from otto wagner to adolf loos: new map charts vienna's modern architectural scene

New map by Blue Crow celebrates Modern architecture in Vienna

Blue Crow Media has released its latest urban guide, the Modern Vienna Map / Wiener Modernismus Stadtplan (2023), which celebrates the city’s 20th-century modern architecture. Featuring 50 buildings, the map depicts architectural works with intricate details and photography by Vienna-based architect and photographer Gili Merin.

Modern Vienna Map unfolds the rich tapestry of the city’s modern architectural history, exploring its iconic buildings.

The map juxtaposes modernist, functionalist, brutalist, and post-modern buildings nestled amidst Vienna’s grand Baroque and Biedermeier cityscape. Within its pages, an array of architectural styles comes to life, ranging from the bold and revolutionary to the more traditional and conservative. Some highlights include Adolf Loos’s American Bar and Loos House, Paul Engelmann’s Wittgenstein House, Otto Wagner’s Danube Canal House, and Villa Beer by Josef Frank and Oskar Wlach, as well as Karl-Marx-Hof by Otto Wagner and Karl Ehn and the Spittelau Incineration by Friedensreich Hundertwasser.

Wotruba by Fritz Wotruba | all photos © Blue Crow

Visualizing Vienna’s 20th Century Architectural Landscape

Blue Crow Media‘s guide is a visual introduction to Vienna’s architectural landscape during the 20th century. It spotlights the works of Adolf Loos, who was a pivotal figure in Vienna’s early 20th-century architecture and design scene. He vehemently opposed the ornamental nature of Fin de Siècle architecture and advocated for a more minimalistic approach, drawing inspiration from the Vienna Secession (led by artist Gustav Klimt) and Viennese Jugendstil (Vienna’s local Art Nouveau movement).

Vienna’s reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities is partly due to its unique social housing provision, which was significantly influenced by progressive modernist architecture and ideas during the 20th century. The map includes examples of iconic housing projects such as Karl-Marx-Hof (by Otto Wagner and Karl Ehn, 1927–33) and the Bauhaus-influenced Werkbund Estate (by Loos, Lurçat, Rietveld, and others, 1929–32), both built during the era of ‘Red Vienna’ under the political rule of the Social Democratic Workers’ Party of Austria (1918–1934).

Wohnpark by Harry Glück, Kurt Hlaweniczka, Thomas Reinthaller and Franz Requa

The latter part of the 20th century (from the 70s to the 90s) brought about an experimental phase featuring post-war brutalist churches with monumental concrete and geometric stained glass, crafted by emerging architects, and in the case of the striking Wotruba Church, an artist’s contribution. Other highlights include Hans Hollein’s sculptural shopfronts, the world’s first Deconstructivist project, by Coop Himmelb(l)au; and Hundertwasser’s outbursts of colour and undulating surfaces.

St Florian by Rudolf Schwarz