Walter Klasz : Inbetween

Abstract

In 2016, Austrian architect and designer Walter Klasz visited Auckland as a Researcher in Residence, hosted by Unitec.

Walter’s work focuses on the potential of ‘self-forming-structures’ – constructions that emerge from the tensile and compressive forces that can be manipulated by the designer and the builder. While in New Zealand he was inspired by Polynesian construction and design, by forms found in nature and the landscape, and by his contemporaries working and studying at Unitec. The culmination of his residency was an exhibition at Snowwhite gallery in Auckland, for which Klasz created an accompanying book describing his process, including iterative designs, self-reflection and discussion with friends and colleagues; an autoethnographic account of his time in Auckland.

Instead of conducting a blind peer review of Klasz’s book, ePress invited four of his peers to submit an open review, presented here as a discursive foreword to the work. This introductory consideration provides a critical framework to support the manuscript while also acknowledging its place as a reflective account of Klasz’s residency.

Open review by:

Ass. Prof.Dr. Wittfrida Mitterer, Editor, Bio-Architettura magazine, Italy Dr. Thomas Michl, Lecturer in Art Didactics, Academy of Fine Arts, Nuremberg, Germany Univ. Prof. Arch. Christian Kern, Institute of Three-Dimensional Design, Technical University of Vienna, Austria Peter McPherson, Head of Architecture, Unitec Institute of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand

This work is a scholarly open review of ‘How far can design be reduced to let form emerge on its own?

A review on the research of Architect Walter Klasz in Auckland’ – a booklet from the exhibition at Snowwhite Gallery: Inbetween art and research. Inbetween physical experiments and parametric digital control. (Copyright: Walter Klasz, proofreading: Joe Streibl, Austria)

With contributions from Paul Woodruffe, MLA. Artist and Landscape Architect, Department of Design & Contemporary Art, Unitec; Renata Jadresin-Milic, Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, Unitec; Sandra Arnet, Academic Leader, Undergraduate, Interior Design/Architecture/Landscape Architecture, Unitec; Marcus Williams, Associate Professor, Dean of Research and Enterprise, Tūāpapa Rangahau, partnering Research and Enterprise, Unitec; Hazel Redpath, Curriculum Developer and Academic Advisor, Unitec.