Paul Rajakovics
with Barbara Holub as Transparadiso
“Engaging in Los Angeles and in societal-urban issues, researching socially engaged and critical artistic practice by artists like Suzanne Lacy or Ant Farm was an important experience and input for our future work.”
Paul Rajakovics is an architect and urbanist, based in Vienna. In 1999 Barbara Holub and Paul Rajakovics founded transparadiso that operates at the intersection of art, architecture and urban intervention and developed the method of direct urbanism – as socially engaged urbanism.
Paul Rajakovics is vice president of the ZV/ Central Association of Architects Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland. He was co-secretary of EUROPAN Austria (2004–2007) and co-advisor for architecture, Forum Stadtpark, Graz (1996-1997). Since 2017 he has been Expert for Urban Design of Styria, Austria. He has been a member of the editorial board of the urban research journal "dérive", Vienna (since 2001), and partner of the EU project SPACEX—Spatial Practices in Art and Architecture for Empathetic Exchange (2022–2025).
Since 1997 Paul Rajakovics has been lecturing, given workshops and was guest critic at various universities including UMPRUM, Prague (CZ); IUAV, Venice (I); Valand Academy of Fine Arts, Gothenburg (Sweden); Academy of Fine Arts Vienna; University of Arts, Linz; Academy of Fine Arts Bratislava (SK); Universidad Tecnica/ Valparaíso and Universidad Católica, Valparaíso (Chile).
He was Professor of Transformation Design at the HbK/ Academy of Fine Arts Braunschweig, Germany (2022-2023), and assistant professor at the Dept. of Housing and Design/ Vienna University of Technology (1997-2003; 2009-2017), where he is currently lecturing.
Paul Rajakovics was awarded the Austrian National Art Award (2018), the Otto Wagner Prize for Urban Design (2007), the Schindler Grant of the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles (2004), and the Tische-Grant of the Austrian Federal Chancellery (1994) at Agence Jean Nouvel, Paris, 1995.
EDUCATION
2001
PhD "Contextual Acting in Architecture and Urbanism”
1994
MArch, Graz University of Technology
Graz, Austria
JURY
Francesco Bonami
Farshid Moussavi
Heinrich Pichler
Martin Prinzhorn
Peter Noever
FINAL PROJECT
