080059 SE Seminar: Sacred Buildings in Austria after the Second Vatican Council (2018W)

Sacred Buildings in Austria after the Second Vatican Council
Church Building: an Experimental Field for Architecture

Owing to the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Catholic Church became caught up in the overall mood of liberation of the 1960s and a liturgical movement took shape against a new spiritual backdrop. Church buildings were no longer conceived as monuments to power but rather as spaces for the community. Newly-built churches combined modern aesthetic considerations with radical theological innovations.

The pastoral guidance of the Catholic Church, which the Second Vatican Council had modified, created new preconditions, opening up an experimental field for church architecture in the modernist era. This manifested itself both through new construction forms and building materials. Following the Second World War, the number of believers increased, which triggered a veritable construction boom — reflected in the incredible number and diversity of new church buildings. This development had a lasting impact on sacred spaces of the twentieth century. Even today, their modest forms and building materials make a radical impression.

Objective

Drawing on selected sacred buildings from all over Austria, this seminar will explore the ways in which this construction movement developed during the post-war period, as well as the ways in which architects reacted to the preconditions set by the Second Vatican Council in their building designs, or the architectonic solutions that they devised. It will also examine the effect of this development on architecture in general, and on later church construction in particular. In addition, we will consider how this historical architectural heritage should be dealt with, thus taking into account current topics such as heritage conservation and building conversion.

Teaching method

In addition to introductions to course content and subject-specific lectures, we wish to visit and study as many churches as possible on location. Within the framework of these excursions, students will be asked to make short presentations. All others will make their presentations in the seminar room, where the schedule will allow enough time for discussion.