including a great number of representative examples of some 20th century masters of architecture like Adolf Loos, Josef Hoffmann or Joseph Maria Olbrich. It also contains large areas of the Vienna Woods, along with Schönbrunn Palace. 50

Villa V6, exterior view, Vienna 2005

first foothills of the Wienerwald (Vienna woods), this typological affiliation reveals a clear contextual stance very much sympathetic towards the memory of the place. This collection of buildings is clustered quite obedi­ ently around a “halves courtyard” open to the garden. Although there is a clear formal resemblance to Medi­ terranean courtyard houses, here in Vienna the her­ metic character is not so much determined by climat­ ic conditions and is more about amiable but resolute protection from indiscreet viewing. The prolific use of different types of filters is insistent of this same intro­ spective facet, especially remarkable is the solution employed on the second floor at the level of the sauna, where the wooden lattice masterfully fulfills its pur­ pose, making the grid almost impenetrable when ob­ served from outside and preserving the privacy of the internal areas while letting tinged natural light enter among them. It allows users of the sauna to see the surroundings without being seen, and due to its promi­ nent situation it is possible to visually reach the sur­ rounding landscape.

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(double page) Residence of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, dining room (interior and exterior view), Vienna 2007 Residence of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, view into the garden, Vienna 2007

A walk through the building alternates between hid­ den and exposed elements. Paradoxically the glazed entrance, which is supposed to be the first and most explicit transitional space, is here completely inappre­ ciable from the outside. It has been conceived as a wedge between the old house and the eastern extension, articulating the dialog between these two confronted volumes. As a result of this dialectic the new volume is set back from the old building line in order to form a slender, more protected threshold. This can also be read as an act of deference; the intruding object takes a step back as a nod of acknowledgment towards the old house which has always been there. The project displays an incessant tension between the different parts. On the one hand we see the energy employed in relating the building to the “genius loci”, but concomitantly it is found that the same amount of energy is used in the opposite direction to detach it from those guidelines. On one side we find the signs of a compromise with a place and its vernacular archi­ tecture and on the other side, we see imported and self-explanatory elements that threaten its continuity.

Residence of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Vienna 2007

This constant succession of agreements and disagree­ ments is also the concept guiding the rehabilitation of the Residence of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Döbling18, Vienna’s 19th district. Here, there is an explicit contrast in the transition between a faultless, dapper front and an eroded and fractured back. Huge efforts have been made in recovering the historical configuration of the main facade of this “Jugendstil” (Art Nouveau) villa according to its original plans and elevations, which had been completely disfigured with the passing of the years. This extremely respectful approach at the front contrasts with the demonstration of anti-contextualism displayed at the garden facade. This side is dominated by the dramatic opening of a helical staircase lined by mirrors. Here the limits are blurred, the lines that define the space vanishes remind­ ing the notorious hall of mirrors of the “The Lady from Shanghai”19 where reflection and reality are irre­ mediably merged. The second disrupting element is an abstract volume, unfolding itself along the garden like a pliant origami, a splendid light construction made in steel, wood and copper cladding which houses

18 Döbling is the 19th District of the city of Vienna. It is located on the north side of the central districts and borders the Vienna Woods. In Döbling some heavily populated urban areas alternate with big social housing projects like the iconic Karl Marx Hof, with other residential areas being less dense and much more exclusive like Grinzing, Sievering, Neustift am Walde or the Cottageviertel. 19 Movie directed by Orson Welles in 1947, based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake wrote by Sherwood King. The film features an epic shootout in a hall of mirrors involving a plurality of false and real mirrored images. 59

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Residence of the Royal Norwegian Embassy, staircase, Vienna 2007

a dining room for 20 guests. Two interventions that free the old building from many constraints and at the same time open wide, expressive and functional possi­ bilities allow a more fluid relationship between the house and the garden. It is of great interest to perceive again the dichotomy that faces a strong will of preservation, an almost archeological longing to recover and protect on one side and the will to discontinue which manifests itself with the same amount of energy but in an opposite direction. The sense of intervention is not placed solely under the sign of continuity or discontinuity; it is neither one nor the other solely, but both at the same time, at the same place and with the same strength, proving that the more the overlapping of layers trou­ bles an architecture, the richer are the interpretations of this same architecture.

In relation to the exterior of nature, every work of man is an interior. Cristian Norberg-Schulz, Architecture: Presence, Language and Place

University of Applied Sciences, courtyard, Hagenberg 2005



Learning hills

A distinctive feature of the architecture of Berger and Parkkinen has always been the attention paid to the landscape as much in terms of its topographical peculiarities as its physical and sensorial elements. The project for the University of Applied Sciences in Hagenberg (FH Hagenberg, 2002–2005), located near Linz in Upper Austria, is very receptive to this double facet of the landscape. Analogies played an important role in the inception of the work; the shape of the building was directly inspired by the traditional four-sided farmhouse (Vierkanter) characteristic of this rugged region of Austria, a choice truly indicative of the values of this extremely motivated team of architects.

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University of Applied Sciences, Hagenberg 2005

Seen on the site plan the project seems as rigid and introverted as the typology by which it is inspired; but seen in section it is quite the opposite, the building appears as an addition of raised associated volumes completely open and permeable to the envi­ ronment. The simplicity of the plan and the com­ plexity of the section are an integral part of the same projectual strategy which assigns contextual quali­ ties to the building. (The first being related to a traditional architectural typology and the second to the forested and sloped setting.) By ascending through the main access ramp, we gain new perspectives; to the extent this happens the project as a whole acquires new significance. Start­ ing from a wooded environment the ramp goes across and overpasses a group of pilotis which, in association with the overlying volumes, have a clear arboreal reminiscence. This dramatic ascending entrance provokes an impressive effect, the monu­ mentality of going up contrasts with the sense of inclusivity generated by the courtyard, which sud­

University of Applied Sciences, entrance auditorium, Hagenberg 2005

denly appears at the end of the ramp. In this way, the project combines two key topics in western archi­ tectural culture: the plinth, which disregards the topic of inclusivity, and the courtyard, which empha­ sizes it. The permeability of the introduction fades progres­ sively as we approach the northern side of the build­ ing. Inside the building topographical allusions continue, for instance at the parking level, where the sloped flooring allows the edifice to blend into the undulating landscape, and also at the main lecture theater where a dramatic diagonal clerestory reinforces the interpretation of this level as a sort geological fissure phenomenon. This opening enables the build­ ing to maintain a direct relationship to its sloped environment. Seen from the outside we realize that this clerestory has been displayed in an inverted diag­ onal relationship with the ramp, which emphasizes a feeling of disagreement. The whole edifice is extremely refined, fluctuating constantly between autonomous and contextual.

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University of Applied Sciences, spiral staircase, Hagenberg 2005

The design’s double nature is apparent at first sight; there is a deliberate opposition between the earthy red lower volumes, where the lecture theaters and technical rooms are located, and the upper volumes consecrated to the laboratories and offices designed in a modernist-like abstract white. In between we find the ramp providing a strong gestural link and the parking that, in addition to the functional requirements, plays a crucial role in cultivating a fractured relationship between the two contrast­ ing parts. Not far from Hagenberg in the same region of ­Upper Austria the project for the Musical Theater in Linz (1998) was conceived to be excavated di­ rectly out of the rock. Its topographical conditions make it barely visible from the surroundings, hiding it to some degree from public view, which can be understood as an ascetic denial of the exhibitionism practiced by most of the current cultural equip­ ment. The theater is literally a cave, a fact that has deep symbolic meaning. Caves are the birthplace of

Musical Theater in the Mountain, Collage, Linz 1998

the arts, most likely including music. By talking not so much about itself the building incites users to have a deeper and more limpid connection with mu­ sic and nature. Unlike other apparently related projects, such as Emilio Ambasz’s20 half underground buildings or the project of Eduardo ­Chillida21 in Tindaya, the Musical Theater in Linz is based upon the strong idea of opening up a cave to let it breathe for social life. Among the main aspects guiding this project is the concept of modesty. The fact of renouncing its own facade, as a consequence of being camouflaged inside the rock, can be interpreted as an act of subordination in order to give prominence to the dramatic orographic conditions of the environment. At the level of the entrance, the extruded volume works as a self-explanatory counterpoint. The rela­ tionship between the rock and the new building can be described as a complementary contrast; the frac­ ture is literal and formally defined by a brittle, angled marquee and the zigzagging roof profile of

20 Emilio Ambasz (b. 1943) is an Argentinian architect, well known for his theories about the integration of architecture into the landscape. He can be considered one of the earliest instigators of sustainable architecture. 21 Eduardo Chillida Juantegui (1924–2002) was a Spanish sculptor notable for his massive and monumental public art works. His never-­ executed Tindaya project consisted of an empty room excavated in the bowel of a sacred mountain on the island of Fuerteventura. 71

the new building. This tense discontinuity remains all the way along this extruded volume. At one of the extremes the structure rises up to eight stories, which can be read as an ultimate and unexpected act of self-vindication. Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen frequently re­ mark that the real intention of this strategy of con­ frontation is not the collision phenomenon by itself, but rather the random and sometimes hazardous effects that the violent encounter provokes in their architecture; a bunch of unpredicted but somehow programmed coincidences. This experimental ap­ proach sounds somewhat, if I might use an extreme analogy, like an architectural version of the experi­ ments physicists perform at the particle accelerator tunnels like CERN in Geneva. In much the same way, the architects by clashing confronted elements/ particles provoke the emergence of the unexpected, a kind of “dark matter” of the architecture, which is still governed by fundamental elements and con­ cealed rules. A more canonical influence, the archi­

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tects admit, is the concept of “phenomenal trans­ parency” laid down by architectural theorists Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky22, according to which the confrontation of opposite elements brings up structural qualities that we didn’t even suspect. This type of transparency is not perfectly clear but is rather something extremely indeterminate and uncertain23. The project of the Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus in Salzburg (2007–2015), which contains among other institutions the Paracelsus Medical University (2012–2013), is another lucid example of that diago­ nal formal strategy, in which we can find an extraor­ dinary concentration of contextual influences, personal intentions and unconscious aspects mixed with programmatic contingencies. At the core of the project was the question of how to generate a sense of physical openness and receptiveness against the inherent hermeticism of a city block marking out the immediate surroundings. The extraordinary amount of working models that were produced during

22 C. Rowe, R. Slutzky, Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal, Perspecra, 1963. 23 It is maybe pertinent to mention the influence that the book “The Language of Vision”. Gyorgy Kepes had in the development of Rowe’s concept of “transparency”. According to Kepes, when two or more figures are overlapped one on top of the other, each of them claims for itself the common overlapped part. When this happens, we are confronted with a contradiction of spatial dimensions. To resolve this contradiction one must assume the presence of a new optical quality. The figures are then endowed with transparency: that is, they are able to interpenetrate without an optical destruction of each other. 73

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Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus, Salzburg 2015

the study phase reveals the in-depth study of the relationship between the abstract volumes at the site. The forces of the place are evoked here through the topography of the surrounding landscape, which has been inversely reproduced on the ceilings of the foyers of each of the six buildings shaping this com­ plex. This should be read as an attempt to legitimize the presence of this project in this particular place and an effort to integrate into it. Meanwhile, the same amount of energy is spent in an opposite direction in order to emphatically deny that belonging. While the animated ceilings of the foyer have an articulat­ ing and unifying purpose, the sharpened white walls of the facades – dominated by the straight line – divide and desegregate. This dissociative aspect is intensified by the transparent plinth that seems to detach the buildings from the ground, a sort of hov­ ering effect that lends an almost atmospheric quality to the complex. This fracture is even literally and physically present through the void dug in the ground, which generates a sort of English patio that

Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus, Salzburg 2015

seems to evoke a brisk detachment of the building from this place. While on the one hand we note the emphasis with which this architecture is tightly bound to the context, on the other hand – and with no less energy – we note how it is trying to emanci­ pate itself and renege on this linkage, both gestures at the same time and both with the same intensity. The succession of agreements and disagreements are strategically deployed in a rhythmic alternation discernible along the diagonal promenade. That ambiance of contradiction is amplified by the sub­ sequent expansiveness and constriction of the tran­ sitional spaces. After feeling almost burdened by the intense narrowness of some stretches, the sub­ sequent widening is perceived as a liberating move. One refers to the narrowness of the urban environ­ ment and the other to the openness of the land­ scape. This permanent confrontation of the parties in the architecture of Berger+Parkkinen permits a fluctuation between different reading possibilities and different individual interpretations, and invites

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Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus, reflecting ceiling, Salzburg 2015

the visitor to chain different and ambivalent lectures of the place, adding a layer of thickness to the concep­ tual body of the complex.

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We are constantly shaped by forces of coincidences. Paul Auster, The Art of Hunger

Stadtwerk Life Siences Campus, in the background the Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg 2015



Dawdling street

Seestadt Aspern is a new district located to the northeast of the city of Vienna. This area has been trans­ formed within the last few years from a vast airfield into a newborn town, in order to meet the rising demand for social housing affecting this city. A large number of Austrian and international architectural firms were called to participate in this ambitious large-­ scale urban project, providing as a result a wide range of innovative and adapted solutions for each of the assigned plots. The proposal Berger+Parkkinen formulated as a re­ sponse to the assigned terrain was quite bold, ad­ dressing new ideas and configurations concerning in­ ternal shared spaces and developing the concept of neighborhood in a domestic sphere. At first sight the residential project in Aspern (2011– 2015) attracts attention for its very Austrian composi­ tive and formal rigor. As we approach and go through

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24 The concept of “dawdling street” could be interpreted as an adaptation of the idea of “learning street” for the residential realm. The schema of “learning street” was developed during the 60s by the architect and theorist Herman Hertzberger in his attempt to transform the hallways and other transitional spaces of the schools into places where the children would be able to continue playing, experiencing and learning. In this project of Berger+Parkkinen we observe some of these same intentions applied into a residential complex realm. Here the transitional spaces not only canalize flows but become places in which community life is experienced; the dramatic topography of the main path encourages leisure activities. Its length is rhythmically punctuated by rest zones, playgrounds, even including the stands of an open-air theater. 82

Wood Housing Seestadt Aspern, staircase, Vienna 2015

the threshold we also discover an intense connection with Scandinavian modernism, which has a great appeal for this team of architects, and which is mani­ fested here in the way the building uses nature as a structuring framework. The whole schema is articulated around a central zig­ zagging path, what might be called a “dawdling street” designed specifically for wandering and stroll­ ing. It is indeed a sort of canyon or dry riverbed, with a dramatic topography which guides the entry and exit flows of the residential complex, but at the same time becomes an improvised playground for the children, enables random and casual encounters and provides invitations to the “flânerie”. There is a gentleness and social generosity about this publicly accessible – but nonetheless controlled – walkway which functions as a sort of infrastructure for civic interchanging  24. This project involves an interesting typological evolution precisely by merit of integrating such elab­ orated transitional spaces and public areas into the composition, which indeed was not settled in the

Wooden Housing Seestadt Aspern, courtyard, Vienna 2015

specific program. It was in some way determined by the architects’ sensitivity to external elements. Their approach to the program is principally in terms of closeness or connections between programs instead of to the program as formal determinant. This clash­ ing of typologies is extremely fruitful here; the in­corporation of the stands of a theater somehow evokes the “In-yard theaters” of the Elizabethan era or the baroque “theatrical courtyards” 25 of southern Europe. This idea of associating a theater with a residential courtyard denotes a very sharp wit. Indeed, every backyard has something of a vivid theater of everyday life. Here, what the architects propose is to modify the status of the observer, changing it from “voyeur” to spectator, dignifying the act of watching the people go by and transforming it into a fullfledged activity. A statement that – although it may seem quite provocative – really shows a huge dose of social commitment. The conceptual anatomy of this project is full of elab­ orated thoughts and intuitions, its achievements also include the sensitive handling of natural materials,

25 The theatrical courtyards or “corrales de comedias” in Spanish, were public open air theaters permanently installed in the courtyard of residential buildings, very popular in southern Europe during the XVI and XVII century. 85

Wood Housing Seestadt Aspern, access deck, Vienna 2015 (double page) Wood Housing Seestadt Aspern, Canyon, Vienna 2015

with an emphasis on the haptic qualities of the wood cladding skin, the confrontation and interaction between a sense of intimacy and estrangement which affects the whole project and the insightful expression of a connection with long-lasting social, cultural and architectural values.

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I believe that truth has only one face – that of a violent contradiction. Georges Bataille, Violent Silence

Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna, exterior view arena, 2011



A simple truth miscalled simplicity

The first thing we perceive in approaching the Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna (2008–2011) is the diffuse glow produced by its facade and the subtle, striated texture of the profiled glass that wraps it. This blurred and translucent aspect provides the feeling of evanescence, an instant aura which reaffirms the impression of a material unity essence. The Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna in its current config­ uration is the result of two separate interventions. Fifteen years after the stadium was completed, a second commission was announced, envisaging the construc­ tion of two additional ice rinks and the enlargement of the main building in order to reach a capacity of 7,000 spectators, to become the biggest stadium of its kind in the whole of Austria.

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Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna, arena, 2011

From an urban point of view, the Ice Hockey Stadium was conceived as a unifying object guiding the de­ velopment of the Kagran district; a new residential neighborhood located to the north of Vienna. At the time of construction the site was almost an urban void, and although it was difficult to find something that resonated with the immediate environment, an anchor to the site was found in the relationship with the elevated subway station with which the building dia­ logues and keeps a proper urban connection. This ele­ vated subway indeed constitutes the most common way to approach the Ice Hockey Stadium, providing a remote and fleeting perception of it, which empha­ sizes the reflecting quality of the glass instead of its transparency. The building’s sense of scalelessness has to be read as an answer given by the architects to this partially enclaved situation. The serene and somehow monumental configuration of the southern facade is in clear contrast with the northern side; much more dynamic in its composition. The sense of movement is emphasized here by various types of

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Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna, foyer, 2011

transitional space (ramps, stairs, footbridges) and by the cantilevered, pitched roof. An artificial fold in the ground insists on this same dynamic aspect. Here the architects have designed an operative topog­ raphy along one of the flanks of the new ice rink, a sort of “urban dune”. This element is indeed an ex­ tremely effective ramp for accessing and evacuating the stadium bleachers and is at the same time a splen­ did public space, a slope where one can lie down and chill out before the matches or during the breaks. This double purpose of singular elements reveals a kind of excessive efficiency, which is another distinc­ tive and very recurrent feature in the work of Berger+Parkkinen. The whole complex is imbued with a fierce dialectic between the sense of weight and weightlessness. In the main building, the massive and muscular steel roof contrasts with the delicate translucent façade, causing a true ambiguity about the weight of these components. We no longer apprehend the real mass of elements – a kind of liberation from the weight of the

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26 96

P. Valery, Mélange, Paris, Gallimard, 1942, p. 195.

Austro Control Tower, Vienna 2014

materials – although materiality sometimes needs to be confronted with immateriality to have a veritable expressive effect. Sometimes it is necessary to lie in order to let the truth be told or, as Paul Valery stated, “Truth needs lies for how define it without contrast” 26. This paradoxical interplay and dialectic between solidity and fragility is also present in some of the most recent projects of Berger+Parkkinen, like the Austro Control Tower (2014) in Vienna or the Paracelsusbad in Salzburg. All of these very much reaffirm their materiality, their essential truth: glass is always glass, concrete is always concrete, steel is very much steel, but at the same time they seem to resist this determin­ ism and somehow try to liberate themselves from it. The literal presence of the fracture in the abovemen­ tioned projects seems to be the formal result of this tense and unresolved controversy. The abovementioned project of the Paracelsusbad (2012–2019) consists in a new public baths and a Kurhaus at the heart of the city of Salzburg, adjacent to the historic park of Mirabellgarten. With this

Paracelsusbad, Salzburg, 2012–2019

commission, awarded in a public competition and which has received great accolades for judicious civic sensibility, the architects were tested with a compli­ cated brief which called for a wide range of functions including Kurhaus, swimming pool, saunas and a restaurant, needing to be squeezed into a city center plot. The objective was not to give to the city a new iconic building but to celebrate the charm this city already has. Here more than ever, the generic had to be adapted to specificities of the context. The geometry of the building was swiveled towards the park and seeks to preserve the formal and material integrity of the vanished old fortification walls that once occupied this site. The project deliberately retains a sense of the scale and the monolithic character of this ancient structure. The occluded and impenetrable appearance of the first three levels awakens associations to the nearby rests of the baroque fortress known as the “Wasserbastei”. The tripartite division of the edifice somehow evokes the timeless order of a classical temple. The first part,

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Paracelsusbad, swimming level, Salzburg 2012–2019

which includes the first three levels, houses the spa facilities and functions as an over-dimensioned plinth or crepidoma with a two-story stereobate and a single-­ story stilobate. A monumental stair crosses these lev­ els and becomes the public route up across the edifice, with a sense of moving towards the light. Here the static geometry is energized by the diagonal. Through this diagonalization process the space explores the whole section, changing from a glowing opaque to the direct transparency of the main level. This level, in which the swimming pool is located, is a glazed space that seems to be an overhead prolongation of the Kurgarten, the park located nearby framing a unique panorama of the famous Salzburg roofscape. The ascetic character of the first levels contrasts radically with the extroverted aspect of this space. There is here a very dramatic visual reverberation effect between the gently undulating ceiling and the pool’s water wavelets. When approaching this space the softening natural light and the playful effect of the ceiling’s reflection gives the impression that the main purpose

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Paracelsusbad, entrance hall, Salzburg 2012–2019

here is to engender a climate. From here, the whole in­ terior becomes comprehensible in its completeness and in its diverse levels all at the same time. Light is projected drawn into the guts of this space through a sort of “implubium of daylight” which penetrates the whole volume, bringing daylight to the middle of the plan. This element could be considered typologically reminiscent of the shafts providing zenithal light to the classical Roman thermal buildings, which would be subsequently perpetuated in the Ara­ bic tradition of public baths or “hammams”. Finally, the last level plays the role of an almost levitating “en­ tablature” hosting the sauna and the restaurant. In compositional terms, this seems to be quite disaffect­ ed and incongruous with the rest of the building, challenging the unitary character of the complex and choosing to thrive on juxtapositions. Once again, we see here a formal and programmatic overlapping of confronted intentions; on one hand the building seems to take the forces of the place into consideration but on the other hand, and defended in

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same vigorous way, some other aspects seem to defy this contextual stance. One point of view suggests that the sense of scale and the engagement of the project with history truly denotes a will of agreement. From another, the sinuous fissure of the main level or the detachment of the top crowning of the building pro­ vokes a conflicting situation. This adds a degree of complexity to the spirit of simplicity achieved through the general scheme and choice of materials. As Cristian Godin 27 affirms, “the respect for the memory of the place doesn’t consist only in the rein­ forcement of the geometry of the place, it could also happen that by using the contrast, the architect can make visible again the hidden forces of the site”. As we have witnessed during this review of some of the most remarkable projects of Berger+Parkkinen, their works are always endowed with a clear contex­ tual stance, which a priori could be related to the pre­ cepts of some architectural currents like the “critical regionalism” based on its reaction against the root­ lessness of modern life. But contrary to this current,

27 104

C. Godin, Edifier, L’architecture du lieu, Paris Verdier 2005, p. 84.

the architecture of Berger+Parkkinen is not necessar­ ily in opposition to the culture of mobility and infor­ mation. The architects seek durable values connected with the “genius loci”, but simultaneously they also feel attracted by the expressive potential and some vol­ atile facets of our contemporary society. Both trends and arguments are manifested concomitantly and are defended with the same energy and enthusiasm. These two different raised paths pull the project in two diagonally opposing directions; one more contextual, trying to capture the hidden forces of the place and the energies of the surroundings, and the other more self-contained and object-related, hinting at the genu­ ineness of the act of creation and generating proposals which deliberately refuse any site specificity. This tension usually leads to a formal dislocation where the opposed forces eventually end up spilling over each other. The final interpretation of their works is rather am­ biguous. The architecture of Berger+Parkkinen, like good art or good poetry, communicates before it is

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28 In his essay on Dante, Thomas Eliot wrote the following sentence: “genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood”. T.S. Eliot, Selected Essays 1917–1932 Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1938, p. 200. 106

Paracelsusbad, sauna, Salzburg 2012–2019

understood 28. We are able to perceive the spatial, visual and emotional weight of their buildings before we understand the intentions and inspirations behind them. Their architecture stimulates the user/observ­ er to get involved and discover the lyric among the prose of their work, inviting him to grasp the concep­ tual skeleton of the building, to participate in the dialogue, to make choices in order to likewise become the author of the misrepresentations.

Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen, Vienna 2017

Biography

Alfred Berger Born 1961 in Salzburg, Austria. Studies in architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the master school of Timo Penttilä. In 1987 he was awarded the Master Class Prize and graduated in 1989. In collaboration with Werner Krismer and Sepp Müller he won his first competition in 1990 for the Albert Schultz ice rink in Vienna-­ Donaustadt, which opened in 1995 on the occasion of the Ice Hockey World Championships and won the IAKS Silver Award. Between 2008 and 2011 the hall was refurbished into Austria’s largest, state-of-the-art ice sports center by Berger+Parkkinen Architects. Alfred Berger worked closely together with the professors Timo Penttilä and Massimiliano Fuksas as an assistant at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna for four years. In 2012 he was a lecturer at the Technical University of Vienna. Since 1996 he has been a member of the Chamber of Architects and Chartered Engineering Consultants of Vienna, Lower Austria, and Burgenland. Since 2013 chairman of the Timo Penttilä Society; since 2015 member of the architecture advisory board of the Austrian Federal Real Estate Company (BIG).

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Tiina Parkkinen Born 1965 in Vienna, Austria and raised in Finland. Studies in architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna in the master school of Timo Penttilä. In 1994 she received the Master Class Prize and graduated with distinctions. In the same year she became a member of the Finnish Association of Architects. Since 2015 she has been the speak­er of the Alvar Aalto Society Austria. In 1995 Tiina Parkkinen and Alfred Berger founded Berger+Parkkinen Architekten with offices in Vienna and Helsinki. In the same year they won the competition for the Embassies of the Nordic Countries in Berlin. Numerous successful competitions and distinctions followed, including finalists of the Mies van der Rohe Awards 2001. Regular lectures and exhibition activities in Europe, India, Mexico, and USA. In 2004 invitation to the Venice Architecture Biennale, in 2006 to the London Architecture Biennale. Their work has been published internationally in leading architecture magazines, books, and other media.

Interview August Sarnitz in conversation with Alfred Berger, Tiina Parkkinen, and Hubert Lobnig

Interview on December 16, 2016

Embassies of the Nordic Countries, design steps, 1995

August Sarnitz: The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was a turning point for the city. This energy transformed Berlin into one of the most interesting cities in Europe. In 1995 – roughly 20 years ago – you won the international competition for the Embassies of the Nordic Countries with a fantastic idea: A “curtain” made out of copper encloses the five embassies and the common building, forming a unified whole. In spring 2016 I was in Berlin and visited the project once again. With its green copper façade as a metaphor of the urban landscape, the complex stands there on the edge of Tiergarten (largest park in the center of Berlin) with a casualness in its form and scale. While other embassy buildings have undergone an aesthetic aging process in the past years and bear an obvious “datedness”, your design possesses a quality of space and materials, which has an incredible topicality still today. I quote you from a text: “Architecture needs to start from an idea.” How are these ideas generated?

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Alfred Berger: The Embassies of the Nordic Countries represents a catalyst project, so to say, in our development, for the simple reason that there are seldom projects where the program is totally new. That means, besides our credo that every good project is based on a clear idea, we tend to see projects as a kind of new beginning. We don’t search for existing archetypes in order to check if this or that works, rather we strive to keep the basis of our works as open as possible in order to recognize the decisive parameters for generating a specific project. In the case of the Embassies of the Nordic Countries, naturally the subject of identity was very central, along with the unique feature that it was not one client, one company, family, or just one state that wanted to manifest here, five countries needed to be represented. Hence,

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all of them understandably wanted to present a strong national identity beyond the collective identity of the Nordic embassies. The first question was: How can you combine five different indi­ vidual themes into one greater overall theme? There was the unique challenge in this project – dealing with a multiple identity, as we called it at the time. It was about embedding this multipli­ city in a whole, granting each country an equal position, while exhibiting it within a collective identity to the outside. To this end, we began viewing the project in two different, autonomous scales. On the one hand, the clear articulation into subprojects and individual identities within the greater structure. On the other hand, from the outside as a whole, unified and veiled at the same time by a copper band, so that the observer perceives the Nordic embassies as a superordinate identity. Apart from the roles of the individual delegations, the Embassies of the Nordic Countries has become an address in Berlin. Only when one notices the inte­ rior through the many perforations in the copper shell do the diversity and uniqueness of the individual elements come into their own. In general, you can trace back this design method in many of our projects, which we will speak about later. In the case of the embas­ sies, the parameters were quite exceptional from the very begin­ ning. However, the process of identifying and selecting the deci­ sive parameters for the project is at the start of all of our designs. Hubert Lobnig: For me as an artist who deals intensively with architecture in my work, there is naturally a big question: To what extent can one sustain the underlying ideas which one inscribes into the work, and to what extent are they compromised by func­ tional or bureaucratic requirements? How do you deal with this and how much do you change or have to modify your concepts in the actual construction processes? AB In my opinion, “discarding” is an essential aspect in our work. It doesn’t matter if an architect works conceptually or

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formally – the thing has to work as a whole. That means external parameters such as building laws and codes and certainly also the functional requirements and economic framework conditions are binding. If a concept or formal idea cannot be implemented because it is incompatible with these framework conditions, then our approach is to stop twisting and torturing the thing and toss it aside and try something new. Especially in competitions you can clearly see – both as a participant and juror – contorted projects have no power. You have to find an underlying idea that can be realized relatively straightforwardly under these conditions. HL Can you say it like this, coming back to the project in Berlin: This building has many fantastic layers, the copper sculpture or spatial painting that envelopes the structures, and also this issue of multiple identity, as you determined. The beauty emerges in the complex situation, that a variety of factors are accounted for and different things interact. I am curious what this implies for more recent competition scenarios. What spurs you on? How do you generate complexity and intensity? Are there intelligent and boring tasks? Which issues really challenge or motivate you? Tiina Parkkinen: Difficult projects are particularly interesting. When you have a first read through the outline and get the impression that there is absolutely no space to maneuver within the framework conditions, the question is: What is possible? On the other hand, there are descriptions that suggest everything is possible. In both cases the challenge is to define the key parameters. Our solution is often to rewrite the program and look at the project from a completely different angle. Time and again, we manage to find a new approach with this method, even when nothing seems possible. Now I’ll make a big jump in time to the present. You AS are currently building the Paracelsusbad and Kurhaus in Salzburg (winning project from competition 2012). We live in a post-industrial, post-capitalist age, where work-life balance and “wellness”

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98–107

116 Paracelsusbad, Salzburg 2012–2019 (Section, Floor plan)

have taken on new significance. Municipal swimming pools in the traditional sense are being replaced by water parks and well­ ness oases. A visit to these new sites of relaxation is planned for several hours and includes wellness, entertainment, and culinary adventures. Your project responds to these complex functions with a sophisticated architectural dramaturgy. A “stairway of light” cuts diagonally into the core of the building and surprises the visitors on the main level with a “mountain lake” and a stun­ ning view to Hohensalzburg Castle. The mountain lake is, of course, a metaphor for the lavish water landscape with numerous pools. The ceiling above the “lake”, in turn, is inspired by the mountain landscape. The interior has baroque qualities in a figu­ rative sense. What was it like to design this fantasy landscape? AB Personally, I have a strong connection with the city of Salzburg. It is a fascinating European model. When you stand on the Mönchsberg hill in the center and look down upon the city, you cannot see a square meter of open ground – that’s how dense the city was built. But when you move through the city you experience a spatial continuum, a quality bestowed by the great efforts of the builders of the time. You never have the feeling of confinement because you constantly discover vistas and views to the distance. The building site of the new Paracelsusbad is situated right on the edge of the old city, in the area of the former glacis and bastions. The building virtually has a 360-degree orientation with its sur­ roundings. Hence, the real engine of the design was the opportunity to draw the surrounding environment into the building and work with the idea of the park continuing indoors. That’s why the main level is completely enclosed with glass. When you stand on these elevated levels you enjoy the panorama across the old city center, the fortress hill, and the Mönchsberg. You are in a space that’s rather reserved, with the undulating ceiling, a few vertical elements, and an abundance of water, and it opens up, drawing the magic of the city within.

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HL How do the particular site, site-specific work, and your biographies play a role in your projects? Tiina, you are half-Finnish, half-Viennese, raised in Finland. Alfred has roots in France and Salzburg. Now there is the pool project in Salzburg. You have known Salzburg and its stunning landscapes since your childhood. What influence do such biographical connections have on making architectural designs and gestures today? AB I think that is a very important question in our present situation because I believe you can realize higher quality works when you have profound knowledge of the local conditions. With­ out knowledge of the context it is very difficult to attain an inten­ sity in the work. That’s why relationality is a very intense topic from the very beginning for us, on the other hand it can also be very exciting to work on a project in a distant country where you have never been. It requires a lot of effort and time, but in a certain sense it enables you to develop a concept rooted in more abstract principles. In this case, the knowledge or the definition – we call it the geography of the project – must be worked out from scratch in order for us to determine: What are the relations, what do we see and sense there, what are the social and societal influences? Only then can we make a project. HL One more question about the concept of landscape. For the pool in Salzburg you introduced the concepts “mountain lake” and “landscape”. These are very important terms which relate to many of your projects. Also the building in Hagenberg is embed­ ded in a very special landscape situation. Just how important is this landscape and, seen in broader terms, also the concept of urban landscape in your architecture? For example, this panorama in Berlin, which inserts something very natural and landscaped into the city through the corroded copper. TP In general, the relationship of the building with its environment and nature is a key issue for us, which we explore thoroughly in our projects. In the case of the Embassies of the

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Nordic Countries, for instance, “landscape” naturally also refers to the special location beside Tiergarten. But we use the term landscape in a more general sense. With the embassies we wanted to establish a different scale, convey different information to the outside, and not just place six little standalone buildings on the edge of Tiergarten. They simply would have gone lost in a metro­ polis like Berlin. It’s this landscape-forming quality that lends the embassies an appropriate presence in Berlin in the first place. Now when we look at a project like the Hagenberg campus, the landscape connection is articulated directly and intrinsically through the interaction with the unusual topography. The build­ ing really appears rooted in the slope at some points, like the pigmented concrete bodies of the auditoriums, which seem to grow out of the ground. In contrast, the rectangular volumes floating out over the hill form a bracket that opens up to its surroundings and at the same time refers to the traditional “Vier­ kanter” building type in Upper Austria. HL And there is always this interplay – it is a major factor in your pool project – the interlocking of indoor and outdoor space. One looks from the landscape upon a building that is referring to the landscape, and you orchestrate interior spaces, which then, in turn, offer a special view to the landscape. Shot and reverse shot? AB Visual relations are extremely important in our projects. Especially in the case of the Embassies of the Nordic Countries, besides the pure conceptual approach, the exaggerated perspec­ tive, which builds upon depth and tapering streets, also has a pictorial quality. We always see the conceptual in a strong connec­ tion with a sensual quality. The concept as an end in itself is not enough for me; ultimately, architecture also has to work on an emotional level. Besides sightlines there is also light and its great magical power. These are the two primary elements when design­ ing a spatial composition. The third element is materiality, which is also a main component for us, and in many of our projects we had

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120 Marcel Duchamp, Nude Descending a Staircase (No. 2) 1912; Oil on canvas, 147 × 89,2 cm

the possibility to use natural materials. Whether stone or wood, patinated copper, stainless steel, or concrete, or textile and leather, the main thing is that the specific materiality is expressed, regardless how the surfaces are treated. We use these basic materials in different manifestations and combinations to make appropriate translations of atmospheric ideas. Moreover, we have recognized that an enduring quality can be best achieved with untreated materials. AS Let’s come back to the landscape and the space. Likely none of your previous projects dramatizes the landscape in the way the Paracelsusbad does. However, there is a small, sophisticated project, which addresses the landscape and the garden in a special way. I am speaking about the Residence of the Norwegian Embassy in Vienna, where the subjects of optical illusion, reflections, sightlines, and views are particularly emphasized. An equivalent task in a small scale but with great intensity. Questions and ideas about an ambassador’s residence can very often degenerate into conventional schemes. Here, the project takes on architectural qualities that largely have nothing to do with the superficial representation of an embassy. How does one develop such a subtle dialogue?

55–61

TP In this concrete example it has to do with the conversion and extension of an existing building. It is a typical bourgeois villa in Vienna’s Cottage quarter, built in the mid-1920s, which serves as the residence of the Norwegian Embassy. On the one hand, it was about adapting the house for the modern demands of an ambassador’s residence and, on the other, about introducing a certain “Nordic lifestyle”. Our idea was to make a connection between the bel étage – the representative first floor which was thus far used for receptions – and the garden. Immediately upon entering the house one should not only have a splendid view into the garden but also be pulled down the mirrored staircase to the garden level, where the new dining room for invited guests is located.

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122 Musical Theater in the Mountain, Linz 1998 (Floor plan, Section)

AB The project makes a strong reference to Marcel Duchamp’s painting “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2”. Just like the picture, the idea resides in the deconstruction of the move­ ment of the figure, which descends down the stairs in numerous facets in a temporal simultaneity. It is an allegory of this for­ malized bourgeois lifestyle of the nineteenth century, which opens up through this movement while maintaining a certain ambiguity. In this case, this movement is reflected quite directly in the stair­ case movement, which then concludes in the counter-­movement of the shell of the dining room, unfolding like a fan into the garden. We see this total openness at the end of the movement as a mirror of our modern conception of life. Even a formal dinner has a differ­ ent connotation today than a hundred years ago. In a metaphorical sense, the project is a reflection about Vienna, the culture of that age contrasted with contemporary culture. HL You just mentioned Marcel Duchamp. Nevertheless, I’ll ask once again about the importance of art. Architecture and art often have similar themes or concepts. What is the role of art in your projects? AB Definitely a lively one! Alone the fact that you as an artist are participating today in this discussion demonstrates this connection in practice. In Berlin, for example, when we developed the concept of the copper band, the Reichstag was wrapped by Christo. This art action was naturally very important to us but also for the reception of our project by the jury and clients – it helped them understand our idea, that the copper band was not about a new Berlin Wall but about a wrapping. HL Perfectly clear. Your work is infused with artisticconceptual aspects. You also developed the architecture and dis­ plays for a range of exhibitions in which you were directly involved with the artistic works and strategies. Art and architecture natu­ rally form a diaphanous atmosphere. The copper band in Berlin is

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a wonderful metaphor; cloaking and sealing off, on the one hand, transparent and permeable, on the other. TP You have dealt with the subject more. We even have a painting by you of our copper band. AS In 1998 you were awarded 3rd prize for your competition proposal for the Musical Theater in Linz. It is a wonderful project that addresses the topics of culture and landscape in a special way. One immediately thinks of land art projects, big tunnel complexes, stalactite caves, and enchanted places hidden in mountains. It evokes associations with fantastic fairy tale lands, where people enter passageways to magical, otherworldly dimensions. Art and music are often assigned to the realm of the “extraordinary”, where the everyday is transformed by the artistic. You interpret the narrative of the “Magic Mountain” anew and make comparisons with an iceberg in your own words. How did that come about?

68–73

TP Building something in a mountain is a very special assignment. It is a super task because you can focus on developing the space, and you needn’t worry about the form of the building or the design of the façades. In the Musical Theater in the Mountain project in Linz we really focused on the experience of the space and the atmosphere. How one experiences entering the mountain and then the procession into this dynamic space inside. I think we developed ideas here, which were further pursued in subsequent projects, such as the Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus in Salzburg. I’d like to return to the topics of topography and typolAS ogy. We have spoken about different architectural ideas, their manifestations, and the attempt to redefine functional demands. The terms topography and typology are very helpful to address the University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg project. A design in the landscape, on a unique site, at the same time a reference to

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62–69

vernacular building forms. Which parameters were important for you in the design of the Hagenberg campus and to interpret the site? And which qualities did you deem especially relevant in connection with a building for education? TP Today Hagenberg is known as a technology cluster. When we were invited to participate in this competition and visited the place for the first time this development had just begun. The municipality was a very scattered settlement, and the town center was dying out. The site itself was a steep meadow. At the top the first buildings of the technology cluster were being built; down below the old center of town. We saw it as our task to make a connection between student life and that of the locals and conceived the university building as a kind of “missing link”. The pathway simply passes through the building, thereby connecting the campus and dormitories with the town center. Simultaneously, it creates a new center in the form of this elevated place where communal public life can take place in the changing Hagenberg community. It was highly important to us to create this new identity for the place and to embed the building into the site at the same time. For this reason, we selected a precedent that is very familiar there, namely the “Vierkanthof” square courtyard farmhouse. We raised it from the ground so that it floats above the campus and the courtyard in the middle is open to the landscape. Something emerged in this project for the first time, AB which would later turn into a recurring theme in our work: the vertical layering. The steep slope facilitated an atypical arrange­ ment of the floor levels. So the entrance level could be situated in the middle, accommodating public spaces and the open court­ yard. Below is the vehicle level, which disappears under the court. The auditoriums are grounded on the second sublevel. This lower level breaks out of the hill; the auditoriums surge out of the slope up to the level of the courtyard. Different levels intermingle. The actual academic performance floors, where the majority of the rooms are situated, float in a ring shape above.

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126 University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg, 2005 (Exterior view, Floor plan)

To return to the question of what an educational building should offer: communication! This idea continues later on in the design for Paracelsus Medical University. For us, the topic of internal com­ munication is increasingly more important, and it is developing into a guiding principle in all these projects. How can you stimu­ late social interaction among people in a building? In Hagenberg this topic could be addressed in a much broader scope as the new building forms a social focal point for the surrounding area. These are things which are not stated in the spatial program of a competition, but they can give a project an added value which doesn’t cost anything more and offers much more for everyone in the end. HL Indeed, I find that the approach to social contexts and interests can be clearly read from Hagenberg and its courtyard. But what I see as a connecting, impressive element in all of your buildings is the feeling of simultaneity you create by responding to the traditional architecture of the surroundings and to the land­ scape while inserting the building into this context very functionally and soberly. I find this approach is a specialty of Berger+Parkkinen. Your buildings possess not a modernist, short-lived architecture rather a general timeless yet very contemporary and future-oriented architecture. What I notice is that many of your buildings cannot be categorized temporally. Also in Berlin when you drive by the complex, you have to ask yourself when it was built. You can’t clas­ sify it with a particular time period. I think that is a very special quality. AB I think architecture is always about the life models we are building a frame for. As architecture has a long lifespan, we are not only interested in what is new today, rather we build upon sustainable and continuous aspects. Architecture defines the framework in which we live and work. In order to adapt to future requirements we try to design this framework as neutrally and open as possible and avoid all too concrete interpretations of the functional requirements in the structure. Because buildings that

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can adapt to changes through time and accommodate other functions have considerably longer lives, in our experience. AS My second to last question is again about urban space. Projects by Berger+Parkkinen are highly sensitive to the urban context. In the case of the Embassies of the Nordic Countries in Berlin, the building site is re-anchored into the urban fabric and becomes a new orientation point in the city. Also the Paracelsusbad in Salzburg completes the urban context with a new object with its own scale and architecture. The Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus in Salzburg generates a new interpretation of the urban landscape: A score is written that reformulates the urban space. What were the most important ideas behind this urban design?

73–80

Like Alfred already mentioned, Salzburg is a very TP dense city, but it always reveals interesting views when you walk through it. These sequences of arches, passageways, and arcades, which make the old parts of Salzburg so unique and characterize the public space, were something we picked up in the design of this new sciences campus and reinterpreted. We wanted to create a public space that has its own strong identity but is also rooted in the tradition of Salzburg and has a clear relationship with the landscape. A key factor in the design of the Stadtwerk Life AB Sciences Campus was the absolute commitment to the ground floor. The project builds upon the design for the University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg. From above, the existing structure of the residential buildings and the highrise were complemented with six volumes oriented along the north-south axis. The calm continuation of the existing urban structure facilitates the articulation of multifaceted situations in detail. The ground floor level could be freely designed independent from the superordinate building volumes and refer to the old diagonal pathways from the

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abandoned Gasworks. We took the program requirement to cover the complete terrain with subterranean parking lots and tried to create an experiential dimension by opening spacious atriums to the underground levels. Now there’s bamboo growing out of the natural soil in the earth below. The experiment we embarked on was to develop inde­ TP pendent layers or levels best suited for the respective function or intention. An exciting thing in this kind of design process is that the results even surprise ourselves sometimes. HL I’d like to confront you with a line from Robert Venturi which fits quite well here. He says: “I like the hybrid more than the pure.” On the one hand, with reference to the pool in Salzburg but also in relation to your architecture in general. Where do you see yourselves? Can a situation with many different demands also improve a building simply through the demands themselves? A situation in which you don’t make the decisions alone, where social, functional, and legal demands influence the decisions. Does that imply a change for the better or worse? AB Generally speaking, pure forms are easy to understand aesthetically, but we believe that the notion of purity is often exclusive. We prefer to follow concepts that are open and inviting. With urban situations we are interested in the turbulences and the little disruptions that generate unexpected opportunities. HL That sometimes also works very well parallel, like in Berlin. There I would say it is quite iconographic. The turbulences within are reflected in the arrangement of the buildings. When one speaks of turbulences, you are also the ones who create clarity once again in these social turbulences. AB Absolutely, it is not about celebrating complexity or building a labyrinth. On the contrary, we prefer clear structures, clear basic shapes, but the objective in our work is not to perfectly

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130 Stadtwerk Life Sciences Campus, Salzburg 2015 (Layer)

build these precise basic structures to their completion until everything merges into a single structure. If anything, the disturbances are equally as important as the system in order to attain the desired spatial quality. If you look at the historically grown cities and metropolises of Europe, you can see that the single building is sometimes overestimated in its importance for the quality of a city. When we walk through a city we are interested in the lower five meters, the plinth area. What’s going on up above only plays a secondary role for perception. We register the spatial expansion and contraction, the dynamic in spatial sequences, density and atmosphere; these are the essential factors for our perception. AS From the social situation to social housing in Vienna: This is a subject with a grand architectural tradition in Vienna. Since the great housing construction program in the 1920s, prominent architects – Adolf Loos, Josef Frank, or Roland Rainer, to name but a few – have made statements on this topic. The challenge is great: Architectural, social, and sustainable material qualities are needed. In the Seestadt Aspern housing project in Vienna (together with the architect team querkraft) you arrived at new parameters. On the one hand, the topic of material, wood in this case, wood constructions with all of their qualities; and on the other, the subject of social aspects in housing. There are a number of “in-between zones” and “usage options” for the inhabitants. How did this planning process evolve for you?

81–89

TP In the Wood Housing Seestadt Aspern project we worked with vertical layering once again. At the time of the competition, there weren’t many reference points from the surroundings to orient upon. There weren’t any buildings or streets in Seestadt; even the precise height levels of the adjacent streets were not available. There was just a structural zoning plan that stipulated a perimeter block development. But we didn’t want to make this strict block. We wanted to achieve the quality of the inner court-

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132 Wooden Housing Seestadt Aspern, Vienna 2015 (Section, Site plan)

yard as the real social center, as we knew it from the interwar period, the golden age of Viennese social housing. We developed the project as a wood construction: The houses follow the logic of traditional wood houses with a standard cross-section because they work like a bar from which you can cut off pieces with differ­ ent lengths, thereby allowing flexibility in the size of the individual apartments. The apartments are accessed from arcades. The wood houses rest upon a two-story plinth, which accommodates a ring of shops and studios on the street façades. In the courtyard we had the opportunity to shape a two-story landscape with a social heart – the canyon – for communication and recreational areas for the residents. Higher up on the plinth, where there is more privacy, are the terraces and garden areas of the ground floor apartments. HL At this point I would like to follow with a question related to both Berlin and Aspern. Both projects involve different forms of collaboration. Where do you see the chances or the difficulties in collaborations with other architectural offices, other architects? In the case of the Embassies of the Nordic Countries AB there was a point in the design process where we realized that the five embassy buildings were so clearly defined that it would be possible to give our national clients not only a free hand in the design of their interiors but also autonomy in the design of their individual buildings. This possibility was naturally well received by the countries. This led to the integration of five architects from the respective nations following a complex selection procedure based on a guideline we developed. This process was an incredible learning experience for us. Some­ times we were also a bit worried, but we followed our belief that when a city is well-planned, it isn’t a catastrophe when one or the other building bends the rules here or there. At any rate, we had very clear rules, and all of the participants of these national compe­

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titions followed them. Furthermore, we had the luck that all of the five prize-winners were roughly our age, so all relatively young. In the meanwhile, some of them count among the most success­ ful offices in the world. We meet each other every now and then at diverse architectural congresses, and it is always a pleasure because the joint building project in Berlin was a very special expe­ rience for the others as well. The Wood Housing Seestadt Aspern project in Vienna was another opportunity for collaboration, in this case with querkraft. Here, too, there was a very fine spirit of cooperation. Currently, we are working together with Christoph Lechner and Aldric Beckmann from Paris on a housing project in the Rosenhügel area of Vienna. These cooperations are always an interesting experience where we give a lot but also get a lot back in exchange. It means an increased creative potential for the projects and thus – especially for housing projects – also more potential for quality. HL Right. I have one more question, a very general one. In your oeuvre there are four types of buildings that form a red thread through your biographies: cultural buildings, educational build­ ings, residential buildings, and not to forget sports buildings. Do you have preferences, a special affinity, or do you like doing all of them? Tiina and I studied in the same master school of Timo AB Penttilä at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Very early on Profes­ sor Penttilä awoke our interest in buildings in which many people move. He himself became known for his Helsinki City Theatre and also designed stadiums. In the presentations and talks at the Academy we often dealt with overarching topics such as large crowds of people in event venues and navigation through buildings. With cultural buildings, arenas, or stadiums, the organized move­ ment of people is a decisive criterion for the design. This orchestra­ tion of movement is an extremely interesting planning area for us, which is also incorporated into our way of viewing urban planning.

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When we think our way into movement flows and sequences, it produces specific sight lines and perspectives. You can imagine a sequence like the drawings Le Corbusier used to illustrate the successive experience of space as you move through it. We devel­ oped this idea of an unfixed perspective, of a roving standpoint from these design issues.

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Catalog (Selection)

Paracelsusbad Swimming pool and Kurhaus Salzburg, Austria 2012–2019 Open competition, ① prize Client: Stadtgemeinde Salzburg KKTB Client representative: SIG Stadt Salzburg Immobilien, Operator: TSG Tourismus Salzburg; GFA: 17,200 m² Paracelsus Medical University, House D Salzburg, Austria 2016–2018 Client: Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Salzburg; GFA: 4,460 m² Urban Villa PH35 Vienna-Pötzleinsdorf, Austria 2014–2018 Invited competition, ① prize Project implemented by: PH35 real estate, Vienna GFA: 1,500 m² Housing YPSILON Ljubljana, Slovenia 2009–2018 Invited competition, ① prize Client: Immorent Ljubljana, Slovenia; GFA: 10,300 m² Housing “Der Rosenhügel” Collaboration with Christoph Lechner & Partner Vienna, Austria 2014–2017 Invited competition, ① prize Client: Rosenhügel Entwicklungs-, Errichtungs- & Verwertungsgesellschaft represented by Strauss & Partner and Immovate, Vienna GFA: 23,100 m² Residental Tower Dresdnerstraße Vienna, Austria 2016 Invited competition, ③ prize Wood Housing Seestadt Aspern Collaboration with querkraft architekten; Vienna/Aspern, Austria 2011–2015 Open competition, ① prize Client: EBG Vienna, Austria GFA: 19,600 m² above – and 17,000 m² below ground

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STADTWERK Life Sciences Campus Building complex with four building components Salzburg, Austria 2007–2015 Invited competition, ① prize Project implemented by: PRISMA, Salzburg GFA: 17,961 m² above – and 18,700 m² below ground Austro Control Tower Office building Vienna, Austria 2014 Invited competition, purchase adidas World of Sports – Offices West Herzogenaurach, Germany 2014 Invited competition, purchase Paracelsus Medical University Salzburg, Austria 2012–2013 Invited competition, ① prize Client: Paracelsus Medizinische Privatuniversität, Salzburg; GFA: 8,400 m² Areal Hotel InterContinental Vienna/Eislaufverein/Konzerthaus Vienna, Austria 2013 Invited competition Government building Doha Qatar, 2013 Invited competition, finalist Gut Guggenthal Housing above Salzburg Guggenthal, Salzburg 2013 Invited competition, ② prize Fußballakademie RB Leipzig Training center and boarding school for young athletes Leipzig, Germany 2013 Invited competition, ① prize Campus Central Station Vienna Campus for children and teenagers; Vienna, Austria 2012 Open competition Ice Hockey Stadium Vienna Vienna, Austria 2008–2011 Client: Eissport Errichtungs-, Betriebs- und Management GmbH, Vienna; GFA: 40,440 m² University Campus Gießen-Friedberg Gießen, Germany 2010 Invited competition

Merkurgründe Housing on the slope Linz, Austria 2010 Invited competition MED CAMPUS Graz Graz, Austria 2009 Open competition ÖBB Tower Headquarter for the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) Vienna, Austria 2009 Open competition Geriatric Medicine Centre Donaustadt Vienna, Austria 2009 Open competition, purchase Residential Building Silbergasse Villa with fifteen flats Vienna, Austria 2006–2009 Invited competition, ① prize Client: IMMORENT, Vienna GFA: 1,800 m² Grabenweg/Griesauweg Offices, Hotel, Nursery, Food retail Innsbruck, Austria 2008 Invited competition, ② prize Nouveau Parlement Lausanne New parliament building Lausanne, Switzerland 2008 Invited competition, ⑤ prize Retirement Home Hallein Hallein, Austria 2008 Invited competition, ③ prize Boulogne-Billancourt, B4 Offices, apartments and church Paris, France 2008 Invited competition, purchase Vienna University of Economics and Business Vienna, Austria 2008 Open competition, ② prize Hospital Rudolfstiftung Extension and reconstruction of the façade Vienna, Austria 2007 Invited competition, ③ prize vorarlberg museum Bregenz, Austria 2007 Invited competition, purchase

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Festspielhaus Erl Theater for passion play Erl, Austria 2007 Invited competition, purchase Parkensemble Barmbeck Urban layout, housing, offices Hamburg, Germany 2007 Invited competition Messehaus Wels Fair Hall Wels, Austria 2007 Invited competition, purchase Royal Norwegian Embassy Vienna, Austria 2004–2007 Client: Statsbygg, Norway GFA: 750 m² Hotel “Landsberger Allee” Berlin, Germany 2006 Invited competition Maison des Civilisations et de l’Unité Réunionnaise Museum of civilization and unity La Réunion, France 2006 Invited competition, ③ prize Théâtre Le Fanal Theater at the waterfront Saint-Nazaire, France 2006 Invited competition, ② prize FRONIUS Wels Headquarter Wels, Austria 2006 Invited competition KAUF HAUS TYROL Innsbruck, Austria 2006 Invitation to an open competition Überseequartier Hafen-City Reconstruction and extension of port authority building Hamburg, Germany 2006 Invited competition Jabal Omar Development Urban development concept Mecca, Saudi Arabia 2006 Invited competition Hofburg Interior design of the chancellery of Austria’s Federal President Vienna, Austria 2005 Invited competition, ② prize

Central Library Domplatz Hamburg Library with archaeological museum, citizen forum and housing; Germany 2005 Invited competition Hotel U2 Prater – Vienna, Austria 2005 Invited competition, ② prize University of Applied Sciences Hagenberg, Austria 2002-2005 Invited competition, ① prize Client: FH OÖ Immobilien, Wels GFA: 12,700 m2 Villa V6 Vienna, Austria 2002–2005 GFA: 600 m² Office Tower U2 Vienna, Austria 2004 Invited competition Maritime Museum of Finland Kotka, Finland 2004 Open competition Île Seguin – Façade enveloppe Façade design Paris, France 2004 Open competition British Council Austria Vienna, Austria 2003–2004 Invited competition, ① prize Client: British Council, Vienna GFA: 460 m² and 310 m² garden GESIBA Vorgartenstraße “Nord” Housing; Vienna, Austria 2003 Invited competition SchauPlatzKagran Masterplan, Housing Vienna, Austria 2003 Invited competition Nusery Vienna, Austria 2003 Invited competition, ② prize Porte Jeune Restructuring of the Porte Jeune quarter Mulhouse, France 2003 Invited competition, ② prize Complexe Culturel et Administratif Musical theater, offices Montreal, Canada 2002 Invited competition

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Albatros, Office Park Vienna, Austria 2002 Invited competition Bavaria Gelände St. Pauli Offices, housing, restaurants, trade, theatre Hamburg, Germany 2002 Invited competition, purchase DONNA GIL Shops Design concept; Austria, 2002 Invited competition, ① prize Friedrichstraßen-BOGEN Office building Berlin-Mitte, Germany 2001 Invited competition, ② prize Haus Johansson Villa and museum Båstad, Sweden 2001; Project Tower 24 Frankfurt/ Main, Germany 2001 Invited competition, purchase Working at the waterfront Office- and hotel complex at the Messelake München-Riem, Germany 2001 Invited competition, ② prize BTV Stadtforum Bank and office building Innsbruck, Austria 2001 Open competition Office Building Zurich Versicherung Vienna, Austria 2001 Invited competition, ② prize Opening Exhibition “Eine Barocke Party” KUNSTHALLE Wien, Austria 2001; Exhibition design The Altona Train Station Station-center with retail, restaurants, offices and parking Hamburg, Centre 2001 Invited competition, ① prize Headquarters Nokia Austria Twin Towers Vienna, Austria 2000–2001; Client: Nokia Austria GFA: 2,100 m² ONE Lounge Wien Showroom for a mobile network operator Vienna, Austria 2000; Study

Ponte Parodi Landing stage, cultural-, officeand recreational facilities Genua, Italy 2000 Invited competition, purchase Kongresspark Salzburg Landscape design Salzburg, Austria 2000 Invited competition, ② prize NORDEN Zeitgenössische Kunst aus Nordeuropa KUNSTHALLE Wien, Austria 2000; Exhibition design Science Center Wolfsburg Exhibition building Wolfsburg, Germany 2000 Invited competition ICE Railway Station Köln-Deutz/Messe Connection station, offices and hotel; Cologne, Germany 2000 Invited competition Courthouse complex Leoben Leoben, Austria 2000 Invited competition, ③ prize Music Centre Helsinki Concert hall, music library, Sibelius academy;Helsinki, Finland 1999; Open competition Urnenhain Linz Crematorium and cemetery Linz, Austria 1999 Invited competition Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Reconstruction and extension of the architecture department Vienna, Austria 1997–1999 Client: Bundesbaudirektion, Vienna; GFA: 1,600 m² Embassies of the Nordic Countries Embassy complex with communal building “Felleshus” Berlin Tiergarten, Germany 1995–1999 Invited competition, ① prize Client: Five nordic countries GFA: 17,900 m² Museum am Mönchsberg Salzburg, Austria 1998 Open competition

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MUMUT Graz House for music and musical theater; Graz, Austria 1998 Open competition, ④ prize Central Library and Office Building Turku, Finland 1998 Open competition Musical Theater in the Mountain Opera house and musical theater in the “Schlossberg” hill Linz, Austria 1998 Open competition, ③ prize Railway station Helsinki Roofing of the platforms Helsinki, Finland 1995 Open competition

Team Berger+Parkkinen Architekten 1995–2017

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A B C D E F G H J K L M

Ambos Christian Bachl Matthias Bachmann Sebastian Bachul Damian Bartková Darina Bechetoille Soizik Berger Henrik Berger Lola Bischofter Ferdinand Bresciano Giuseppe Ciliberti Alessio Coreth Leonhard Deri Miklos Dick Ludwig Dietrich Margarete Draxl Ines Dunaj Milos Durdica Srdanovic Glavina Engstler Martin Fischbeck Sebastian Fleischhauer Sören Ganea Serban Garcia Demian Gecys Jurgis Germani Diego Glatzner Wolfgang Guerrier Guillaume Gulinska Anna Haduch Bartosz Haid Christian Hernando Israel Hofer Regina Hofer Susanne Holleis Helmut Hudoletnjak Silvija Hyvämäki Elina Jussel Eva Kögl Antonia Kocevar Tanja Kohlhaas Yvonne Kozin Jure Kräutler Walter Kremer Sven Kuroda Ken Laiho Antti Lassota Jeanette Manser Rahel Marino Ariana Mascha Elena Masternak Marta Mattitsch Kilian

N O P R S T U V Z

Minkus Felix Munz Philipp Najvarová Lucie Nizic Ines Nogel Katharina Nuding Marc Nungesser Hansjörg Osterwinter Thomas Otti Luisa Paintner Mario Pirker Thomas Pelliccioni Emanuele Petri Hans Peter Pezzini Ilaria Pretterhofer Heidi Possenti Chiara Rehab Nicola Rehorova Martina Rehortova Veronika Rückerl Lukas Sancho Andrés Javier Saporiti Valentina Satora Radek Sattler Kurt Sawicki Andrzej Schendl Katharina Schlegel Christof Schlögl Gabriele Schneider Robert Scholten Jasmin Schöning Andrea Schuh Lucas Seeger Almut Helena Sent Stefanie Shimamura Noriko Sommer Cordula Steiner Susanne Stix Barbara Strobach Susanne Stützle Nick Suchanek Milan Szekely Stefan Talasova Zuzana Tendero Sierra Isabel Thalbauer Peter Trebotic Frane Matthias Unterfrauner Günther Vjesticová Marijana Zdenkovic Ivan Zabini Carina

Authors

Francisco Barrachina Pastor Born 1977 in Castellón de la Plana, Spain. Architect, theorist and writer. Studied Architecture at the National School of Architecture of Paris-Malaquais, academic Master degree from La Sorbonne, Paris in Archaelogy and the University of Valencia in Art History. A prac­ ticing architect associated with numerous international firms in Paris, Vienna and New York, where he assisted the artist Vito Acconci in the implementation of several public urban art works. A regular collaborator with various development projects and organizations concerned with the preservation and enhancement of architectural heritage in settings such as Tunisia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Haiti. Article publications in both French and Spanish periodical reviews. Lives in Berlin combining architectural practice with research theory at the Technical University of Berlin.

August Sarnitz Born 1965 in Innsbruck, Austria. Architect and professor of architectural history at the Institute for Art and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Studies in archi­ tecture at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, post-graduate studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA. Guest professor at UCLA – Los Angeles and Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA. Curator of architecture exhibitions, lectures in Europe, USA, and Latin America with a focus on Austrian architecture. Numerous publications and book projects, among others: Architecture Vienna: 700 Buildings (2007), Vienna – New Architecture 1975–2005 (2003), Architecture in Vienna (1998) as well as monographs about R. M. Schindler (1986), Lois Welzenbacher (1988), Ernst ­Lichtblau (1994), Ernst A. Plischke (2003), Adolf Loos (2003), Otto Wagner (2004), Josef Hoffmann (2007), and Ludwig Wittgenstein (2011). Lives and works in Vienna. Hubert Lobnig Born 1962 in Völkermarkt, Austria. Artist, professor of fine arts / artwork practice at the University of Art and Design Linz. Studies at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Focuses of artistic work: painting, drawing, video, photography as well as context and site-­ specific projects and installations in public space (often in collabo­ ration with Iris Andraschek). Founder of Tigerpark, a platform for artistic and curatorial projects. Numerous exhibitions in Austria and abroad, diverse publications. Member of the neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst Berlin (nGbK) and the Vienna Secession. Lives and works in Vienna and Mödring, Lower Austria.

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Imprint

Editor: August Sarnitz, A–Vienna Essay: Francisco Barrachina Pastor, D–Berlin Editing: Eva Jussel, A–Vienna Berger+Parkkinen Architekten: Alfred Berger, Tiina Parkkinen, www.berger-parkkinen.com Susanne Hofer, Silvija Hudoletnjak (transliteration interview), Lenia Mascha, Lucie Najvarova, Veronika Rehortova Translation from German into English: ­Peter Blakeney & Christine Schöffler, www.whysociety.org Proofreading: Alun Brown, A–Vienna Acquisitions Editor: David Marold, Birkhäuser Verlag, A–Vienna Project and Production Management: ­Angelika Heller, Birkhäuser Verlag,­­ A–Vienna Layout, cover design and typography: Enrico Bravi, A–Vienna Printing: gugler* print, A–Melk/Donau Lithography: pixelstorm, A–Vienna Font: Ehrhardt Pro, Dia Paper: Phoenix Motion Xenon, Olin Regular Library of Congress Cataloging-inPublication data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress. Bibliographic information published by the German National Library The German National Library lists this publication in the Deutsche National­ bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in databases. For any kind of use, permission of the copy­right owner must be obtained.

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This publication is also available as an e-book (ISBN PDF 978-3-0356-1063-5) and in a German language edition (ISBN 978-3-0356-1199-1). © 2017 Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, Basel P.O. Box 44, 4009 Basel, Switzerland Part of Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston © All photographs, drawings, plans and renderings by Berger+Parkkinen Architekten, unless otherwise noted. Credits: ullstein bild – Christian Bach: p. 2, 143 (Embassies of the Nordic Countries, open house, Berlin October 23rd 1999); Daniel Hawelka, Linz: p. 87; Philipp Horak (portrait), Vienna: p. 109; ­Hertha Hurnaus, Vienna: p. 79, 83, 84, 88, 89; ­Isochrom (rendering), Vienna: p. 14, 101; Moretti (rendering), Vienna: p. 97; Michael Nagl, Vienna: p. 48, 52; ­skannwas (rendering), Lisbon: p. 98, 107; Christian Richters, Berlin: p. 33, 37–47; Luftbild Schneider, Berlin: p. 34; ­Gerald Zugmann, Vienna: p. 55–69. Page 120 © Succession Marcel Duchamp/Bildrecht, Vienna, 2017, Photo: © Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950-134-59. Printed on acid-free paper produced from chlorine-free pulp. TCF ∞ Printed in Austria ISBN 978-3-0356-1200-4 987654321 www.birkhauser.com

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Architecture needs to start from an idea (Alfred Berger and Tiina Parkkinen 1997) The buildings by Berger+Parkkinen Architekten are distinguished by a clear, elegant urbanity and an innovative approach to materials. The award-winning Embassies of the Nordic Countries in Berlin (1995–1999) counts among their most publicized works. This first monograph about the office includes an essay by Francisco Barrachina Pastor, which explores the careers and design method of the architects through selected projects, an in-depth interview, and a comprehensive index of works.

ISBN 978-3-0356-1200-4

www.birkhauser.com