[Translate to Englisch:] Austria-Pavillion, New York, Weltausstellung

USA, 1964

Austria pavilion at the
World Expo in New York

Austria's participation in the 1964/65 World's Fair in New York was decided in 1962. In a competition organised by the Federal Chamber of Commerce, the project by architect Gustav Peichl was chosen from ten designs as the winner and selected for construction.

Around six million schillings were budgeted for the construction of the exhibition building. The project was chosen for economic and design reasons.

Austria - USA

Assembly using the modular principle

The fact that wood has been a key material in Austrian architecture for centuries and is now a valuable Austrian export was to be emphasised at the time. The material-appropriate solution of the building presents itself as an exhibit in its own right. The high degree of prefabrication was an absolute pioneering achievement for the time

The architect wanted to utilise the advantages of prefabrication. The individual parts of the Austria Pavilion, planned as a modular system, were prefabricated in Austria and assembled on site in New York.

Three frames with centre-to-centre spacing of 9.5 m serve as the main load-bearing structure, supporting the upper and lower girders with the ceiling and roof beams. The frame height is 25 metres. The structural engineer chose the A-shape as the most favourable and stable solution. This also resulted in organised and clear structural conditions.

The overall structure consists of simple, rectangular elements, whereby all load-bearing parts are designed as glued beams. The wall elements, which are independent of the supporting structure, are connected to each other and to the roof and floor levels by means of tensioning devices.

The foundation work was carried out by American craftsmen at the same time as the individual timber components in Austria. The connections and joints between the timber construction and the concrete foundations were solved with screw connections and steel straps.