Günther Domenig
Encyclopedia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.
Domenig studied architecture at the Technische Universität, Graz
Graz University of Technology
The Graz University of Technology is the second largest university in Styria, Austria, after the University of Graz. Austria has three universities of technology – in Graz, in Leoben, and in Vienna. The Graz University of Technology was founded in 1811 by Archduke John of Austria. TUG, as the...
(1953-1959), and after working as an architectural assistant, set up in practice with Eilfried Huth (1963-1973), producing highly regarded buildings in a brutalist
Brutalist architecture
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement.-The term "brutalism":...
vein. Domening's first internationally acclaimed completed work was the Z-bank in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, which signalled a much more expressionistic
Expressionist architecture
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts....
, counter-modernist aesthetic. Domenig's subsequent work has been important, particularly in the exploration of free flowing, highly modelled but technically precise architecture which has achieved a wide acceptance for commercial and public commissions (as in, for example, the work of Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
and Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind
Daniel Libeskind, is an American architect, artist, and set designer of Polish-Jewish descent. Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal design architect...
).
A group of architects based in Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
achieved recognition following the 'Grazer Schule' exhibition and widely disseminated catalogue (published 1984), with Domening the most significant member in terms of built works and international standing.
Domenig's own house, the 'Steinhaus' at Lake Ossiach
Lake Ossiach
Lake Ossiach is a lake in the Austrian state of Carinthia, situated in the Nock Mountains between the towns of Villach and Feldkirchen. It is the third largest lake in Carinthia, superseded only by Lake Wörth and Lake Millstatt....
, a lake near Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
, became a personal manifesto. Over the many years of its construction, it was both an outlet for his technical and formal experimentation, and a focus for his architectural aspirations. The Steinhaus has become a cultural icon, having hosted concerts, been the subject of television and art projects, and having featured in many books and magazines.
In the wider world, Domenig has produced many notable buildings, with clients as diverse as schools, banks, local authority social housing departments, and difficult projects such as the Dokumentationszentrum (Documentation Centre, 1999) in Nürnberg adjacent to Albert Speer
Albert Speer
Albert Speer, born Berthold Konrad Hermann Albert Speer, was a German architect who was, for a part of World War II, Minister of Armaments and War Production for the Third Reich. Speer was Adolf Hitler's chief architect before assuming ministerial office...
's Nazi Party Congress complex.
In addition to his practice, Domenig was also appointed Professor at the Technische Univerität, Graz in 1980.
Main works
- 1963-68 Pedagogic Academy, Graz (with Eilfried Huth)
- 1965-69 Parish centre, Oberwart (with Eilfried Huth)
- 1973-77 Multi-purpose school hall, Graz
- 1974-79 Zentralsparkasse bank, Vienna
- 1980- Steinhaus, Steindorf
- 1987 Funder Factory (Funder Werk II), St Veit
- 1993-96 RESOWI-Zentrum (university building), Karl Franzens Universität,Graz
- 1998 Documentation Centre, Nürnberg
- 2004 T-Center (headquarters building), Vienna (with Hermann Eisenköck, Herfried Peyker)