(“Text as taken from the website”)
Christine Lechner
Christine Lechner (* 1960) studied interior design in Linz from 1979 to 1984 at the University of Design under Friedrich Goffitzer and Laurids Ortner. In 1982 she attended the international summer academy for architecture in Salzburg with the architects Gustav Peichl and Wilhelm Holzbauer and studied architecture at the University of Art in Linz until 1990. In 1987 Christine Lechner and Horst Lechner won the competition to redesign the saloon cars of the Austrian Federal Railways, whereupon the two opened the Lechner & Lechner atelier in Salzburg. Christine Lechner was active as a guest lecturer in wood architecture at the Technical and Natural Sciences University of Norway in Trondheim and as a guest critic at the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts Salzburg and the ETH Zurich. An important project is the Lechner residential and studio house, which was planned, built and inhabited together with Horst Lechner and which won the Salzburg Architecture Prize in 2010. In 2012 she was part of the jury as the winner.
In addition to buildings in Austria, she planned and implemented projects in Germany and, from 1996 to 1997, projects in South Korea. From 2006 to 2009, the team expanded by Johannes Schallhammer developed projects in the United Arab Emirates.
In 2016, a detailed portrait of Christine Lechner was published in the course of the regional exhibition “Salzburg 2016 – 200 Years Salzburg near Austria” in the “Salzburg are you big daughters” section. Since 2016, Lechner has been a member of the board of the Salzburg regional group of the Central Association of Architects in Austria and a member of the architecture advisory board of the Salzburg regional government.
Horst Lechner
Horst Lechner (1959 – 2014) attended the carpentry school in Villach. After graduating from college, he studied interior design in Linz from 1977 to 1982 and was honored for his diploma thesis in 1983. This was followed by studying architecture in Vienna with Hans Hollein, which he completed in Linz in 1990. In 1982 he took part in the international summer academy in Salzburg. In 1987, Horst Lechner and Christine Lechner won the competition to redesign the saloon cars of the ÖBB, whereupon the two founded the Lechner & Lechner studio in Salzburg. Various teaching activities followed, including at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, ETH Zurich, Rosenheim University of Applied Sciences and the University of Innsbruck. In addition to buildings in Austria, Horst Lechner planned and implemented projects in Germany, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Horst Lechner was involved in the student council, the professional council of architects and the architecture initiative and was involved in the architectural appraisal of the city of Salzburg. Most recently he was a member of the advisory board for architecture of the Salzburg state government. Lechner has been a member of the board of the Central Association of Architects in Austria since 2012 and a member of the “Landluft” association since 2011.
Horst Lechner died unexpectedly of a heart attack on December 29, 2014 at the age of 55. In 2016 the theater director Ches Themann dedicated his Villingen production of the play “The Ambassador” to Horst Lechner. Lechner was employed as a set designer, but died during the preparatory work. Ches Themann completed the set itself in Lechner’s sense. Also in 2016 a chapter in the book “People from Salzburg” was dedicated to him. His passion and creativity continue to be a great role model for all of us.
Horst Lechner
Horst Lechner grew up in the heart of the Salzburg Old Town. From a young age, his interest in the urban landscape and building structures led to lively discourse with his parents, who both worked as architects in Salzburg. Prior to his architecture studies, several of Horst’s architecture photos were featured in various publications such as “A10 new European architecture” and “Kulturland Salzburg”. Horst completed his architecture studies at the University of Art and Design Linz, the Politecnico di Milano in Italy and the Vilniaus dailės Akademija in Lithuania. During his studies, Horst participated in numerous architectural excursions in various countries such as the USA, Iran and Japan.
He has been a partner in the Lechner & Lechner architectural office since 2015. The master’s thesis “River area Salzach – Transformation to the lifeline”, developed together with Lukas Ployer, unexpectedly developed into a crowd puller. Due to the enormous demand, the exhibition in the Architecture Initiative was extended twice and published in large numbers. For this and for the further commitment to the sensual potential of the river, Horst Lechner and Lukas Ployer were awarded the scholarship of the architecture prize “Land Salzburg” in 2018. In 2021 Horst Lechner was sworn in as a civil engineer.
Paul Lechner
Paul Lechner (*1993) is currently student at the Leopold Franzen University in Innsbruck. From a young age, Paul was exposed to both the creative and technical aspects of architecture through his family and developed a sensitivity for the art form. Paul has been a shareholder of Lechner & Lechner since 2015 and currently works there as a junior architect and contributed his economic expertise. In addition to his architecture studies, Paul has been studying economics at the Johannes Keppler University in Linz since 2013. Paul’s background in both architecture and economics has allowed him to bring a unique perspective to his work. His drive to combine these skills and develop into a multi-faceted architect led him to the US and Canada in 2018 to explore smart factories and the future of the industry, as well as learn about the important aspects of Amerian urban structures and classical modernism. In July 2018, Paul took part in the BASEhabitat summer school in Altmünster, where he learned about earth and bamboo construction and further developed his atmospheric perspective. Haptics and materiality have since become a more integral part of Paul’s approach to architecture.
Paul has been a keen rower since 2005 and has won numerous national and international competitions with his team. Highlights include winning the Austrian National Championships 2007 and 2009 in his respective age group. Since 2012, he has volunteered as a rowing instructor to promote young talent.
Practice Ideology
We try to enlarge the boundaries of the building discourse through non-orthodox, interdisciplinary and unusual ways of working. One of our core competencies includes building in historical context and the sensitive handling of existing buildings. We work on design tasks from urban planning to the smallest sanitary facilities. The architecture office Lechner & Lechner was opened by Christine & Horst Lechner in 1987 and re-founded in 2015 as lechner-lechner-lechner ZT gmbh. In the course of the collaboration with the Chair of Urban Development at the ETH Zurich at the end of the 1990s, we met the architect Johannes Schallhammer. Since 2000 we have been working together in an office community at our common location in Salzburg’s Priesterhausgasse. In addition to our own projects, we work on many projects together.
