Page - 134 - in Demolished Modified Endangered - Modelling Austrian Architecture Of The 20th Century

134 ÖSTERREICHISCHER PAVILLON WELTAUSSTELLUNG BRÜSSEL BY KARL SCHWANZER Year 1958 Status Modified Material Paper 3D Doodler Scale 1:500 / 1:200 Model maker Barbara Gruber In 1958 Karl Schwanzer designed the Austrian pavilion for the world fair in Brussels. The pavilion was designed to resemble a bridge; a metaphor for Austria as the political, economical and cultural connection between the north and the south and the east and the west.1 The pavilion was a steel frame construction. Without any walls, the ground floor was interspersed with steel support columns. The centre of the building was an open courtyard. The exhibition rooms were based on the first floor and around the courtyard. The pavilion was dismantled at the end of the world fair and was rebuilt from 1959 to 1962. It was placed in the Schweizergarten, a public park in the 3rd district of Vienna, and opened as the Museum of the 20th Century. For its use as a museum, a glass facade was built that encased the ground floor and covered the courtyard.2 In 2003 the architect Adolf Krischanitz won the competition for the museum’s renovation and extension. In 2011 the museum reopened as the 21er Haus.3 1 Schwanzer, Karl (1973): Architektur aus Leidenschaft. 25 Jahre Arbeit Karl Schwanzer. Wien, München: Modulverlag. 38. 2 Achleitner, Friedrich (1990): Österreichische Architektur im 20. Jahrhundert. Ein Führer in vier Bänden. Band III/1 Wien: 1.-12. Bezirk. Salzburg, Wien: Residenz Verlag. 118-119. 3 Architekturzentrum Wien (Ed.) (2016): Architektur in Österreich im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert. Zürich: Park Books. 154.