The area to be redesigned in the context of the competition had been the terrain of the so-called Turner Temple until the Night of Broken Glass in 1938. The temple had been an important object of identification and symbol of autonomy for the community of Sechshaus, which was independent of Vienna’s Israelitische Kunstgemeinde.
Set on fire by Nazis throwing hand grenades, the Turner Temple was destroyed in the night from November 9 to November 10. The lot was “Aryanized” and came into the possession of a haulage contractor who had a garage built on the rests of the demolished building’s foundations. In the 1950s, the garage was extended and a gas station was erected where the oratory had been. The former community center next to the temple was only demolished when the City of Vienna acquired the lot and had a residential building built there.
The redesign of the area in Vienna’s 15th district had two main objectives. One intention was to bring the past of the area that had been purged from consciousness back into public memory and make the Turner Temple as an important building in the district’s history and its sad end an accessible issue. On the other hand, the redesign was to transform the non-site into an open space that could be used by the residents of the district, offer a meeting place, and establish a memory site. The competition aimed at obtaining a solution that would go clearly beyond a traditional memorial and subtly relate to the site’s “specific memory” and local conditions. The task was to be tackled by teams of artists and landscapers, who could decide for themselves to which degree they wanted to cooperate. Transcending the dimension of familiar requests, the concept for the square was to suggest a solution for the complex issue that would consider the entire area and rely on detailed interventions at the same time.
The project Memory Site Turner Temple submitted by Iris Andraschek & Hubert Lobnig and Maria Auböck + János Kárász emerged as winner of the competition.
Location
Turnergasse / Dingelstedtgasse, 1150 Wien
Gallery
Further Information
Competition
Turner Temple – competition for the construction and completion of landscaping and architectural designs in cooperation with an artistic analysis for a historically important property, 15th district, Turnergasse/ corner Dingelstedtgasse
Awarding authorities
Kunst im öffentlichen Raum GmbH in cooperation with Municipal Department 42 for Parks and Gardens
The Memory Site Turner Temple initiative arose out of the “Herklotzgasse 21” project.
herklotzgasse21.at
Invited artists and architects
Iris Andraschek (AT) & Hubert Lobnig (AT) / Maria Auböck (AT) + János Kárász
Sabina Hörtner (AT) / landscape architecture bureau – Anna Detzlhofer (AT), Sabine Dessovic (AT)
Tobias Pils (AT) / rajek barosch (AT) landscape architecture
PRINZGAU/podgorschek (AT) / Barbara Brandstätter (AT), landscape architecture bureau
Werner Reiterer (AT) / koselička – Lilli Lička (AT), Ursula Kose (AT), landscape architecture
Jury
Birgit Brodner, advisor at the municipal office of the administrative unit for Cultural Affairs and Science
Raimund Fastenbauer, General Secretary of the Jewish Community (IKG) in Austria and for Jewish Affairs of the IKG in Vienna
Dorothee Golz, artist
Karl Hawliczek, Municipal Department 42 for Parks and Gardens
Moshe Jahoda, contemporary witness and representative of the Claims Conference in Germany, curatorial member of the Future Fund of the Republic of Austria and Honorary Curator of the National Fund
Adolf Krischanitz, head of jury, architect (2007–2010 member of the KÖR-jury)
Hannah M. Lessing, General Secretary of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for the Victims of National Socialism
Thomas Miesgang, curator
Judith Pühringer, association coobra – cooperativa braccianti
Georg Traska, art historian
Gerhard Zatlokal, Head of the Municipal District Office of the 15th district
Expert consultants
Bettina Leidl, 2007–2011 Managing Director Kunst im offentlichen Raum GmbH
Stefan Musil, curator of the competition
Erich Petuelli, formerly of Municipal Department 19 for Architecture and Urban Design
Martin Scherer, Municipal Department 34 for Building and Facility Management
Johannes Strasser, Municipal Department 42 for Parks and Gardens
Conduct of the competition
Wolfgang Niederwieser, Klaus Kern – Verein Architekturraum 5
Preliminary technical examination
Monika Trimmel, werkraum wien ingenieure zt gmbh
Partners and sponsors
National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, Municipal Department 42 for Parks and Gardens, 15th district, European Fund for Regional Development
Competition winners
Iris Andraschek & Hubert Lobnig Maria Auböck + János Kárász
Iris Andraschek
*1963 in Horn (AT), lives and works in Vienna
irisandraschek.com
dermusereichts.at
Hubert Lobnig
*1962 in Völkermarkt (AT) lives and works in Vienna
hubertlobnig.com
Maria Auböck
*1951 in Wien, lives and works in Vienna and Munich (DE)
János Kárász
lives and works in Vienna (AT)
auboeck-karasz.at