the political interventions and the results

From Innsbruck’s planned application as a World Cultural Heritage Site, to the new construction of the Kaufhaus Tyrol department store, to the current issues concerning the Grassmayr Crossing – since its founding, aut has been constructively involved in topical political discussions in Innsbruck and the State of Tyrol, frequently in coordination with the Chamber of Architects and Chartered Engineering Consultants and the Central Association of Austrian Architects, Tyrolean State Association.

The motivated collective, who was responsible for the 1993 founding of the Architekturforum Tirol, defined a resistive moment right from the start, a socio-political and structural approach that was and is very essential for the further history of the association, the program, as well as the public presence. Since “enigmatically” it has never exclusively been a matter of aesthetics for “us,” or about exhibitions and lectures, but basically about that timeless aspiration to sensitize the collective consciousness for the fact that people’s quality of life will be improved by the demanding design of our surroundings. Through events and exhibitions, but above all through the establishment of a broad culture of discussion about architecture, and thus of a social network, one wanted to generate impulses in terms of content for the internal, public and especially the “political” discussions about issues concerning design.

Since its founding, aut has gotten involved – frequently in coordination with the Chamber of Architects and Chartered Engineering Consultants for Tyrol and Vorarlberg and the Central Association of Austrian Architects, Tyrolean State Association –in political or public discussions about concrete projects or future developments of the City of Innsbruck and the State of Tyrol, has addressed architectural concerns (e.g., the installation of an architectural advisory board in Innsbruck, resp., in Tyrol), supported the competition culture, reacted against envisaged projects (e.g., Innsbruck’s application as a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage Site, the construction project on Lake Obernberg, Kaufhaus Tyrol, Grassmayr Crossing) and sought a dialog with the responsible political decision-makers.

Moreover, aut is a part of the Architectural Policy and Building Culture Platform, whose goal is to anchor building culture as an inter-agency concern in Austrian politics.