To the death of Dietmar Steiner

After the departure of Walter Zschokke and Friedrich Achleitner, the Austrian architectural community must come to terms with the loss of another significant publicist who dedicated his life to highlighting Austrian architecture around the world. Dietmar Steiner left his biggest mark as the director of AzW (Vienna Architectural Center), a position he held for nearly a quarter of a century. For Steiner, architecture was a lifelong passion. Although he studied under Professor Gustav Peichl at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, he devoted himself more to promoting the work of his colleagues than to his own creations. He was a long-time collaborator of Friedrich Achleitner, working in the archive of modern Austrian architecture of the 20th century, but he will forever be remembered by the professional community as the founder of Vienna's AzW.

Steiner attributed the creation of AzW to the euphoric atmosphere at the beginning of the 1990s, when the political scene in Vienna was extremely supportive of architecture. He became more critical of later politicians, attributing to them the diminishing dignity of life in the metropolises. He was not swayed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) rankings, which repeatedly declared Vienna the Best City to Live In, reminding contemporary politicians that they had rid themselves of their own responsibility for quality architecture. Steiner's commentaries often sparked heated debates, did not go unnoticed, and helped to highlight architectural issues.

In addition to his role at AzW, Steiner also served as an editor of the architectural magazine Domus (1995-99), a member of the advisory committee for the Mies van der Rohe Award (1997-2014), president of the World Confederation of Architectural Museums (2006-14), and chair of the advisory council for the quality of social housing in Vienna (2009-14). He left his position at AzW at the end of 2016, when Angelika Fitz succeeded him. Dietmar Steiner passed away on Friday, May 15, 2020, due to complications after heart surgery.

Angelika Fitz, who took over the directorship of AzW from Steiner three years ago, expressed her condolences with the following words: “Dietmar Steiner gave AzW a unique DNA at the beginning that many museums envy us today: an exclusive position in the midst of social debates. He seismographically anticipated a number of current issues from climate change to building mutual solidarity. Architecture, and all of us who live in it, have lost a great ally.”

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