Austrian architect at Architecture Nights

Over the past three months, the Kamra tal-Periti (Chamber of Architects) has organised AN07, a series of architecture nights that have all proved to be a resounding success. The theme for these events is 'The stuff of architecture', and the speakers were asked to focus on the art of using appropriate materials in their right context, and to discuss the sensitive and responsive approach they have adopted in their architectural designs and decisions in choosing the most suitable materials in the process. The debates have so far seen the participation of world renowned-architects Manfredi Nicoletti, Mario Botta and Cesare Casati.

The series of Architecture Nights will resume this month with one of Austria's foremost architects, Peter Lorenz of Peterlorenzateliers, as guest speaker. This debate will also be one of the concluding events of this year's edition of Time for Architecture (T4A3).

Peter Lorenz was born in Innsbruck in 1950. He obtained his Diploma from Venice in 1983 and opened his atelier in Vienna in 1991. Hailed as one of Austria's foremost contemporary architects by the likes of Dominique Perrault, Gustav Peichl and Daniel Libeskind, Lorenz has designed over 300 projects, a third of which have been built in Austria, Northern Italy, Slovenia, Hong Kong and China.

His projects are of varying scales, ranging from product design to general urban planning. In the first few years Lorenz concentrated mostly on interior design, the design of retail outlets and conversion jobs.

Works in Innsbruck include Haus Gant (1982), Cafe Fresco (1984), Mode Leitner (1985) and Menardihaus (1989). The atelier focused on residential projects, urban planning, shopping malls and larger projects. Some of its main initial works were the Triest Hotel in Vienna (1995), the Tatzlwurm and Obermarkt residential developments (1995) and the In der Stille 'office container' (1996).

The last few years have seen Peterlorenzateliers, heavily involved in a number of international design competitions, winning first prizes for the master plan for Mehrwert Simmering in Vienna (1998-2003), the Ilirija Sportcity in Ljubljana (2001-2003), the Interspar shopping mall in Linz (2002), the Telekom office tower in Innsbruck (2002), Bischofshofen railway station (2001), Gienger München (2006) and the Graz Stadtbau invited European competition (2007).

The most celebrated completed recent works include the Mpreis stores in Telfs and Niederndorf (2001 and 2005 respectively), the Blaue Halle in St Christoph (2001), the Conrad 3 residential and office building in Innsbruck (2002-2003), the Offene Bank (2002), the Zukunftszentrum (2002), the Master plan for Wilten-Ost in Innsbruck (2003-2004), the Interspar Q19 shopping mall in Vienna, (2000-2005), the Abitare Sottolfaro in Trieste, (2001-2004), the Wohnen zur Sonne in Telfs (2004-2005).

The atelier is also currently working on the Dongfang Xindi Langfang, a major city project in Tianjin, China, that includes a five-star hotel, a shopping centre, an office building and a housing estate, over a floor space of 450,000 m2.

Lorenz has also been actively involved in related architectural activities, including jury work in about 75 competitions to date. He has been invited as a workshop facilitator and has lectured and held numerous working groups related to urban planning and architecture in a number of universities and institutions.

Peter Lorenz is visiting professor at universities in Innsbruck and Graz (the Universität Innsbruck, Technische Graz and Universität Graz), as well as the Università Degli Studi in Trieste and Naples, the Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies in Bombay, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the School of Architecture in Nanjing, and other universities in Ahmedabad, New Delhi and Guangzhou.

Peter Lorenz will deliver his lecture on Saturday at 7.30 p.m. at the Aula Magna, Old University Building, St Paul Street, Valletta. Entrance is free.

Architecture Nights 07 is sponsored by HSBC, Attard & Co, HalMann Vella, Steel Structures, Modern Elegance and Auntie Lucy, and is being organised under the patronage of the Austrian Embassy in Malta.