Collection
Adolf Krischanitz Collection:
Works
- Projects in Lower Austria
- Texts an lectures
Correspondence
- Letters to and from Adolf Krischanitz
Life documents
- Awards and prizes
Collections
- Slide collection
- Photographs
- Press documentation
- Publications
- Documents relating to teaching activities
- Documents relating to jury activities
Biography
Adolf Krischanitz was born in Schwarzach im Pongau (Salzburg) in 1946, where he also grew up. After attending the Federal Higher Technical Institute in Linz, he studied at the Vienna University of Technology from 1965 to 1972. In 1970, Krischanitz founded the architectural group “Missing Link” with his fellow students Angela Hareiter and Otto Kapfinger, which provided a space for experimentation and research for interdisciplinary projects during its ten years of existence. After Angela Hareiter left in 1974, Krischanitz and Kapfinger shifted their focus to “built form,” analyzing “Red Vienna” and developing practical proposals for public housing construction, among other things.
Since being sworn in as a civil engineer in 1979, Adolf Krischanitz worked as an independent architect. His early collaboration with Otto Kapfinger included the renovation of the Vienna Werkbund Estate and the interior design of the Kuoni travel agency. Their last joint construction project was the renovation of the Vienna Secession, including the installation of the Klimt Frieze. Adolf Krischanitz remained closely associated with the building throughout his career. Starting with a design for a furniture series for Wiesner Hager during the renovation, through numerous exhibition designs during his presidency (1991-1995), the later addition of the underground depot, and the recent renovation, he not only accompanied the building architecturally—the Secession was a place where he connected with artists, friends, and clients.
Almost directly opposite stood one of his best-known and most talked-about projects, the temporary Kunsthalle am Karlsplatz (1992–2002). Krischanitz collaborated with artist Oskar Putz on the color scheme for the striking exhibition container, a partnership that had a decisive influence on several buildings. One of their last joint projects was the Pilotengasse housing estate, a social housing development in Vienna's no-man's-land north of the Danube. Together with Herzog & de Meuron and Steidle + Partner, they sought “a new urban order on the periphery” in this project.
Urban planning, another “cluster” in Krischanitz’s work, can also be seen like a grammar, see Donau-City (1992-1999) and Neues Bauen am Horn (1996). Less known, but no less noteworthy, is the master plan for Friedrichshof (1994). Only one house was built on the site of the former Otto Mühl commune in accordance with the plan: the Sperl House (1996), built in the style of a Burgenland farmstead ("Streckhof"), was extended five years later, as it had been considered an option in the master plan; in 2010, the Friedrichshof collection, which had been converted and expanded by Adolf Krischanitz, was reopened.
In 1979, Krischanitz was one of the founders of the journal UmBau published by the Austrian Society for Architecture, and in 1982 he became chairman of this society. He was a visiting professor at the Technical University of Munich in 1989 and at summer academies in Karlsruhe (1990), Naples (1994/95), and Vienna (1996). From 1992 to 2011, he was professor of urban renewal and design at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Over time, a small second office was established in Berlin, primarily for competitions. This led to a shared office with Birgit Frank from 2004 to 2007. The only project realized in Berlin was the Temporary Art Gallery on Schlossplatz (2007), which served as temporary quarters for the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw from 2017.
Krischanitz had connections to Switzerland from an early stage. His work was first exhibited at the Architekturgalerie Luzern in 1990. For his first completed project, the interior design for the Swiss Re Centre for Global Dialogue in Zurich by Meili + Peter Architects, “Catholic designs” were brought in from Vienna to enrich the project. Hermann Czech and Adolf Krischanitz collaborated with textile artist Gilbert Bretterbauer, among others, on this project.
Thanks to competition successes in major projects such as the renovation and expansion of the Museum Rietberg with Alfred Grazioli (2002), the laboratory building on the Novartis Campus in Basel (2003), and the superblock in the Sulzerareal Winterthur (2005), another office was opened in Zurich.
In 2011, the international competition for the Quai Zurich Campus was won: Adolf Krischanitz spent more than ten years working on the largest project of his architectural career, the renovation of the corporate headquarters on Mythenquai, which also marked the end of his career. Adolf Krischanitz retired at the end of 2022.