After successful completion of the course, students are able to deal creatively with historical buildings, because all design work on protected structures requires specific expertise and appropriate strategies. This course offers students the opportunity to study the manifold requirements that are needed to conserve, restore, renovate and administrate a historic monument.
Wider das Wirtshaussterben!
Austria's traditional inn culture has been stagnating for years. In rural areas in particular, more and more traditional inns are closing, leaving gaps in social life and the architectural identity of rural towns and villages. To counteract this development, projects have been launched to help innkeepers develop their establishments into profitable businesses that help preserve local traditions, the characteristic townscape and strengthen social bonds. While these campaigns have been successful in individual cases, they cannot stop a general trend: the inn scene seems to reflect an overall development when "cultivated hospitality" is fading from people's everyday lives and people are relegated to either gourmet restaurants or drive-ins. Both extremes have little to do with good places to stay in a relaxed manner.
The elaboration of sustainable strategies for the preservation and further development of rural inns forms the central task of the design studio. Students are asked to develop realistic business concepts: What role does proper design play in cultivating "hospitality"? As always, we work with a real-life scenario: The Fuith Inn in Sankt Margarethen im Burgenland– a Protestant school until 1880 – was one of the most important addresses on the main street of the town and provided the locals with food and drink for over a century. In December 2015, Eugen Fuith, who had run the business since 1983, retired. He was unable to find a successor to take over his establishment due to regulatory requirements and falling guest numbers. Since then, large parts of the structure have stood empty. It is waiting for concepts that could help put the inn back at the center of village life.
Under strict consideration of monument preservation principles, we are developing a detailed design for the adaptation/reinterpretation of this inn as well as the adjacent ruinous building, whose walled enclosure is now used as a garden. The focus is both on the integration into the townscape – therefore the "appearance" of the house – and on the design and material qualities of the interior spaces, which were already furnished in the 1960s by Julius Kappel – a central architect of Burgenland modernism. So we work analogously, with a concrete building substance, in a place with history - against the background of anonymous rural building culture and today's strategies of refinement.
Exkursion:
The trip to Sankt Margarethen in Burgenland will take place from 29.03. to 31.03. There will be an overnight stay on site. Arrival will be discussed during the introduction.
Accommodation costs in double room: € 96,00/person incl. breakfast buffet, excl. local tax
Preliminary excursion program:
03/29: In the Morning: arrival; check-in; exploration of the village and surroundings - walk to Haus Fuith. Afternoon: Tour of inns in northern Burgenland
30.03.: In the morning: building survey and documentation of the object. Afternoon: Development of ideas and discussion with invited guests.
31.3.: In the morning: check-out; building survey and Documentation of the object. Afternoon: Departure
Presentation video: https://tube1.it.tuwien.ac.at/w/7E19QjCsfDzVLHv5C614sb
Introductory meeting: Tuesday 08.03.2022, 09:00. Seminarraum 257
Course dates: every Tuesday between 9:00 and 13:00, Sem 257 or online
Application via application pool on TISS.
Application procedure: a letter of motivation (approx. half a DIN A4 page) as a part of the portfolio or by e-mail to dimitri.egorov@tuwien.ac.at
This design studio is linked to the course 251.812 "excursion monument preservation".
