H\Blog
October 2008

Building the Booty Call? Date added 15.10.08 by David Lomax Publication After seeing Wolf D. Prix of Coop Himmelb(l)au deliver his lecture as winner of the Charles Jencks Award for the confluence of theory and building, I think it’s worth looking again at another Viennese architecture co-op. Haus Rucker Co. formed the year before Coop Himmelb(l)au, also in Vienna in 1967 and were also contemporaries of Archigram. I’ve often wondered if Wolf D. Prix, schooled in the sixties at the AA in London could be the bridge between these two groups. It’s obvious from the machines and early inflatable buildings of Prix’s that there is a theoretical and aesthetic connection to the Haus Rucker Co. agenda of modifying and amplifying personal experience and that of the city through interventions. Last night, Wolf said that architecture without building things is a little like telephone sex. Maybe Haus Rucker Co. are the built form to Archigrams booty call. After all, as Rayner Banham said, ‘Archigram are short on theory, long on draughtsmanship’. I suppose that’s the difference between a Gold Medal and a Jencks Award. Check out a little of Haus Rucker’s back catalogue here www.ortner.at/C_HRe.html And some further reading here: www.amazon.co.uk/Coop-Himmelb-au-Wolf-Prix/ www.amazon.co.uk/Zamp-Kelp-Expanding-Architectural-Monographs

Anyone Seen the RAL chart? Date added 14.10.08 by Daniel Burn Publication Gerhard Richter arranges colored tiles into paintings. Each painting has a unique character created by varied colour hues and subtle changes in pattern. Well worth a look. Gerhard Richter 4900 Colours : Version II 23 September – 16 November 2008 www.serpentinegallery.org