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U sing imagination to make architecture light and changeable like clouds” – this and again and again tells entertaining and interesting stories of his long time as an archi-
is how Coop Himmelb(l)au explained the name of its office in 1968. Were you
tect. Due to business trips and public appearances, he also travels a lot all over the world.
floating on a cloud during the time of your internship?
With an internship abroad, I wanted to not only gain practical experience but also to r The architecture by Coop Himmelb(l)au is extremely complex. Which were the
learn different languages of architecture which perhaps are a bit lacking when studying challenges you faced as an intern?
at university. At Coop Himmelb(l)au, I had the perfect chance to gain insights into an It goes without saying that this is a challenge for students who have not yet worked a
internationally operative office which had become famous as a pioneer of deconstruc- long time in the office. In general, for each project the same approach applies for grasp-
tivism. Just this statement – that architecture can also be unconventional and more than ing the complexity of the projects: As a first step, building working models for finding the
a “box” – fascinated me right from the start. During my internship, I was able to learn a form and the concept is essential. For this, a large number of models are made of
great deal about the artistic conceptual design and the office’s approach. Looking back, Styrodur – in sky blue. With this type of material, complicated structures can also be
I am convinced that I did everything right with my choice. quickly represented. A multitude of alternative models are produced in this way and they
clearly show the further development of the project. Parallel to this, the form is trans-
r How are we to imagine the office today? How many employees are working at ferred to Rhino and AutoCAD and thus further developed. The conventional Adobe appli-
Coop Himmelb(l)au and what does the work structure look like? cations are used for creating diagrams and graphics
Himmelb(l)au currently employs 50 people in Vienna. They all work in an open-plan
office in various project teams. For each project there, is a senior partner, a project archi- r Which was the project about which you got most enthusiastic?
tect, a design architect and a technical coordinator. The senior partner also decides all That was a competition in the heart of the city of Melbourne in which many other
the issues of design together with Mr Prix. The project architect is responsible for the func- renowned architectural offices had also participated. The task was to design a new high-
tional and technical implementation. The task of the design architect is to achieve the rise building with a mixed use of a hotel, offices and apartments with the aim of creating
desired visual objective with work models or 3D representations. The technical coordi- an exciting new landmark for the city. To meet this requirement, we designed a vertical
nator ensures that agreement among all the members of the team works well. city consisting of three building sections which are interlinked by publicly accessible
Furthermore, there is a model workshop in the office where complex work- or submis- green spaces and we thus managed to establish a new typology for high-rise buildings
sion models can be built. in general. I was very fortunate in being allowed to contribute to this project from the
start and thus get to know the working method and -structure of the office. I was able
r Wolf D. Prix, born in 1942, is the only remaining founding member and heads the to participate from finding the concept to the elaboration. Every so often, I was permitted
office as the design principal and the CEO. To what extent is he present in the office? to participate in the video conferences with the members of the partner office in
Despite his meanwhile 75 years, Mr Prix is still very active in the office. From the begin- Melbourne whenever new insights and ideas were being exchanged. Such experiences
ning, he participates in every project and is decisively involved in the design and the con- stay very positive in my memory. Unfortunately, Coop Himmelb(l)au did not succeed in
cept with his sketches and his ideas. Apart from this, he likes to chat with his employees winning this competition in the end.

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