A new exhibition, titled Envelopes, will explore the interdisciplinary approach of renowned contemporary studio J. Mayer H. at Haus der Architektur, Graz, Austria. 

The exhibition will showcase how the studio tackles the correlation and interplay between arts and architecture.

Set to open on 12 April, 2022 at the Haus der Architektur, the exhibition will search for the creative power behind the transdisciplinary work of the studio, by elaborating these questions: How do art, design, digital space and architecture influence each other? What shapes the expression of the forms in the space? How do processes of form finding emerge in the interplay of two- and three-dimensionality?.

For the first time, the HDA will showcase an overview of current artistic work in the form of Jürgen Mayer H.’s drawings and collages in dialogue with built projects by the office.

The exhibition will present details, construction drawings and installations. The exhibition will be on view from 13 April to 26 June 2022 at the HDA.

Metropol Parasol, Sevilla, Spanien, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2011. Image © Fernando Alda

J. Mayer. H is a Berlin-based studio, led by German architect Jürgen Hermann Mayer. The firm is known for successfully integrating art and design into architecture, while the creative process of the studio is derived from "organic and complex patterns" that make up their buildings, facades, walls and floors.

Metropol Parasol, a mushroom-shaped megastructure made of spruce from Finland in the city’s historic centre, built in Seville, Raststätte Gori in Gori, Georgia, a flower-shaped residence, called n.n., as a camouflage from its environment in Moscow, Court of Justice in Hasselt, Belgium are among significant projects of J. Mayer. H. 

The firm recently completed IGZ Campus with concrete skeleton structure in Germany and designed Casa Morgana with "box in box" concrete volumes in Northern Germany.

Metropol Parasol, Sevilla, Spanien, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2011. Image © Fernando Alda

Like “sample books” of structures and forms they question the boundaries and similarities of the creative disciplines, each of which pursues its own discourse while increasingly speculating on the transdisciplinary potentials.

n.n. in near Moscow, Russia by J. Mayer H. Image © Ilya Ivanov

When a project starts, art and architecture are both tackling the same question: How is space organized? Initially it does not matter whether the focus is a three-dimensional urban space, a political space, a sculptural space, an installation, an object in a space, a digital space, a filmic space, a danced space, an acoustic space or the imagined space of a two-dimensional image. 

BorderCheckpoint, Sarpi, Georgien/Türkei, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2011. Image © Marcus Buck

The interplay of distance and proximity shapes more than just the material space and the surface of an image. The choice of media, materiality, temporality, connotation and texture influence the expression of the evolving designs.

The firm's multifaceted oeuvre also includes furniture and interior spaces for Vitra and Bisazza, spatial scenarios in cities such as São Paulo, Zurich, New York City, San Francisco and Tel Aviv, and installations at biennials in Venice and Shenzhen. 

The office has also designed numerous buildings in Belgium, Georgia, Denmark, Germany and the USA.

Projects currently under construction include the ZIPPER tower in Dusseldorf, the Universal Music Group headquarters in Berlin, office buildings in Berlin Mitte, an aviation museum with a flight school in Mönchengladbach and the SEEHAUS community in Gaspar/ Brazil.

Court of Justice, Hasselt, Belgien, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2013. Image © Hufton + Crow

"Organic and complex patterns also outline the sculptural volumes for furniture, art objects and large built infrastructures," stated in an exhibition description.  

"The vocabulary of form emerges through an intense focus on what are referred to as data protection patterns, incorporated on the inside of envelopes or when communicating PIN numbers to ensure the security of private information, protecting it from prying eyes." 

Jürgen Mayer H. has been investigating these "promises of structures" for over 25 years, and this shapes the office’s underlying approach. 

They appear in their work at different scales and in different types of construction, are found in analogue patterns, built constructions and art installations as well as in speculative work on the future of mobility and data exchange.

Raststätte Gori, Gori, Georgien, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2011. Image © Marcus Buck

Never before has the relationship between inside and outside been as pertinent as in the past two years. Safety and freedom, private zones and public spaces are continuously renegotiated. And the boundary between the two is elastic. 

The blurriness of the divide between the protected and the exposed becomes the real focus of discussion. It is these buffer zones that form our actual inhabited living landscape. 

This is the area for our thinking and concerns where the ambivalence and considerations about innovations in society and design are challenged. The dividing lines between the disciplines and media are thus set aside. Miniatures, collages, objects, spatial installations, interiors, buildings, urban space, infrastructure and digital worlds explore the potential at all scales.

Level Green, Daueraustellung zum Thema Nachhaltigkeit, Autostadt Wolfsburg, Deutschland, J. MAYER H. Architects. Image © Uwe Walter

JOH3, Berlin, Deutschland, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2012. Image © Ludger Paffrath

Sujetbild der Ausstellung: – © links: Metropol Parasol, Sevilla, 2011, J. MAYER H. Architects I Foto: Fernando Alda; rechts: Data Collage 24, 2019, Jürgen Mayer H. I Foto: Ludger Paffrath

J. Mayer H. was founded by Jürgen Mayer H. in Berlin in 1996. In January 2014, Andre Santer and Hans Schneider joined as partners. Jürgen Mayer H. studied architecture at the University of Stuttgart, The Cooper Union New York and Princeton University. 

His work has been awarded numerous international prizes, such as the Mies van der Rohe Emerging Architect Prize in 2003, the Holcim Award Bronze for sustainable architecture in 2005 and the Winner of the Audi Urban Future Award in 2010.

In 2020, he was selected as Designer of the Year in the context of the São Paulo Design Week. 

Casa Morgana in Northern Germany. Image © David Franck

The artworks and projects are part of many international collections such as the MoMA NY, SFMOMA, the Vitra Design Museum, the Architecture Museum Munich, Preussischer Kulturbesitz Berlin and The Art Institute in Chicago as well as in numerous private collections.

Since 1996 he has taught at various universities, such as the Berlin University of the Arts, the GSD at Harvard University, the Architectural Association in London, Columbia University in New York and the University of Toronto, Canada.

The exhibition will open with an opening talk at the HDA on 12 April. The opening talk will welcome speakers, such as Beate Engelhorn, House of Architecture – HDA, Graz, Philip Ursprung, Professor for History of Art and Architecture, ETH Zurich Andreas Krištof, section.a, Curator’s Collective, Vienna and Jürgen Mayer.

Registration is required via this link. 

Top image: Metropol Parasol, Sevilla, Spanien, J. MAYER H. Architects, 2011. Image © Fernando Alda

> via HDA