Friedrich Kiesler. Endless House

The Austrian-American architect, artist, designer, stage decorator and theorist Friedrich Kiesler (1890–1965) began work in the 1920s on an ongoing project for an “Endless House.” Although it was never actually built, the house is a paragon of visionary architecture in the twentieth century and has lost nothing of its historical relevance today.

In January 2017, the collector couple Gertraud and Dieter Bogner donated to mumok a group of around 30 works by Kiesler, including one of three existing models of the Endless House, an icon of architectural history. The model is made of wire mesh and concrete and was created in 1959, accompanied by numerous sketches, drawings, and plans. 

Kiesler developed two basic ideas for the Endless House based on design principles borrowed from his most important supporters in the Viennese art and architecture scene. The open spatial structure echoes the “Raumplan” of Adolf Loos and the interior design, which incorporates all the arts, echoes Josef Hoffmann’s vision for the “Gesamtkunstwerk” (total work of art). The significance of the Endless House is due in large part to its self-supporting form, not unlike an egg, which makes it possible to dispense with supporting walls or columns on the interior. Kiesler advocated the “endless” flexibility thus afforded for subdividing this biomorphic unitary space – in which floor, walls, and corners are seamlessly merged – as an answer to the latent social issue of easily adapting the structure of the home to the constantly changing requirements of its inhabitants both in the course of the day as well as during the life cycle of a family. 

The presentation is made in cooperation with the Frederick and Lillian Kiesler Private Foundation, an international research center that preserves and exhibits the extensive estate of Friedrich Kiesler, which was acquired by the Republic of Austria, the City of Vienna, and private founders in 1997.