Lecture: Wolf Prix, "The Himmelb(l)au Project"

Lecture: Wolf Prix, “The Himmelb(l)au Project”

Wolf D. Prix, born in 1942 in Vienna, is co-founder, Design Principal and CEO of COOP HIMMELB(L)AU. He studied architecture at the Vienna University of Technology, the Architectural Association of London as well as at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in Los Angeles.

Among others, Wolf D. Prix is a member of the Österreichische Bundeskammer der Architekten und Ingenieurkonsulenten, the Bund Deutscher Architekten, Germany (BDA), the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), the Architectural Association Santa Clara, Cuba, and Fellow of the American Institute of Architecture (FAIA).

Wolf D. Prix has received numerous awards including the Great Austrian State Award and the Austrian Decoration of Honor for Science and Art. He is a permanent member of the Austrian Art Senate and the European Academy of Sciences and Arts as well as chairman of the Curia for Art since autumn 2014.

Two Universities have conferred on him the Doctorate Honoris Causa: The Universidad de Palermo, Buenos Aires, Argentina (2001) and the “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest, Romania (2014). In 2015 he was awarded an Honorary Diploma of the Architectural Association of London.

Wolf D. Prix is counted among the originators of the deconstructivist architecture movement. COOP HIMMELB(L)AU had its international breakthrough with the invitation to the exhibition “Deconstructivist Architecture” at MoMA New York in 1988. Over the years Wolf D. Prix/ COOP HIMMELB(L)AU was awarded with numerous international architecture awards.

COOP HIMMELB(L)AU was founded in Vienna in 1968 and has since then been operating under the direction of CEO and design principal Wolf D. Prix  in the fields of art, architecture, urban planning, and design. Another branch of the firm was opened in the United States in 1988 in Los Angeles. COOP HIMMELB(L)AU currently employs between 50 and 150 people from 19 different countries. In numerous countries the team has realized museums, concert halls, science and office buildings as well as residential buildings. Presently COOP HIMMELB(L)AU is working on various projects in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The company’s most well-known international projects include the Falkestrasse attic conversion in Vienna, the multifunctional UFA Cinema Center in Dresden, the BMW Welt in Munich, the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, the Central Los Angeles Area High School #9 for the Visual and Performing Arts, the Busan Cinema Center in Korea and the Dalian International Conference Center in China and the House of Music in Aalborg, Denmark. Recently completed are the Musée des Confluences in Lyon, France, the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt/Main, Germany, and the Museum of Contemporary Art & Planning Exhibition (MOCAPE) in Shenzhen, China.