Projects and concepts in urban architecture of Hermann and Valentiny are attractively presented in this publication. The aim of the book is to convey the adventure of the architects’ creativity, to demonstrate how a vision can be grasped and captured. For Hermann & Valentiny, visualisation is a process which, through the tense relationship between emotion and reason, is characterised by pragmatism and creativity. Their architecture is distinguished by the sensitive appreciation of physical realities, and by the way in which matreial, light, colour and forms are imbued with the Genius Loci. The drawings and projects exhited here, mostly in colour, document the yearning for a poetic architecture of the senses, which strives for continuity and for a relationship with the past. An important backdrop and also the emotional basis for the work of Hermann and Valentiny is the constant alternation between Vienna and Luxemburg an the resulting confrotation of two different building traditions. This backdrop is a source of reflection for the architects in the search for adequate forms of expression in contemporary architecture.

1991, HERMANN & VALENTINY, Architects | Karl Krämer Verlag Stuttgart