Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky – Kinderhaus St. Pölten

The kindergarten of the Glanzstoff factory in St. Pölten is a little-known project in the oeuvre of the Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897–2000). The conversion of the former director’s villa, which took place during the post-war period under Soviet occupation (1953), impressively demonstrates how the architect and women’s rights activist applied her many years of experience with child-friendly architecture and furniture. The original interiors, which have since been replaced, are recreated in this book on the basis of detailed plans from her estate — with the help of models and visualisations. A full-scale reconstruction of a children’s armchair also enables us to experience her design ideas at first hand.

With esays by Mona Jas, Thomas Pulle, Andrea Thuile and Christine Zwingl, conversations with Eva B. Ottillinger and Martin Bergmann as well as a previously unpublished photo album by Walter Weber capturing the cheerful bustle of daily life in the Kinderhaus St. Pölten.


Christine Schwaiger, alumna Institute of Architecture, University of Applied Arts Vienna, and now Interior Design & Visual Communication, New Design University (NDU), St. Pölten