au, has passed away this week at age 81. Born in 1944 in German-occupied Poznań, Poland, Swiczinsky founded the Viennese firm together with architects Wolf Dieter Prix and Michael Holzer in...){kind=link}
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Helmut Swiczinsky, one of the three original members of the iconic Austrian studio Coop Himmelb(l)au, has passed away this week at age 81.
Born in 1944 in German-occupied Poznań, Poland, Swiczinsky founded the Viennese firm together with architects Wolf Dieter Prix and Michael Holzer in 1968, quickly gaining prominence for their radical approach to design and daring, deconstructivist structures they created. He retired from daily operations in 2001 and eventually left his role as a partner in 2006, transferring the studio’s leadership to Prix (co-founder Holzer had left the company in 1971).
In a post on Coop Himmelb(l)au’s Instagram, Prix shared this about his long-time collaborator:
Swi, as we called him, was not only an outstanding “Raumarchitekt” but also a fantastic “Konstrukteur”. He was proud of his ancestor Carl Ritter von Ghega, the architect of the Semmering Railway.
Many daring CHBL constructions can be traced back to him. But he was more than just an architect. He could spend hours talking to close friends about philosophy, society, education, and inventions. I think Einstein was rumbling around in his head. But he could only do that with people he liked. He never wanted to teach at universities for long.
Swi despised authority and hated law and order. He wanted to cross boundaries and always question rules. But he did so with humor.
He was the quiet but enthusiastic, thoughtful sail setter in the 1960s and 1970s on the pirate ship Himmelb(l)au. He didn’t want to sign on to large tankers. Whenever a friend, and he was a friend to me — you don’t end long friendships — leaves us forever overnight, our shared deeds and dreams become an unchangeable past. We can no longer dream together.
Helmut R.I.P.
Wolf