Reinforced Concrete

An exhibit that investigates Vienna 1900 from a new perspective: the focus is not on the city’s glamorous exteriors, but on its internal structure. Starting in the 1890s, a revolutionary technology – reinforced concrete – turned Vienna into an exemplar of modern urban life. It not only facilitated the construction of the city’s highly efficient infrastructure, its light rail, sewer system, and water supply. It also allowed the creation of multifunctional buildings that could house theaters, cinemas, cafés, offices, and apartments all at once. The new building technology drove a thriving metropolitan culture until World War I put an abrupt end to the period of urban innovation.

Models, plans and photographs, paintings, posters, and original furnishings testify to the far-reaching impact of reinforced concrete, not merely in the form of such iconic buildings as the Looshaus but on people’s everyday existence. The masterpieces created using the new technology were central sites in the modern age’s accelerated, diversified, and increasingly challenging life in the city.

Curators: Andreas Nierhaus, Eva-Maria Orosz
Curatorial Assistence: Irina Morzé
Graphics: Schienerl A/AD

An exhibition based on the results of the research project “Anatomy of a Metropolis”.