The
Functional

Günther Domenig’s projects that document the influence that a client and the surrounding context (could) have on his architecture are gathered here under the term ​“Functional”. His responses to requirements and necessities are codetermined by the larger-scale and thus more complex construction plans, while one can also feel the signature of Domenig’s various project and office partners. But the typological character of the buildings being planned – in many cases industrial – also plays a part in shaping the architectural appearance.

The freely associated, artistic-sculptural effect of Günther Domenig’s structures and thus also the resistant nature of his architecture, which in many cases actually opposes the true task and function or calls for an alternative approach to engaging with the building, does occasionally flare up, but is significantly scaled back. The design for the University of Fine Arts Münster is perhaps the most high-profile and obvious example of this.

Interaction with the architecture, and specifically the reaction of users, is a theme that constantly recurs in Günther Domenig’s buildings. Many of them, from the Z‑Sparkasse to the Stadttheater in Klagenfurt through to the institute building at Graz University of Technology, remain unused or are marked by a scepticism towards the buildings. The break with certain notions of space brings with it a high level of resistance to using these spaces.