Wolfgang Tschapeller Wins Competition to Redesign the University of Applied Arts in Vienna

Images via DezeenA competition to design a building for the University of Applied Arts in Vienna has produced an early first candidate for the most bizarre rendering of the year. Austrian Architect Wolfgang Tschapeller produced a plan that would demolish the existing link building and build in its place a transparent façade exposing reconfigurable, floating balloons and tiered staircases—the effect in the renderings is steampunk layered over modernist contortionism.

In addition to a set of renderings of the finished project, Dezeen has the architect’s explanation of the layered façade, with a series of cross sections that tells the story of the building’s past and future. Here’s how the architect explains the design’s proposal:

“In essence we propose 3 main connecting elements to ‘make’ the new Campus of the Angewandte. The INTERIOR SQUARE connects Ferstel Bau with Schwanzer/Wörle Bau, the GARDEN connects the buildings of the University with those of the Museum, the BROADWAY, a large stair which runs diagonally across the elevation of the Schwanzer/Wörle Bau. The BROADWAY is not only a means of circulation; it is the platform where members and knowledge of the 17 different studios meet. It is the informal marketplace for cross disciplinary projects.”

I