Hermann Czech - Böcker

The catalog for the 2015/16 exhibition at the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna is dedicated to Josef Frank (1885–1967), one of the most important Austrian architects of the 20th century. In addition to his groundbreaking architectural work, the catalog focuses his design, which remains highly influential to this day. As an architect and designer, Frank remains contemporary, having promoted a pragmatic approach to design that focused less on formal qualities and more on those of social experience. Frank's ideal of an unaffected and unpretentious practicality, aimed at an independent and sophisticated bourgeois culture of living beyond stylistic dogmas and fashionable conventions, seems more relevant than ever.

Hermann Czech belongs to the small group of architects that are equally prolific in theory and design. Over the course of six decades, he has created a much recognised body of built work and projects and also developed an architectural theory based on profound knowledge of philosophy and architectural history. His writings enable a clearer understanding of the built environment and thereby a sound basis for decisions affecting its future.Czech grapples with local and universal topics and spars with his colleague and fellow compatriot Hans Hollein. He analyses mannerism and calls attention to underestimated works of architecture. He delves as well into questions addressed by intellectuals and, like them, maintains an ambivalent relationship to modernism, and he makes a strong call to embrace reason over style. Czech also applies his profound knowledge of the works of Hegel, Kant, Wittgenstein, and Adorno to pressing architectural topics. Moreover, he recognises that architects often lack the basic framework necessary for meaningful discourse.