Covering + Exposing : Coop Himmelblau

by Frank Werner

To combine architecture and imagination in a fashion as light and variable as clouds was the credo proclaimed by Wolf D. Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky when they founded the practice of Coop Himmelb(l)au in 1968 in Vienna (Himmelblau = heavenly blue). Their radical, iconoclastic and deconstructivist approach to architecture expresses the energy and tension of each site and location in spectacular fashion. Among the projects that established their international reputation are the Groningen Museum pavilion and Dresden UFA Cinema Complex. Their work has also featured in numerous exhibitions and they have represented Austria at the Architecture Biennial in Venice. This monograph is the first publication to present the theoretical and conceptual content of Coop Himmelb(l)au s oeuvre.

192 pages, Hardcover

First published November 27, 2000