COOP HIMMELB(L)AU Prix, Wolf D. (1942) and Swiczinsky, Helmut (1944)

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Wolf Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky co-founded the practice COOP HIMMELB(L)AU in 1968. First based in Vienna, Austria, they have opened offices in Los Angles, United States of America (1988), and Guadalajara, Mexico (2000). Known for their innovative juxtaposition of forms and materials, they have a substantial repertoire of built work.

Prix was born in Vienna and educated at the Technical University. He also studied at the Architectural Association in London and Southern California Institute of Architecture in Los Angeles. Swiczinsky was born in Poznan, Poland, and also attended the Technical University. Like Prix, he went to the Architectural Association in London to study architecture.

Highly sought after critics, Prix has been the Professor of the Architecture 3 Masterclass at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna since 1993. They have taught as visiting critics at many schools in Argentina, Great Britain and the United States. They are both members of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, headquartered in Vienna. Working together for many years their work has received awards such as the Erich Schelling Architecture Prize (1992), the European Steel Design Award (2001), and the Gold Medal for merits to the federal state of Vienna (2002). A few of their most recent commissions include the Groninger Museum, Netherlands (1993–1994); Musée des Confluences, Lyon, France (2001–2007); Great Egyptian Museum, Cairo, Egypt (2002–2003); and the Opera House, Gunagzhon, China (2003).

This remarkably cryptic sketch was part of the process of design for the BMW Welt, Munich, Germany. The building sited near the BMW headquarters was programmed to be a center for brand experience and vehicle delivery. Under a sculptural roof, the large hall acts as a multiuse market. At the center of the building is placed the ‘Premiere’ vehicle delivery area surrounded by suspended customer lounges that look out onto the event space and provide views to the BMW Headquarters.

The long, undulating, and heavy felt pen marks outline the form of the building. Very seldom lifted off of the paper, this line composes the whole shape with efficiency and perception. The continuous line demarcates the space without reference points. The image gives few hints of a ground line or datum from which to understand the orientation. The identification at the lower right is the best clue to ‘reading’ the relationships between the forms. As an early design sketch, the floating shape could be describing both plan and section simultaneously. The gentle arc of the top piece, wavering underneath, could represent the roof supported by an hourglass structure and replicates an elevation view. The lower shape may reflect the plaza in front of the building acting as a plan.

This sketch was probably a personal thought since it makes no attempt to be explanatory. Although evoking the conceptual concerns for the BMW showroom, it is the type of sketch looking for relationships rather than communication to the clients. A similar version has been posted on the COOP HIMMELB(L)AU website which may indicate that after the project reached a more final stage the firm felt this sketch was the most representative diagram of the project. As a diagram it may hold the essence of the building as it was conceived, pure its ideal and prior to the gravity necessary for construction.

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