Postmodern Viennese architect who mixed forms and materials with promiscuous abandon

Haas Haus (1990), a commercial complex by Hans Hollein in Vienna, stands like a Romanesque spaceship, as if ready for lift-off. Photograph: Atelier Hans Hollein/Sina Baniahmad

Hans Hollein, the maverick Viennese architect who brought his unique brand of witty historicist collage to everything from buildings and landscapes to sunglasses and tea trays, has died aged 80 after a long illness. One of the earliest proponents of postmodernism, Hollein developed a trademark style of combining classical motifs with futuristic industrial materials.

He began with tiny boutique shops in Vienna in the 1960s. On a site just 12ft wide, he inserted the Retti candle shop (1966), designed like a sparkling aluminium jewellery box, with a grand triumphal entrance in the shape of a cartoonish ionic column punched through its metallic facade, framed by glazed display windows on either side, pulled out at angles towards the street. This thin curtain of aluminium continued within, forming a reflective backdrop to displays of candles, arranged like grand organ pipes beneath bespoke globe light fittings....Continue Reading

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