Patterns of Regional Thinking in the Works of Cukrowicz Nachbaur

Text: Csaba Lázár, Levente Szabó

The regionalist and critical regionalist discourse, positioning itself against the universality of architectural trends and concepts that survived in the wake of modernity, is still observable today in its enriching nuances. The guiding principles of contemporary architectural conceptions that favour place and its attachment seem to remain unchanged, and the relevance of the architectural strategies defined by this concept has not diminished. Rather than accepting the seemingly identical commitment of different, well-known or less well-known workshops, it is well worth focusing attention on their specific characteristics.
What is meant by the concepts of region, context and place and the architecture that reflects them in Vorarlberg? In looking at the firm’s diverse architectural repertoire, the large number of works and the artists’ self-revelations, an important aspect to be identified is the design derived from the context, the attitude of responding to place. With case studies selected from their work, our aim was to carry out problem-focused analyses, studying and evaluating the specifics of local attachment.
This article examines contemporary architecture in Vorarlberg and the specific design tools of place attachment in its context through the work of the architectural practice Cukrowicz Nachbaur in Bregenz. This exploration was based on two study trips to Vorarlberg, further literature analysis and an interview with Andreas Cukrowicz in 2023. The study is based on the self-reflection of the designers, an analysis of the main lines of the reception history and personal experiences on site, and is thus also a mapping of a process of cognition.