{"id":3085,"date":"2025-08-04T09:30:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/?p=3085"},"modified":"2025-08-08T15:13:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T15:13:01","slug":"coop-himmelblau-co-founder-helmut-swiczinsky-dies-aged-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2025\/08\/04\/coop-himmelblau-co-founder-helmut-swiczinsky-dies-aged-81\/","title":{"rendered":"Coop Himmelb(l)au co-founder Helmut Swiczinsky dies aged 81"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Helmut<\/div>\n

Deconstructivist<\/a> architect Helmut Swiczinsky, a founding partner Viennese studio Coop Himmelb(l)au<\/a>, has passed away at the age of 81.<\/span><\/p>\n

The news was announced in an Instagram post<\/a> written by fellow Coop Himmelb(l)au<\/a> co-founder Wolf D Prix<\/a>, in which he described Swiczinsky as an “outstanding” architect and engineer.<\/p>\n

“Helmut Swiczinsky (1944\u20132025) has left this world,” wrote Prix.<\/p>\n

“Swi, as we called him, was not only an outstanding ‘Raumarchitekt’ but also a fantastic ‘Konstrukteur’,” the post continued.<\/p>\n

“Whenever a friend, and he was a friend to me \u2013 you don’t end long friendships \u2013 leaves us forever overnight, our shared deeds and dreams become an unchangeable past. We can no longer dream together.”<\/p>\n

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A post shared by COOP HIMMELB(L)AU (@coophimmelblau)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Coop Himmelb(l)au co-founder Helmut Swiczinsky has passed away aged 81<\/em><\/p>\n

Swiczinsky was born in Pozna\u0144 in Poland on 13 January 1944 and trained to become an architect at both the Vienna University of Technology and London’s Architectural Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1968, he co-founded Viennese studio Coop Himmelb(l)au<\/a> alongside Prix and Michael Holzer.<\/p>\n

Swiczinsky, who retired in 2006, has been described as “the less publicly visible alter ego of Wolf D Prix”<\/a>, who still heads up the studio today. Holzer\u00a0left the office in 1971.<\/p>\n

Coop Himmelb(l)au is known for its radical and fragmented architecture style and for being a proponent of deconstructivism \u2013 the experimental postmodern movement that emerged in the 1980s.<\/p>\n

\"Coop
Falkestrasse rooftop extension is one of the studio’s most notable projects<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among itsCoop Himmelb(l)au’s most notable projects is the Falkestrasse rooftop extension<\/a>, which was included in the seminal Deconstructivist Architecture exhibition<\/a> at MoMA in 1988.<\/p>\n

The studio’s other key projects include the Funder Factory extension in St. Veit an der Glan, completed in 1988, and the UFA Cinema Center in Dresden completed in 1998.<\/p>\n

Also in 1998, the studio built the 60-metre-high SEG Apartment Tower in Vienna.<\/p>\n

In his tribute, Prix described Swiczinsky as “more than an architect”. While designing for Coop Himmelb(l)au, he was also a visiting professor at the Architectural Association.<\/p>\n