The Architekturzentrum Wien is small, but has some really good displays. If you get a Museums Quarter pass it’s included, or you can pay separately.
There’s a surprising amount of stuff in there about Vorarlberg, the westernmost province of Austria along the Swiss border. It’s both a conservative region, but also very into modern architecture (especially complicated tiered designs to fit around mountainous terrain). I’ve worked in some beautiful school buildings there that look much like this photo. In fact the museum even had a temporary exhibition about them once.
How big the Austro-Hungarian empire was. A lot of the Hungarians still can’t get over becoming a small country.
The difference between building on rural land, and city land with centuries or millennia of accumulated detritus.
Vienna is very proud of its social housing, and it was never sold off. A large percentage of apartments in the city are rented on long leases from a housing association.
A course on DIY eco-building in the 80s
What the group built
Rammed earth as insulation
Hundertwasser on TV
An eco-building project in Bangladesh
Shaded veranda with wicker screens for ventilation
Display mocking the Architect Barbie Mattel produced, who designs in a cocktail dress, vs the Builder Barbie they later produced.
The museum also has a huge archive of architectural photos from the Margherita Spiluttini collection.
This time the temporary exhibition was about a Spanish architecture prize. The English translation of the text was appalling and looked like they’d just run it through Google translate without checking anything. The museum wasn’t responsible however, the prize organisation supplied it.
The cafe next to the museum also has an incredible ceiling.
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