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Architects: HARDDECOR ARCHITEKTUR
- Area: 93 m²
- Year: 2021
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Photographs:Christian Fröhlich
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Manufacturers: Artemide, Blanco Sinks, Cadwork, HARDDECOR ARCHITEKTUR, Thonet Vienna
Text description provided by the architects. The former climbing tower in the outdoor space of the "Wienerbruck" base camp in Lower Austria's largest nature park "Ötscher Tormäuer” was rethought in 2021. Johanna Digruber and Christian Fröhlich, who jointly run the studio HARDDECOR ARCHITEKTUR in Vienna, transformed the tower wasteland into a "flying classroom", opening up new possibilities for mediating nature. The building, which had become useless, thus represents the paradigm shift - away from event culture and towards a knowledge society.
Inside the tower, a workshop and an archive for natural artifacts with a room height of ten meters have been set up, with a direct connection to the orchard via a terrace in front. The stair tower has been extended by one level and now allows access to a sheltered interior and a viewing terrace with a view of the well-known mountain "Ötscher".
The program of the adapted tower goes back to garden structures as they existed in the landscape garden of the 19th century. So-called folies ("architectural exclamation marks") generate attention through their appearance and astonishment due to their usability. Folies are regarded as an expression of desirable ideas that have become form — mostly in the relationship between humans and nature. The often seemingly functionless nature of these structures situated between art and architecture places their surroundings in an aesthetic relationship to nature.
The former climbing tower becomes a "flying classroom" and opens up new possibilities for mediating nature in an outdoor workshop, surrounded by an orchard with old varieties of fruit. The new educational space in the nature park is aimed specifically at "learners" and is available to all visitors who opt for a mediation program.
*”Form, Follies, Function" is an ironic game of words by Hans Hollein about the meaning of so-called architectural folies. In doing so, he phonetically twists Louis Sullivan's famous dictum: Form follows Function.
Johanna Digruber and Christian Fröhlich run the studio HARDDECOR ARCHITEKTUR in Vienna since 2008. Their portfolio includes architecture, art, and media. They create artificial natures and natural art spaces. Architecture/art is research and experimentation: “He/she who understands nothing but chemistry doesn't even understand chemistry." (G. C. Lichtenberg)
