Josef-Matthias Printschler

WTHUF

Josef-Matthias Printschler’s application, WTHUF – what the hack is urban furniture? chose an entirely different approach to the rest of the entries on the problems raised within the framework of Hacking Urban Furniture; it was the odd one out. Strictly speaking, Printschler’s application does not fulfil the requirements of the competition, as it does not propose a concept for a specific urban furniture. Instead of a proposal, the architect provides us with an analytic guide to thinking about, planning and conceiving urban furniture as such. By doing so, he puts himself into a critical position, raising problems and questions that all applicants could or should have been concerned with, while writing their proposals to HUF.
 
The jury decided to award Josef-Matthias Printschler an honourable mention, valuing a very witty and accurate analysis of the discourse at hand. Furthermore, the jury recognises WTHUF’s potential as a contribution that may serve as a guideline for similar competitions, a structure of criteria for future HUF projects.

Gergely Laszlo