Page - 52 - in Demolished Modified Endangered - Modelling Austrian Architecture Of The 20th Century

52 FREMDENVERKEHRSPAVILLON WERKBUNDAUSSTELLUNG BY ERNST LICHTBLAU Year 1930 Status Demolished Material Acrylic Glass Glue Scale 1:50 Model maker Lung Peng The Austrian architect Ernst Lichtblau was born in Vienna in 1883. He studied architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna under the supervision of Otto Wagner. In 1912 Ernst Lichtblau became a member of the German Werkbund, an association of craftspeople, artists, architects and the industry. He was also one of the founding members of the Austrian Werkbund in 1914. In the same year Ernst Lichtblau opened his own architecture practice in Vienna. Due to the political circumstances he emigrated to the US in 1939. After years of working as an architect and lecturer he was appointed professor for interior design at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1947. Six years later Ernst Lichtblau was elected dean of the architecture faculty there. He returned to Austria for a longer period of time in 1957, where he died in 1963.1 In 1930 Ernst Lichtblau took part in the Werkbund exhibition, which was held at the Museum of Arts and Industry in Vienna. The main theme of the exhibition was tourism in Austria. Lichtblau designed a pavilion in the garden of the museum as well as a showroom for music related products in one of the exhibition rooms of the museum. The pavilion was painted white and consisted of a two storey high intricate steel structure. The second floor could be accessed by a large outer staircase. The roof of the top floor was made of fabric. Flagpoles drew attention to one corner of the roof. The whole pavilion was decorated with pictures of Austria.2 1 Boeckl, Matthias (Ed.) (1995): Visionäre & Vertriebene. Österreichische Spuren in der modernen amerikanischen Architektur. Berlin: Ernst & Sohn. 337. 2 Sarnitz, August (1994): Ernst Lichtblau: Architekt, 1883-1963. Wien, Köln, Weimar: Böhlau. 58-59.