Revised, updated, and expanded by nearly 100 projects, this new edition of the catalog for the "as̲how," Architekturzentrum Wien's (Az W) permanent exhibition on Austrian architecture of the 20th and 21st century, has become a stand-alone reference book. Its scope extends beyond the themes of the exhibition. Apart from condensing the current discourse on Austrian architecture of the last 150 years, it also documents relevance and singularity of the Az W collection. Featuring more than 2,300 images and plans, accompanied by explanatory texts-structured chronologically as well as thematically-the book points out both historical connections and contemporary tendencies. Paired with a timeline, offering also an overview of all relevant media since 1836, brief biographies, and an index, this is the authoritative survey of modern and contemporary Austrian architecture. With contributions by Gabriele Kaiser, Monika Platzer, Anneke Essl, Martina Frühwirth, Gudrun Hausegger, Sonja Pisarik, and Ute Waditschatka. Foreword by Hannes Swoboda and Dietmar Steiner.

Set within the broader context of post-war Austria and the re-education initiatives set up by the Allied forces, particularly the US, this book investigates the art and architecture scene in Vienna to ask how this can inform our broader understanding of architectural Postmodernism. The book focuses on the outputs of the Austrian artist and architect, Hans Hollein, and on his appropriation as a Postmodernist figure. In Vienna, the circles of radical art and architecture were not distinct, and Hollein’s claim that ‘Everything is Architecture’ was symptomatic of this intermixing of creative practices. Austria's proximity to the so-called ‘Iron Curtain’ and its post-war history of four-power occupation gave a heightened sense of menace that emerged strongly in Viennese art in the Cold War era. Seen as a collective entity, Hans Hollein’s works across architecture, art, writing, exhibition design and publishing clearly require a more diverse, complex and culturally nuanced account of architectural Postmodernism than that offered by critics at the time. Across the five chapters, Hollein's outputs are viewed not as individual projects, but as symptomatic of Austria's attempts to come to terms with its Nazi past and to establish a post-war identity.

Encyclopedic in its coverage, this seminal work focuses on the architecture of Prague from the turn of the century to the end of the Second World War: a rich matrix within which to place the figures who created the powerful, innovative spirits of modern Czech architecture. The book documents the architects, structures, and theoretical underpinnings that helped to shape Prague's cultural heritage and present-day artistic spirit.

The comprehensive reference book on Austrian architecture of the 20th and 21st century.

This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition "Cold war and architecture. Contributions to Austria's democratization after 1945", october 17, 2019-february 24, 2020 at Architekturzentrum Wien.