PPAG architects @ dutch design week 2015

PPAG architects in Kooperation mit Jos Bosman und CASA Vertigo präsentieren:
3 design products in the context of 3 built projects:

• Mantatisch – Bildungscampus Sonnwendviertel

• Twins – Wohnbau Slim City

• Handtaschenbankerl – Restaurant Steirereck
  

PPAG into NL
PPAG, the Viennese architecture firm run by Anna Popelka and Georg Poduschka, presents three new pieces of furniture in the context of three recently completed architecture projects during Dutch Design Week 2015. The presentation will take place in Vertigo, the Eindhoven University of
Technology’s Built Environment Department building.
In recent months PPAG has surprised many with their spectacular rise to the top of the international ranking of architecture firms (according to Baunetz in Germany): in the spring of 2015 they rose from #42 to #9 (and have maintained their top 10 position).
What has impressed the world of architecture critics and lovers in particular is PPAG’s alterations of the Steirereck restaurant in Vienna. They were able to mobilize the budget for an experiment in architecture with windows that slide upwards (above the roof) thus creating in good weather what looks like an installation while inside a world of comfort is given form in which each table and a hemispheric rear wall form its own world in order to enjoy the cuisine (made by a restaurant which is ranked number 15 in the world). A form of luxury expression has been found here which is playful and adventurous.
An eye-catcher in the exhibition is the furniture which has been specially designed for handbags, placed next to the table, and when stacked can also serve as a room divider.
What links PPAG to the Dutch tradition of architecture is a school complex in which the legacy of ‘structuralism’ has mutated and been updated. The school complex in Vienna surprises with an entirely new concept of learning, complete with a new type of table. Both the school complex and the table have been developed by PPAG in collaboration with Ali Seghatoleslami and Lilli Pschill.
PPAG is chiefly known for their street furniture, Enzi, which was developed for Vienna’s museum quarter. Since then this piece of furniture has been placed in public spaces of many cities including, for example, on a square in front of a theater in Rotterdam. PPAG has since developed a new
furniture model, the ‘Twins’: like Enzi, this furniture invites one to sit upon it in an informal way. This variant is more suited for places which do not per se need to appeal to the allure of metropolitan squares: they also work very well near schools and in residential areas. The school complex in Vienna and the residential area D8 in Aspern are examples of context in which the Twins are placed.
Photographs and ground plans of the three built projects are shown along with the furniture in the exhibition and this catalogue.
(Text: Jos Bosman)

PPAG-Vortrag: 20.10.2015, CASA Vertigo, TU Eindhoven