Otto Kapfinger
Otto Kapfinger, Vienna, 23 October 2024
“We don't need a new way of building; we need a new way of life…”
Humankind and space: it was amidst the tension between these two that the architect, author, and publicist Otto Kapfinger developed into a generalist with an unmistakably incisive style of argumentation. Initially co-founding the experimental collective “Missing Link” before becoming a creative partner of Adolf Krischanitz, he then pressed onward to ultimately pursue oscillating focuses between criticism and interdisciplinary research, art, and society. When Otto Kapfinger speaks and writes about buildings, building materials, and spatial concepts, his reading of James Joyce’s ULYSSES plays just as great a role as do philosophical musings on viewing perspectives or the question of what (pre-)planning can mean in such a resource-intensive and easily corruptible profession as architecture. And just what all could influence the idea of (world) design in other genres, as well.
“We don't need a new way of building; we need a new way of life…”
Humankind and space: it was amidst the tension between these two that the architect, author, and publicist Otto Kapfinger developed into a generalist with an unmistakably incisive style of argumentation. Initially co-founding the experimental collective “Missing Link” before becoming a creative partner of Adolf Krischanitz, he then pressed onward to ultimately pursue oscillating focuses between criticism and interdisciplinary research, art, and society. When Otto Kapfinger speaks and writes about buildings, building materials, and spatial concepts, his reading of James Joyce’s ULYSSES plays just as great a role as do philosophical musings on viewing perspectives or the question of what (pre-)planning can mean in such a resource-intensive and easily corruptible profession as architecture. And just what all could influence the idea of (world) design in other genres, as well.