Hans Hollein

Hans Hollein (°Wien, 30 March 1934 – †Wien, 24 April 2014) was an Austrian architect, he won the Pritzker Prize in 1985.

Hollein was born in Vienna, and graduated in 1956 from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he studied in the master class of Clemens Holzmeister. During 1959 he attended the Illinois Institute of Technology and then in 1960, the University of California, Berkeley, where he completed his Master of Architecture degree. During these years he met Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright and Richard Neutra. Afterwards, he worked for various architectural firms in Sweden and the United States before returning to Vienna, founding his own office in 1964.

Hollein’s early works were small scale designs, such as the Retti candle shop in Vienna, which notably featured a facade constructed of anodized aluminum.

Hollein worked mainly as an architect but also established himself as a designer through his work for the Memphis Group and the Alessi Company. Additionally, he staged various exhibitions, including for the Venice Biennale. In 1980 he designed the stage for a production of Arthur Schnitzler’s drama Komödie der Verführung (Comedy of Seduction) at Vienna’s Burgtheater. In 1985 Hollein was awarded the Pritzker Prize.

Starting from the late 1990s, Hollein designed large-scale projects, including bank headquarters in Lichtenstein, Spain and Peru. Starting from 2010 he worked with Christoph Monschein at the Hans Hollein & Partner.