Interviewed in Vienna, May 30th 2006

Delugan Meissl Architects could be the epitome of architectural dreams coming true – they quickly rose to the summit of the architectural scene and, what’s hardest, remained there. The efforts they put into experimentation and seeking of optimum solutions puts them among the most innovative offices in the European architecture. We can hardly wait to see their next constructions that will be a a new step in the sense of public buildings and a new benchmark for them: the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, the Film Museum in Amsterdam. Welcome to the champions league!

ORIS: It would be interesting, especially for the young generation of architects, to learn something about your career. Your rise was really sharp. If we had to set milestones, we would start with social housing, move to Ray1 House, and end with the Porsche Museum, of course.

Delugan: It may look like that from the outside. But the philosophy inside the practice developed through totally different projects. Crucially, we started doing competitions right after our studies and were lucky enough to win them. This means we did not start with small projects like family houses or interiors, but had a big building on our hands right away. It opened many routes to us, but only in Austria, not abroad. I must say we have always done social housing, which we consider very important. It is certainly a main part of our work, but significant changes are coming now. 

As for the content of the projects, we have two milestones; surely, Ray1 House is also there, but precedence should be given to the Twin Towers (we won the competition ex aequo with Fuksas) and the project for Vienna Airport (2nd prize). There was continuity in content there. Those projects are not so visible from the outside, but they have a presence for us in terms of content.

Still, it is true that our world has been spinning faster since we won the Porsche Museum competition.