Collection

Collection

Heidulf Gerngross

Heidulf Gerngross was born in Kötschach in Carinthia in 1939. He studied architecture in Vienna and Graz and painting in Tokyo. He completed his postgraduate studies (Urban Design) at UCLA Los Angeles, graduating in 1971 with a Master of Science in Urban Land Economics. In 1976, he founded the architectural firm Gerngross-Richter with Helmut Richter. Together with Robert Schwan, he founded the Gerngross Atelier, Der Gerngrossraum, Gerngross ST/A/D. He invented the archiquant (architectural particles for the proportioning of architectural making) in 1995. A year later, he caused a sensation with several projects of his Gerngross Workshop Vienna, including the 1st Vienna Loft Estate and the Friedrich Kiesler School in Vienna-Leopoldstadt. In 2002, his contributions casa privata and aula discorsiva were shown at the 2002 Architecture Biennale in Venice. The architectural model capella bianca was subsequently purchased by the MAK, and since 2003 Gerngross has been editor of the print medium ST/A/R, Städtepla-nung, Architektur, Religion. The film Der Archistrator, Heidulf Gerngross by RAUM.FILM. Vienna was presented to the public at Topkino Wien in 2004. In 2008 it was awarded the City of Vienna Prize for Architecture.

Achiquant: An archiquant is a geometric figure whose width is equal to its radius and whose depth is the golden ratio of its width or radius. The archiquant was explicitly identified by the architect Heidulf Gerngross as a style-defining figure in art, architecture and design. The shape of the archiquant results from an application of the golden ratio to human body mass, in particular to the length of the forearm, similar to the original determination of the length of an ulna. The size ratio of the archiquant refers to the clamping area between two elbows that are parallel to each other. The spatial extension of the archiquant thus corresponds to a physical movement, whereby linear and rotational aspects are significant. In this sense, the archiquant is a surface unit oriented towards the human body, and in addition to the significance of the geometric form for the construction of aesthetic structures, the archiquant is also significant for social space. This is illustrated by the integration of the archiquant in Gerngross’s work, in which the archiquant appears in many different ways as a performative element in photography, film, urban planning, furniture and clothing design. Here, the archiquant provides reference points for the creative expansion of the human event horizon. The familiar effect of the archiquant, which can be explained by recourse to familiar masses and gestures, symbolizes a possibility.