The Austrian architect Helmut Swiczinsky, who co-founded the internationally renowned architecture firm Coop Himmelb(l)au with Wolf D. Prix, has died at the age of 81. The architecture firm confirmed a corresponding report by the "Standard" to the APA on Wednesday. According to an Instagram post by his son, Swiczinsky passed away on Tuesday.

Swiczinsky was born in Poland

Helmut Swiczinsky was born on January 13, 1944, in Poznań (Poland). He grew up in Vienna, studied at the Vienna University of Technology, and then at the Architectural Association in London. In 1973, he became a Visiting Professor there. He was also a permanent member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, headquartered in Vienna. He received all awards together with partner Prix: including the German Architecture Prize (1999), the Grand Austrian State Prize (2000), and the European Steel Award (2001).

Since the legendary year 1968, the two architectural artists worked together in the office "Coop Himmelblau", with the bracketed "l" in "(l)" being added later. With unconventional theoretical works and provocative antics like the "City Balls", they stirred up the staid architectural scene at the time. "But we have no desire to build Biedermeier," they proclaimed in a manifesto in 1980.

BMW Welt and Musée des Confluences

The duo soon became internationally known as "Deconstructivist Architecture", as acknowledged by the eponymous exhibition at the New York Museum of Modern Art. In 1992, a solo exhibition followed at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In Austria, the architect duo immortalized themselves with projects such as the SEG Apartment Tower (1998), the SEG Apartment Block Remise (2000), or the residential complex Gasometer B (2001). Among their internationally renowned buildings are the UFA Cinema Palace in Dresden, the BMW Welt in Munich, and the Musée des Confluences in Lyon. Swiczinsky retired in 2001 and left Coop Himmelb(l)au as a partner in 2006.

(APA/Red)

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