Walter Pichler, Nucleus and Underground Building

Walter Pichler (1936-2012) was an Austrian artist, particularly striking for his almost permanent association of sculpture and architectural space. Very influential and at the forefront of the spatial experimentations of the 1970s, he produced a large number of sculptures and drawings marked by a spiritual approach to the object or architectural space. In the 1960s, he began to produce series of architectural projects in which questions of plasticity, symmetry and form were addressed at the antipodes of functionalism. He joined forces with Austrian architects such as Hans Hollein and Raimund Abraham to pursue his anti-rationalist and conceptual approach. In 1963, his collaboration with Hollein led to the manifesto exhibition Architektur at the nächst St. Stephan Gallery in Vienna, the main platform of the Austrian avant-garde at the time. This became the birthplace of the Viennese experimental scene, from which groups such as Coop Himme(l)bau and Haus-Rucker-Co emerged.
Mainly known as a sculptor, Walter Pichler will however have an impact on the architectural production of his contemporaries. He constantly challenged the convictions of the sculptors, architects and designers of the time by continuing to create architectural objects, spatial installations, drawings of utopian cities by playing with perception, space and by freeing himself from the constraint of construction. This is undoubtedly why he sometimes took several years to build his sculptures, multiplying drawings, plans, preparatory models.