Hubert Petschnigg (31 October 1913 – 15 September 1997) was an

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 ...

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 ...

Life

Petschnigg was born in Klagenfurt and went to school in

Villach Villach (; ; ; ) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the population is 61,887. Together wit ...

. In 1934 he began to study architecture at the Vienna University of Technology, where he entered the ''Hansea Vienna'' branch of the Kösener Corps student society. Before he could graduate, however, he was called up for military service. After the Second World War he resumed his studies at the Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), under Karl Raimund Lorenz and Friedrich Zotter, and graduated with an engineering degree in 1947.Architektur der 50er 60er 70er: Petschnigg, Hubert

University of Dortmund TU Dortmund University () is a technical university in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany with over 35,000 students, and over 6,000 staff including 300 professors, offering around 80 Bachelor's and master's degree programs. It is situate ...

. In 1948 he began working at the architectural firm of

Helmut Hentrich Helmut Hentrich (17 June 1905 – 7 February 2001) was a German architect who became particularly known for his striking high-rise buildings in the 1960s and 1970s. The architectural firm he founded, ''Hentrich, Petschnigg und Partner (HPP)'', st ...

and Hans Heuser. After Heuser's death in 1953, Petschnigg became his replacement and founded the HP firm together with Hentrich.Architekt Hubert Petschnigg gestorben: Der Mitbegründer des Büros HPP starb im Alter von 83 Jahren
Obituary from ''BauNetz'' magazine, 18 September 1997. Entry for Hubert Petschnigg at the Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen database
. The firm was expanded to six partners in 1959 and renamed HPP Hentrich, Petschnigg & Partners. Over the following decades it became one of the most prolific and best-known architectural firms in Germany. In 1962 Petschnigg was granted entry to the ''Corps Marchia Brünn'' branch of the Kösener Corps in

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

. He was named "Honorary Senator" of TU Graz in 1977, and in 1982 the government of

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

awarded him the

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

– a particular honour for Petschnigg, as he was Austrian. In 1988 he became an honorary member of the Engineers' and Architects' Association of

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...

. Petschnigg's particular passion was the maintenance of memorials. He also restored old buildings, including Pyrmont Castle in the

Eifel The Eifel (; , ) is a low mountain range in western Germany, eastern Belgium and northern Luxembourg. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the southern area of the German-speaking Com ...

, in which he spent his final years, living with his wife as the castle's keeper. He died in 1997.

Works

Petschnigg produced his most important works as a partner of the HPP firm that he had founded with Helmut Hentrich. These included the headquarters of VEBA (now

E.ON E.ON SE is a European multinational electric utility company based in Essen, Germany. It operates as one of the world's largest investor-owned electric utility service providers. The name originates from the Latin word '' aeon'', derived from ...

) in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

, the Ministry of the Interior for

, the RWI Essen research centre, the

TÜV Rheinland TÜVs (; short for , ) are internationally active, independent service companies from Germany and Austria that test, inspect and certify technical systems, facilities and objects of all kinds in order to minimize hazards and prevent damages. T ...

building in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, the

Ruhr University Bochum The Ruhr University Bochum (, ) is a public research university located in the southern hills of the central Ruhr area, Bochum, Germany. It was founded in 1962 as the first new public university in Germany after World War II. Instruction began ...

, and the

Europa-Center The Europa-Center is a building complex on Breitscheidplatz in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, with a List of shopping malls in Germany, shopping mall and a tower block, high-rise tower tall. Built between 1963 and 1965, by 2003 it had ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

.Europa-Center: History

Life

Works

References

Further reading