The Vienna Center for Architecture celebrates 20 years

The Vienna Center for Architecture will be 20 years old. It is the perfect moment to present on this occasion its yet unknown but unique collection, "The Gold of Vienna's Az W". The exhibition prepared for the jubilee year 2013 contains designs, sketches, plans, photographs, models, publications, and other exhibits, capturing important epochs of Austrian architecture, significant projects and buildings, as well as their creators. The selection of exhibits was also co-created by the public - 630 architecture enthusiasts. The exhibition will provide a glimpse into the architectural legacy of the 20th century. It will also present the behind-the-scenes of the architecture center and the archival activities themselves. It will let the voices and images from the archive speak through anecdotes and interesting stories. The latest approaches will also be presented.

AzW has been actively collecting for more than ten years, focusing primarily on Austrian architecture after 1945. It is thus the only Austrian institution that is intensively dedicated to the documentation and preservation of the architectural heritage of the last 70 years. The collection is based on legacies, donations, and bequests, Achleitner's archive as well as individual projects. It consists of more than 50 donations and bequests from renowned architects and studios such as Raimund Abraham, arbeitsgruppe 4, Bogdan Bogdanović, Oswald Haerdtl, Wilhelm Holzbauer, Viktor Hufnagel, Eilfried Huth, Josef Lackner, Lukas Lang, Walter Loose, Eva and Karl Mang, Rainer Pirker, Hans Puchhammer, Hans Purin, Helmut Richter, Anton Schweighofer, Johannes Spalt, Heinz Tesare, Jan Turnovský, Ottokar Uhl, Rudolf Wäger, Gunther Wawrik, Traude Wolfgang Windbrechtinger, Eugen Wörle, Gunter Wratzfeld, and many others. The collection of individual projects is also continuously expanding: Az W takes on key projects of Austrian architecture from the most recent times and thus ensures the architectural cultural heritage for the future.