The Architekturzentrum Wien (Az W) is a museum in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, in the Museumsquartier. It is conceived as a centre for exhibitions, events and research into

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and related topics, particularly the architecture and

urban design Urban design is an approach to the design of buildings and the spaces between them that focuses on specific design processes and outcomes based on geographical location. In addition to designing and shaping the physical features of towns, city, ...

of the 20th and 21st centuries. It is the national architecture museum of

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

History

The centre was founded in 1993 as a

non-profit organisation A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

. It arose from a collaboration between the national government of Austria and the city of Vienna, and is jointly operated by the Federal Ministry of Education, Art and Culture and Vienna's offices of culture and urban development. After eight years in temporary exhibition venues in the Museumsquartier, the Az W moved into its present location in 2001. It has around 1,000 m² of exhibition space at its disposal, and organised over 150 exhibitions, 300 events and 600 architectural excursions in its first 15 years.

Activities

The permanent exhibition ''"a_schau. Österreichische Architektur im 20. und 21. Jahrhundert"'' displays the history of Austrian architecture from 1850 to the present. The changing exhibitions present contemporary architecture, offering new perspectives on architectural history and future developments. Through a range of events and activities, architecture is presented as a "cultural discipline, everyday phenomenon and complex process". These events include professional presentations and seminars, guided tours, children's workshops, publications, and the annual Vienna Architecture Congress. The museum's cafe and restaurant, MILO, is also well known for its interior design.Die Neuen im Quartier
''

Der Standard ''Der Standard'' () is an Austrian daily newspaper published in Vienna. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Der Standard'' was founded by Oscar Bronner as a financial newspaper and published its first editio ...

'', 22 February 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2010. The documentary and research department operates a specialist non-lending library with 27,000 architectural titles, as well as an online architecture database and lexicon (''Architektur Archiv Austria'' and ''online-Architektenlexikon'') and an archive and collection relating to 20th- and 21st-century architecture.

References

External links

Home page in English.
Museums in Vienna Art museums and galleries established in 1993 Architecture museums Buildings and structures in Neubau 1993 establishments in Austria 20th-century architecture in Austria {{Austria-museum-stub