(1910-2004) 

Though he was born and also passed away in Klagenfurt, the sunny capital of the Austrian province of Carinthia, and started his teaching activity in cities like Hannover or Graz, Roland Rainer’s professional practice will always be associated to Vienna, the city which saw him graduate, where he taught for over 20 years, and where he worked as urban planning adviser between 1958 and 1963. An advocate of low-rise construction, his urban housing projects were the result of regional studies in disparate places such as China or Central Europe. Through numerous publications and his teaching activity, Rainer developed a consistent theoretical corpus that defended a lifestyle in contact with nature, incorporating ideas from ancient times (such as the recovery of atriums in dwellings) and the oriental style (landscaping). His most important works, which were a practical reflection of his theoretical postulates, are the Siedlungen of Puchenau in Linz (1963-1967, 1972-1973, 1977-1992) and of Tamariskengasse in Vienna (1985-1992), configured around a rich sequence of small spaces conceived as plazas.