In what is also known as 'the Inflatable Era', inflatable architecture was manufactured as a prerequisite for a new, nomadic way of life. Space travel served as the inspiration for these capsules. However, are these high-tech hide-outs post-human or not?
This text by Bart Lootsma was originally published in the accompanying catalog of the exhibition. You can find the full catalog here. The need for radical change manifested itself in post-war Austrian architecture in a series of megalomaniac urban designs. These projects are connected by an obsession with technology and infrastructure and the urge to create completely new ways of living together. The stage was set by Hans Hollein and Walter Pichler with the exhibition Architektur which they arranged in 1963 in the Galerie nächst St. Stephan in Vienna.
The practical purpose of these projects is initially unclear. In the manifesto accompanying Absolute Architektur, Hollein stresses that architecture can imbue everyday actions with a spiritual value, turning them into rituals. He labels this cultic architecture. Hollein’s aim is not a classic beauty, but a sensual and violent one.
Pichler views architecture as an expression of power in which people are forced to live conforming to his social vision. Early designs by Raimund Abraham and Laurids Ortner depict the city as an enormous machine inhabited by people dressed in space suits. Günther Feuerstein presents his designs for city centers as timeless archetypes.
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