TRACES AND GAPS: An Attempt to Uncover 100 Years of Landscape Architecture in Austria
The foundation of the first professional association of garden architects in Austria, the VÖGA Vereinigung Österreichischer Gartenarchitekten, in 1912 was the visible starting point for the professionalization of landscape architecture in Austria. The following winter, Yella Hertzka opened a horticultural school in Vienna, which finally opened the profession to women. Over the decades, intense discussions about professional ethics, tasks and styles contributed to the maturation of the profession. The development was not straight-lined though, but strongly influenced by cultural, political and social changes. Nevertheless, some professional issues run like a common thread through this manifold process such as the controversy about the architectural or landscape aspect of landscape architecture. To outline the history, the lecture picks out a few Viennese projects from the 1920s to the 1960s. These projects are not only significant for a special period, discussion or style, they also belong to a fairly young, and still underestimated segment of landscape heritage, often endangered these days. Ulrike Krippner was trained as a landscape architect and worked in landscape architecture studios in the field of parks, gardens and historic sites. Besides, she joined the Institute of Landscape Architecture at the BOKU Universität für Bodenkultur Vienna in 2001. Since 2006, her research focuses on the maturation of landscape architecture in Austria from the 1900s to the 1970s, by looking at individuals as well as studying structure and development of the profession, or examining designed landscapes like the WIG Wiener Internationale Gartenschau 1964 and 1974. In 2010, Ulrike Krippner was granted a summer fellowship in Dumbarton Oaks, Washington D.C., where she followed her research on exiled Austrian garden architects. Recently, she has published several articles, papers, and presentations on women in Austrian horticulture and garden architecture. These publications will be part of her doctoral thesis on Viennese Jewish women garden architects.