Visitors then experience space reduction realised to an absolute minimum in the large main exhibition room that directly adjoins the entrance hall. He has integrated daylight in a subtle way by adding two long wall openings over the arches, from which light pours out into the high room.
#Vienna secession light windows#
But where does this light actually come from? Glance quickly upwards and no windows are immediately apparent. Visitors first find themselves in an entrance hall defined by two lateral arch-shaped wall niches, where solemn tranquillity and glistening daylight characterise the space. The traffic noise stops almost as soon as the front door closes. And now, after a year of general refurbishment under the direction of the renowned Viennese architect Adolf Krischanitz, the Wiener Secession is shining with fantastic new splendour.
It is an architectural manifesto for Art Nouveau – or, as they call it in the German-speaking world, for the Jugendstil. Designed by architect Joseph Maria Olbrich and opened in 1898 as a showroom for the Union of Austrian Artists, the Vienna Secession (or Wiener Secession) is more than just a building. The Latin words “Ver Sacrum” (holy spring), the name of the official journal of the Union of Austrian Artists (Die Vereinigung bildender Künstler Österreichs) in the early years of the Secession, can be seen to the left of the front steps. Then there are the pale green inner sides of the bay leaves that perfectly come together to form a sphere on the roof. White walls, golden ornaments – perhaps brighter now than ever before.
Flanked by traffic on all sides, it still somehow manages to radiate a feeling of incredible serenity. It stands resplendent on the Karlsplatz square.
Or to be more precise, thanks to tunableWhite LED lighting solutions developed and realised by Zumtobel together with the architect Adolf Krischanitz. Thanks to artificial light that replicates the quality of daylight. And now the creative freedom associated with this place has become even greater. As it has done for more than one hundred years. “To the age its art, to art its freedom” grandly adorns the main entrance.
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