Introducing a New Monthly Architecture Special with the Friendly Alien, Kunsthaus Graz

Wednesday. The middle of the week. “Hump day,” if you like. In the structure of the work week, it stands alone, neither early enough to be associated with freshness, nor late enough to be linked to the coming weekend. Whether you call him Hermes, Mercury or Woden, middle-of-the-road Wednesday is named for the God of travel, and from now on when we’re all at that mid-point of our last weekly journey of the month — the last Wednesday of the month — we’ll be featuring something you can only really and fully experience by traveling to be in it: a unique building or space.

Kicking off our new Last Wednesday of the Month Architecture feature is the “Friendly Alien” otherwise known as Kunsthaus Graz. One look and you understand why locals and even its own architects, Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, gave the structure its nickname, although at certain angles it could be said to look more like an internal organ of said alien. Before you say it looks like the Blob descending on Graz, the Kunsthaus is a perfect example of blob architecture, a movement with its origins in new software-aided experiments in the 90s that enabled architects to play with form in different ways. Although the organic forms of blob architecture can be historically linked to precedents like Antoni Gaudi’s work in Barcelona, they reflect a unique link to their own time through the undeniable visual reference to computer generated images.

They say photos are worth a thousand words, but in the case of understanding the impact and meaning of a great structure in its location, there’s just no substitute for seeing it firsthand. After checking out the exterior, head inside to see how the interior frames its use as an exhibition space. When you’re done with the Friendly Alien, head back to White Line Hotels edit Schlossberghotel; the architecture is completely different, but with 400 unique contemporary artworks, you may still feel like you’re at the Kunsthaus.

We found these great photos of Kunsthaus Graz here and here.