Adolf Hoch (June 17, 1910 – May 24, 1992) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He was born in

Winterberg Winterberg ( Westphalian: ''Winnenmerg'') is a town in the Hochsauerland district of North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany and a major winter sport resort of the Wintersport Arena Sauerland. Geography Winterberg is located in the middle o ...

Austrian-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1 ...

. In 1948 he won a gold medal in the art competitions of the Olympic Games for his "Skisprungschanze auf dem Kobenzl" ("Ski jumping hill on the Kobenzl"). Hoch was the last Austrian gold medalist in art competition. He was the architect of the

Opernpassage The Opernpassage (Opera passage) in the Inner City of Vienna is a Grade II listed pedestrian underpass under the ring road (Ringstraße). It was opened in 1955, a day before the re-opening of the nearby Vienna State Opera. Designed by architect A ...

in Vienna, a pedestrian underpass of the most busy crossroads of the city near the opera house. It was built in 1955 and opened on 4 November 1955, one day before the reopening of the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. Since then it has been a symbol of the modern spirit in architecture and urban planning in Vienna. Cooperating with the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments in Austria the City of Vienna undertook a complete restoration of the structure, which was reopened on 17 September 2013.Die Opernpassage
, Website of the Federal Office for the Protection of Monuments in Austria, Vienna 2013 After the completion of the Opernpassage Hoch was asked to design three other pedestrian passages below ground crossing the

Vienna Ring Road The Vienna Ring Road (german: Ringstraße, lit. ''ring road'') is a 5.3 km (3.3 mi) circular grand boulevard that serves as a ring road around the historic Innere Stadt (Inner Town) district of Vienna, Austria. The road is located on sites where ...

. Between 1961 and 1964 the Bellariapassage, the Babenbergerpassage and the Albertinapassage were built. The Bellariapassage now connects to the

Vienna U-Bahn The Vienna U-Bahn (german: U-Bahn Wien), where ''U-Bahn'' is an abbreviation of the German term ''Untergrundbahn'' ( en, underground railway), is a rapid transit system serving Vienna, Austria. With the September 2017 opening of the , five-stati ...

, the other two lost their function and are used as party locations since the turn of the millennium.

References

External links

Adolf Hoch's profile on ÖOC

1910 births 1992 deaths Olympic gold medalists in art competitions 20th-century Austrian architects Medalists at the 1948 Summer Olympics Olympic competitors in art competitions Austrian military personnel of World War II {{Austria-architect-stub