Art and Exhibition Hall - About Us

The Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle was designed by the Viennese architect Gustav Peichl to be a significant building and a center of communication, where the architecture reflects the museum's underlying concept. The ground-plan is based on the idea of flexible utilisation. The building is a cube, each side measuring 96 meters. Behind the façade, a ten meters deep service zone contains offices, workshops, conference rooms, library and three exhibition galleries.

architectual data
Floor area 96 x 96 m
Total floor area of all storeys 32,033 m²
Total room volume 156,833 m³
Total exhibition area 5,610 m²
Roof garden 8,000 m²
Height of building 12 m
Height of roof level 10 m
Height of light towers 25, 20, 16 m (from basic roof )
Overall height including light towers 35 m
Façade covering limestone (light Untersberg) Columns Cor-ten steel

Forum 934 m²
Television studio 62 m²
Conference and multi-purpose rooms 740 m²
Storage rooms 1,925 m² Workshops 887 m²
Administration and
personnel 1,054 m²
Foyer 914 m²
Café-Restaurant 275 m²
Great Hall Floor area 1,304 m²
Ceiling height 9.15 m
Atrium Hall Floor area 1,626 m²
Ceiling height 4.30 m
East Gallery
Floor area 437 m² + 35.3 m²
Ceiling height 4.30 m
South Gallery Floor area 284 m²
Ceiling height 4.30 m
Upper floor Atrium Hall Floor area 1,340 m²
Ceiling height 3.60 m
South Cabinet Floor area 295.2 m²
Ceiling height 3.60 m
Central Cabinet Floor area 289 m²
Ceiling height 3.60 m
Roof garden Floor area 9,216 m²
Exhibition area 5,600 m²
Light spire A height 25 m B 20 m C 16 m
Overhead lights height 4 m

The interior square is divided into Foyer, Great Hall, Atrium Hall and Forum. The exhibition area offers a diverse pattern of small, medium and large rooms which can be used in a variety of ways and permits any form of exhibition design. It is equally possible to mount large-scale major exhibitions (4,000m²), medium-sized exhibitions (700 - 3,000m²) and intimate studio exhibitions (100 - 300m²). The core of the exhibition and the respective surrounding service areas are laid out according to room size and height in such a way as to create a changing room character. This can be varied still further by different lighting options. The three light spires were designed to represent the triad - architecture, painting, sculpture - of fine arts. They illuminate the exhibition areas and modify the orthogonal spatial structure. Inside the building, the spires are extended into columns and influence the interior lighting.

The landscaped roof garden, functioning as the museum's fifth façade, is used as a public area for sculpture exhibitions and increases the available exhibition space by 8,000m².

The architecture of the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle fulfils town planning requirements due to its cubic form and the fact that it continues the axis set by the neighbouring Kunstmuseum, .

16 steel columns with a dark patina decorate the length of the façade facing Friedrich-Ebert-Allee. They emphasise the axis and symbolise the Bundesländer (federal states). Together with the three prominent light spires on the roof, they lend the museum its unique and unmistakable character and provide a prominent landmark among the office buildings in the government quarter.

"With the building's exterior design I wanted to create neither an imitation, which gave the impression of something superficial and provisional, nor a collection of bons mots. It was important to me to achieve permanence and simplicity with the greatest possible restraint without denying the building its self-assurance and cultural status. The interior design is subordinated to the task and purpose of the museum."
Gustav Peichl