Froetscher Lichtenwagner architects

ITINERARY

Froetscher and Lichtenwagner were winners of Europan 4, “Constructing the city upon the city”, in 1996 on the Centrum Odorf site in Innsbruck (A) and the project, a residential tower block and amenities around an urban square in the former Olympic village, is constructed.
Willi Froetscher is an architect with degrees from the Vienna Academy of Applied Arts (Mag.arch, 1986) and UCLA (University of California Los Angeles - Master’s in architecture, 1989). Christian Lichtenwagner is an engineer who graduated from the Technological University of Vienna in 1986 and has been a member of the London Architectural Association since 1988.
Froetscher - Lichtenwagner gave their Europan 4 project the title “Max !”. The name was a symbol of the project and of their future collaboration. “Max !” refers to the maximisation of existing potential, and their total commitment to their work. For them, what they learned from Europan was how - in a well-defined volume - to implement a structural transformation generated by the tension between the interior and the urban. They promulgate the creation of an ambiguity of perception, created by textile and materials, which transgresses urban simplicity. Froetscher - Lichtenwagner have completed several projects, notably in thecultural field, such as the lobby of the new im Künstlerhaus Theatre (Vienna), and the theatre for young audiences, “Dschungel Wien”.
W. Froetscher and C. Lichtenwagner have taught at the Tehcnological University of Vienna. The second now teaches at the Vienna University of Applied Arts.

CLARITY OF SHAPE

The starting point for the architect's work is always the simple basic shape. What is interesting above all is the compact, concise shape, which – once precisely positioned – can order the existing context in a new way and to trigger complex processes.

Linz (A) - Castle-Museum

The southern wing of the Römerberg Castle that was destroyed by fire forms the basis of the new building's structure. It houses all the requested functions and provides interior connections with the existing building, whose large expanses of roof form a sequence of flat surfaces around the original shape, to meet the functional and spatial requirements. The objective is to give the new building a distinct identity, whilst maintaining a dialogue with the existing structure in terms of scale and articulation. The bays in the castle wall provide the basic motif for the design of the museum extension facade. This motif, reinterpreted and extended, is transposed to the facade of the new building

MAXIMISATION

Every place, every space, contains potential. Designing a project first of all involves identifying and revealing this potential. Existing potential can be used to the full regardless of scale. In this respect, generosity can also be understood as maximising space within a limited configuration.

Wien (A) - Dance centre

In order to use the whole depth of the wing in the former royal stables for the studios, a connecting gallery had to be installed in a walkway constructed in the roof space.
The original corridor was extended to its maximum to form a large glassed space, turning the dance centre into a place of communication and discussion where the artists can naturally meet and talk.

AMBIGUITY OF PERCEPTION

There is a dialectical relationship between ambiguity of perception and clarity of shape. When the user, visitor comes in direct contact with the building, an extra level of perception is added: a type of arrangement of spaces and surfaces that is often contradictory and not easily interpretable.

Wien (A) - Theater for young audience

To design a theatre with two auditoriums in a complex of listed 18th and 19th-century buildings.
In the three existing rooms, the elements that have been added over the centuries were removed in order to highlight their respective identities. The main auditorium, the heart of the theatre, resembles a "black box"; the small auditorium, baroque in style, plays with daylight; the lobby, whose brick structure is left exposed, symbolises openness and change.

STRUCTURAL TRANSFORMATION

The structural system of a building results from the shape chosen and the layout of the place. This structure is transformed as it adapts to the surrounding urban space, to the demands of the functions it contains and to the requirements of users.

Linz (A) - Urban envelop

The opera's different buildings are roofed and brought together by an envelope that gives the structure the appearance of significant size, within which the interstitial spaces offer interesting possibilities for development.
The structure of this envelope picks up and interprets the network of lines bordering the site, the streets and the railway lines. Extending onto the site, they form a lacework of ribbons resembling the texture of a veil.

Europan Generation, The reinterpreted city Catalogue
Editions: Cité de l’architecture and Europan, May 2007
224 colour pages, bilingual English/French


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