Report: Kunsthaus Graz
At long last Peter Cook has managed to get an ‘Archigram’ building actually built. In the Austrian city of Graz, Europe’s City of Culture 2003. This spectacular new ‘art house’ stands on a river-side site in an urban district in need of revitalisation. Dubbed a ‘friendly alien’ by its architects, the futuristic, amorphous, shimmering ‘bubble’ was vehemently criticised by the media and the city’s inhabitants. But it nevertheless integrates well into its heterogeneous environment. According to Colin Fournier, the flowing contours derive from the idea of an imaginary two-metre wide demarcation line drawn around the neighbouring buildings.
