Reports: Fascinating Dialogue – the New Vorarlberg Museum in Bregenz
- Roman Hollenstein
Bregenz, the capital of Vorarlberg, boasts more high-caliber new architecture than other cities of comparable size. Alongside Peter Zumthor's Kunsthaus and Dietrich Untertrifaller's Festspielhaus, it recently acquired another cultural building of international standing: the new Vorarlberg Museum, designed by Andreas Cukrowicz and Anton Nachbaur. Even more so than the internationally renowned Bregenz Festival, this new architecture demonstrates the metropolitan aspirations of Vorarlberg's capital. Indeed, few places of this size can offer as many exceptional recent buildings as Bregenz – buildings where quality and local context are more important than eccentric flourishes. Bregenz's architectural marvel manifests itself in schools and residential buildings, in private homes and housing developments, and in the Festspielhaus, which Dietrich Untertrifaller transformed into a sculpture of glass, steel, and light-coloured brickwork between 1992 and 2006. It also shines through in "architectural imports" such as Rudolf Prohazka's tourism centre and Peter Zumthor's much-admired Kunsthaus. Now the city boasts another architectural highlight: the new Vorarlberg Museum by Andreas Cukrowicz and Anton Nachbaur.
