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Axel Schmitzberger
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Axel Schmitzberger

Professor, Architecture
College of Environmental Design

Expertise:

Architecture, Graphic Design, Future Cities, Austrian Architects in the United States, Digital Architecture Design, Modernist Architecture in Hawaii, Exhibition and Curatorial Design, Residential Architecture Design, Office Architecture Design, Precast Concrete Architecture, History of Precast Concrete, Austrian Modernist Emigres, Design Methodology and Pedagogy, Digital Tools in Architectural Design

An internationally recognized award-winning architect and educator, Axel Schmitzberger has taught and worked in architecture, multimedia and design in Austria, Taiwan and the United States. At Cal Poly Pomona he teaches topic studios on precast concrete (concrete cast in a reusable mold and cured in a controlled environment, resulting in superior fire-resistant material ideal for nursing homes, low- and mid-rise apartments, hotels and motels), environmental emergency relief facilities, digital technologies and artificial intelligence, and post-Anthropocene architecture — new materials and projects that attempt to redesign cities for environmentally responsible futures. He is interested in hauntology and the use of architecture as a critical lens to explain the persistence of non-physical elements from the social and cultural past that influence current design.

 

Schmitzberger’s research focuses on teaching methods for complex architecture, computer-aided design, and the integration digital technologies for architecture design, data visualization, and construction and fabrication. Recently, his research expanded to the topics of spatial and material design strategies, and Austrian émigré architects.

 

He has curated exhibits themed around architects from his native Austria, including “Resident Alien – Austrian Architects in America” at the Austrian Cultural Forum New York, and collaborated with the Austrian Foreign Ministry for the national traveling exhibition “Alfred Preis: Displaced” that concluded at the USS Arizona Memorial on its 60th anniversary at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii. Schmitzberger is also the author of the first publication on the Austrian emigrant Alfred Preis: “Alfred Preis Displaced: The Tropical Modernism of the Austrian Emigrant and Architect of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor” (Doppelhouse Press/Pacific Historic Parks, 2022).

 

As partner in the design-build firm Domaen LTD, Schmitzberger was responsible for the design of several award-winning projects : VIL Creative Office space in Pasadena (AIA Honor Award 2019; Honorable mention American Architecture Prize 2017; Build Award 2016), ARB residence (IDA Architectural Design of the Year Award, 2020; IDA Gold Award, 2020; Honorable Mention, American Architecture Prize 2018), and MU77 residence with Arshia Architects  (AIA LA Residential Award, 2017; AIA LA Merit Award, 2016).

 

Schmitzberger has recently combined his various engagements in the collaborative firm A_Platform. His current projects involve several residential and office projects in the Los Angeles areas well as two recent book graphic designs on art during the pandemic “Wait a Minute” (Schlebrugge 2022), and on artificial intelligence in architecture, “Neural Architecture” by Matias Del Campo (ORO Editions, 2022).

Recent Grants and Fellowships:

  • PCI Teaching Grant, Precast Concrete Institute, with SOA, University of Hawaii at Manoa 2022-2026 ($160,000)
  • Cal Poly Pomona, Faculty Development Funds, 2021 ($1,200)
  • Federal Ministry for Arts, Culture, the Civil Service and Sport, Republic of Austria, 2021 ($5,000)
  • Grant of the Federal Ministry of European and International affairs, Republic of Austria, 2021 ($6,000)
  • PCI Teaching Grant, Precast Concrete Institute, 2020-21 ($20,000)
  • Grant of the Federal Ministry of European and International Affairs, Republic of Austria, 2020 ($5,000)
  • Cal Poly Pomona, Faculty Development Funds, 2019 ($1,590)
  • PCI Teaching Grant, Precast Concrete Institute, 2019 ($10,000)
  • PCI Teaching Grant, Precast Concrete Institute, 2009-2014 ($112,000)

Selected Publications:

  • “M3: Morphosis Model Monograph”, contributor, Rizzoli 2022
  • “Alfred Preis Displaced: The Tropical Modernism of the Austrian Emigrant and Architect of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor”, Doppelhouse Press/Pacific Historic Parks , Los Angeles/Honolulu 2022
  • “Alfred Preis – Vienna in the Tropics”, research, exhibition and publication, curator, 2020 – current
  • “Resident Alien – Austrian Architects in America”, Research, exhibition, panels and publication, curator, 2019
  • “Real Detail — Detail Reality, the Dynamicism of Fragmentation and ‘Satisfization’,” in Gail Borden, Meredith Peter (eds.), Matter: material Processes in Architectural Production, 2011
  • With A. Chandler and W. Su, Catalogue of the 30th Annual Conference of the Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture, New York, 2010
  • With A. Ortenberg, “We Are the Robots – Intelligent Patterns – Authoring Information” in: ACADIA 2010 – Life in:formation, (eds: A. Chandler, A. Schmitzberger, W. Su) Catalogue of the 30th Annual Conference of the Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture, New York, 2010
  • With A. Ortenberg, “Mock-ups, Full-Size Fabrications and the Discontinuity of Situational Orientation,” Architecture and Phenomenology, Second International Conference Proceedings, Kyoto Seika University, Japan 2008

Interviews:

Exhibitions/Performances:

  • “Alfred Preis Displaced, The Tropical Modernism of the Austrian Emigrant and Architect of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor,” Pearl Harbor Museum, May 30 – July 15, 2022
  • “Alfred Preis Displaced: Vienna in the Tropics – Austrian Emigre, Modernist and Architect of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor,” Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), Feb. 22 – March 31, 2022
  • “Alfred Preis in Hawai‘i: Vienna Emigre, Architect and Advocate,” Honolulu Mayor’s Hale, Jan. 14 – Feb. 27, 2022
  • “Alfred Preis – Vienna in the Tropics”, online exhibition, https://online-exhibitions.at/alfred-preis/?lang=en, 2020
  • “Resident Alien – Austrian Architects in America”, Exhibition, Austrian Cultural Forum New York (ACFNY), Sept. 25 – Feb. 17, 2019
  • Dwell On Design Installation, Los Angeles Convention Center, June 14-17, 2017
  • With B. Roberts, A. Wilcox, S. Lorenzen, “Relier” Exhibition/Auction, Neutra VDL Research House III, December 2013 and December 2012
  • With F. Perrin, C. Himmelb(l)au, P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S, F. Pita, H. Abe, M. Mach, “Light My Way Stranger,” Exhibition/Auction, MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles, 2012

Education:

B.Arch, Technische Universität Wien (Vienna University of Technology)

M.Arch, Technische Universität Wien (Vienna University of Technology)

Languages:

English, German

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