这座建筑于2002年竣工，是亚伯拉罕十年前赢得的一场国际比赛的产物。顾名思义，它是奥地利驻纽约领事馆的文化分馆，由奥地利政府管理和监督。亚伯拉罕1933年出生在奥地利的利恩茨镇，后来搬到纽约，这个项目引发了对建筑体现文化记忆的个人反思探索。

The building, completed in 2002, was the product of an international competition won by Abraham ten years prior. As the name suggests, it houses the cultural branch of the Austrian Consulate in New York, a museum-cum-repository curated and overseen by the Austrian Government. For Abraham, who was born in the Austrian town of Lienz in 1933 and later moved to New York, the project prompted a personal, introspective exploration of architecture’s embodiment of cultural memory.

The building, completed in 2002, was the product of an international competition won by Abraham ten years prior. As the name suggests, it houses the cultural branch of the Austrian Consulate in New York, a museum-cum-repository curated and overseen by the Austrian Government. For Abraham, who was born in the Austrian town of Lienz in 1933 and later moved to New York, the project prompted a personal, introspective exploration of architecture’s embodiment of cultural memory.

 The massing of the building is dictated solely by zoning laws and the immediacy of its neighbors. Image © Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York

建筑物的聚集完全是由分区法和邻近地区的直接性决定的。图片来源：David Plakke，davidplakke.com；礼貌的奥地利文化论坛，纽约

ACFNY是亚伯拉罕在他的职业生涯中接受的为数不多的机会之一，他将他的富有远见的想法转化为固有的形式。他一贯反对现代主义的公理，即建筑需要在物质上建立起来才能存在，并在通过其他媒体进行交流时捍卫其表现力和辩论价值。从这个意义上说，他属于一批杰出的思想家，他们最大的贡献存在于无限模糊的绘画领域，在莱杜克斯和莱古的原始不朽主义与阿克格拉姆和莱布布斯·伍兹的幻觉未来主义之间开辟了一个空间。在他的作品中，有一种情感的特质，有时是对人性更黑暗的一面的末日般的呼吁，这在他的绘画和ACFNY中都有体现。

ACFNY was one of few opportunities Abraham embraced during his career to translate his visionary ideas into built form. He consistently rejected the modernist axiom that architecture needed to be physically erected in order to exist, defending its expressive and polemical value when communicated through other media. In this sense, he belonged to a distinguished lineage of thinkers whose greatest contributions existed unbuilt in the limitless, ambiguous realm of drawing, carving out a space somewhere between the primeval monumentalism of Ledoux and Lequeu and the hallucinatory futurism of Archigram and Lebbeus Woods. There is an emotional quality that distinguishes his work, at times an apocalyptic appeal to a darker side of human nature, articulated both in his drawings and at ACFNY.

ACFNY was one of few opportunities Abraham embraced during his career to translate his visionary ideas into built form. He consistently rejected the modernist axiom that architecture needed to be physically erected in order to exist, defending its expressive and polemical value when communicated through other media. In this sense, he belonged to a distinguished lineage of thinkers whose greatest contributions existed unbuilt in the limitless, ambiguous realm of drawing, carving out a space somewhere between the primeval monumentalism of Ledoux and Lequeu and the hallucinatory futurism of Archigram and Lebbeus Woods. There is an emotional quality that distinguishes his work, at times an apocalyptic appeal to a darker side of human nature, articulated both in his drawings and at ACFNY.

 © Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York

(C)大卫·普拉克(David Plakke)拍摄的照片，davidplakke.com；纽约奥地利文化论坛的礼貌

在大楼竣工前不久的一次采访中，亚伯拉罕阐述了他作品的这个阴森的一面，认为死亡“必须以某种方式表达自己和它的意义，就像希望或愿望一样。”[2]毫无疑问，“断头台”幕墙有一种不祥的品质，它凝视着52街的过路人。但它也非常引人注目，甚至吸引人，引发了一种阴谋诡计和悬念的情感反应。用CharlesGwathmey的话来说，这是“令人难以置信的威胁”，但不是“在消极意义上”。它有一个不妥协的抽象雕塑的存在。“[1]

In an interview given shortly before the building’s completion, Abraham expounded on this grim aspect of his work, arguing that death “must express itself and its meaning somehow just as do hope or desire.” [2] There is undoubtedly an ominous quality to the “guillotine” curtain wall that stares down the 52nd Street passerby. But it is also intensely compelling, attractive even, eliciting an emotional response of intrigue and suspense. In Charles Gwathmey’s words, it is “incredibly threatening,” but not “in a negative sense. It has the uncompromising presence of an abstract sculpture.” [1]

In an interview given shortly before the building’s completion, Abraham expounded on this grim aspect of his work, arguing that death “must express itself and its meaning somehow just as do hope or desire.” [2] There is undoubtedly an ominous quality to the “guillotine” curtain wall that stares down the 52nd Street passerby. But it is also intensely compelling, attractive even, eliciting an emotional response of intrigue and suspense. In Charles Gwathmey’s words, it is “incredibly threatening,” but not “in a negative sense. It has the uncompromising presence of an abstract sculpture.” [1]

 The director's office that occupies the box-like protrusion on the southern facade. Image © Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York

在南面占据盒子状凸起的导演办公室。图片来源：David Plakke，davidplakke.com；礼貌的奥地利文化论坛，纽约

尽管亚伯拉罕专注于心灵更黑暗的层面，但他仍然认为自己是一个最重要的功能主义者。将建筑任务作为一个需要解决的难题，他把指定的地点和规划参数作为形式的主要决定因素。如今人们如此认可的南面斜面，与其说是一种表现力姿态的产物，不如说是对建筑法律空间限制的直截了当的解读。他后来说：“这个设计的灵感完全来自于场地的琐碎环境，分区，代码。”[2]无意识冲动和自觉冲动的这种二分法使他能够调和任务中相互竞争的要求；此外，对他来说，精神分析的自我意识是实现这种唤起性设计的唯一途径。“如果我计划制作一个图腾，一段记忆，那建筑就不会有同样的力量。”[2]功能主义，与其说是一种目的，不如说是一种方法，成为激发建筑欲望的门户。

Despite his preoccupations with the murkier dimensions of the psyche, Abraham still considered himself foremost a functionalist. Approaching the architectural task as a puzzle in need of a solution, he took prescribed site and programmatic parameters as primary determinants of form. The angled southern façade that is now so recognizable was less a product of an expressive gesture than a straightforward reading of the building’s legal spatial limits. “The inspiration for the design came completely out of the trivial circumstances of the site, zoning, codes,” he later said. “And then other things triggered, unconsciously.” [2] This dichotomization of unconscious and conscious impulses allowed him to reconcile the competing demands of his task; moreover, for him, psychoanalytic self-awareness was the only way to achieve such an evocative design. “If I had planned to make a totem, a piece of memory, the building would not have the same strength.” [2] Functionalism, more a method than an end, became a gateway to eliciting architectural desire.

Despite his preoccupations with the murkier dimensions of the psyche, Abraham still considered himself foremost a functionalist. Approaching the architectural task as a puzzle in need of a solution, he took prescribed site and programmatic parameters as primary determinants of form. The angled southern façade that is now so recognizable was less a product of an expressive gesture than a straightforward reading of the building’s legal spatial limits. “The inspiration for the design came completely out of the trivial circumstances of the site, zoning, codes,” he later said. “And then other things triggered, unconsciously.” [2] This dichotomization of unconscious and conscious impulses allowed him to reconcile the competing demands of his task; moreover, for him, psychoanalytic self-awareness was the only way to achieve such an evocative design. “If I had planned to make a totem, a piece of memory, the building would not have the same strength.” [2] Functionalism, more a method than an end, became a gateway to eliciting architectural desire.

 View from the sixth floor looking out toward 52nd Street. Image © Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York

从六楼眺望52街。图片来源：David Plakke，davidplakke.com；礼貌的奥地利文化论坛，纽约

在25x81英尺的地块中，亚伯拉罕把各种方案要求放在一起：画廊、剧院、图书馆、行政办公室、研讨会室和论坛主任的多级公寓。而不是把这个项目画成一堆水平板，他在概念上把塔组织成三个独立的单元，每个单元都是垂直的：结构核心，由玻璃覆盖的正面，以及后出口楼梯井。这些不同的区域中的每一个都有独特的经验和功能特性，亚伯拉罕经常把这个项目描述为三个相互对接的独立的塔。[4]

In the minute 25 x 81 foot plot, Abraham places the various programmatic requirements atop one another: galleries, a theater, a library, administrative offices, seminar rooms, and a multi-level apartment for the Forum’s director. But rather than diagramming the project as a stack of horizontal slabs, he conceptually organizes the tower into three separate units, each of them vertical: the structural core, the frontispiece shrouded by glass, and the rear egress stairwell. Each of these different zones has unique experiential and functional properties, and Abraham often described the project as three separate towers butted up against one another. [4]

In the minute 25 x 81 foot plot, Abraham places the various programmatic requirements atop one another: galleries, a theater, a library, administrative offices, seminar rooms, and a multi-level apartment for the Forum’s director. But rather than diagramming the project as a stack of horizontal slabs, he conceptually organizes the tower into three separate units, each of them vertical: the structural core, the frontispiece shrouded by glass, and the rear egress stairwell. Each of these different zones has unique experiential and functional properties, and Abraham often described the project as three separate towers butted up against one another. [4]

 © Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York

(C)大卫·普拉克(David Plakke)拍摄的照片，davidplakke.com；纽约奥地利文化论坛的礼貌

这些“塔楼”中的第三个，即后楼梯井，如果经常被忽视的话，是独立而引人注目的。亚伯拉罕部署了一个设计解决方案，原产于纽约，一对“剪刀楼梯”纵横交错-交叉后楼不相交。当楼梯与最北端的墙壁交汇时，它们似乎穿过了外墙，有节奏地、猛烈地撕开了信封，让光线倾泻而入。在提交的226份参赛作品中，只有亚伯拉罕的作品把紧急出口放在大楼的后面；这样做打开了大楼的前部空间，让楼梯具有自己的特色。“这个解决方案使我能够将纯粹实用的元素转换为决定性的体系结构组件。”[1]。

The third of these “towers,” the rear stairwell, is independently remarkable if often overlooked. Abraham deploys a design solution native to New York, a pair of “scissor stairs” that criss-cross down the rear of the building without intersecting. As the stairs meet the northernmost wall, they appear to slash through the façade, rhythmically and violently rupturing the envelope and allowing light to pour in. Of the 226 competition entries submitted, Abraham’s was the only one that placed the emergency egress at the rear of the building; doing so opened up the fore of the building for programmatic space and allowed the stairs to take on a character of their own. “This solution enabled me to transform an element of sheer utility into a decisive architectonic component.” [1]

The third of these “towers,” the rear stairwell, is independently remarkable if often overlooked. Abraham deploys a design solution native to New York, a pair of “scissor stairs” that criss-cross down the rear of the building without intersecting. As the stairs meet the northernmost wall, they appear to slash through the façade, rhythmically and violently rupturing the envelope and allowing light to pour in. Of the 226 competition entries submitted, Abraham’s was the only one that placed the emergency egress at the rear of the building; doing so opened up the fore of the building for programmatic space and allowed the stairs to take on a character of their own. “This solution enabled me to transform an element of sheer utility into a decisive architectonic component.” [1]

 East-facing section with the "scissor stairs" on the left-hand side

面向东的部分，左边是“剪刀楼梯”。

1996年，在建筑开始前不久，亚伯拉罕在耶路撒冷做了一次演讲，描述了他对这座大楼的意图：“由于这座塔是纽约市垂直地形图中的一个相当小的物体，我试图发展一种构造词汇，它不会使这座塔上升，而是相反；重点是让它落空-这种不断下降的概念投射出了一种暂停感。“[4]这个想法把这个项目推向了一种焦虑紧张的永久状态，一种蓄意引发情感冲突的状态，以及一种对潜在记忆的沉思能力的呼吁。

In 1996, shortly before construction began, Abraham gave a lecture in Jerusalem in which he described his intentions for the building: "As this tower is a rather small object within the vertical topography of the city of New York, I tried to develop a tectonic vocabulary that would not make the tower rise, but rather the opposite; the point was to make it fall — that falling notion projecting the sense of suspension." [4] This idea drove the project toward a perpetual state of anxious tension, a deliberate trigger of emotional conflict and an appeal to the brooding power of latent memory.

In 1996, shortly before construction began, Abraham gave a lecture in Jerusalem in which he described his intentions for the building: "As this tower is a rather small object within the vertical topography of the city of New York, I tried to develop a tectonic vocabulary that would not make the tower rise, but rather the opposite; the point was to make it fall — that falling notion projecting the sense of suspension." [4] This idea drove the project toward a perpetual state of anxious tension, a deliberate trigger of emotional conflict and an appeal to the brooding power of latent memory.

[1]艾维，朱莉。“对奥地利的敬意和抗议。”“纽约时报”，2002年3月7日。最后一次访问是2015年5月18日，网址是：http：/www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/花园/for-奥地利-a-tribute-and-Protest.html。

[1] Iovine, Julie. “For Austria: A Tribute And Protest.” New York Times, 7 Mar. 2002. Last accessed 18 May 2015 at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/garden/for-austria-a-tribute-and-protest.html.

[1] Iovine, Julie. “For Austria: A Tribute And Protest.” New York Times, 7 Mar. 2002. Last accessed 18 May 2015 at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/garden/for-austria-a-tribute-and-protest.html.

[2]奥地利文化论坛。“采访Raimund亚伯拉罕，ACFY的建筑师。”2001年11月。上次访问于2015年5月18日，网址为http：/www.acfny.org/the-building/History/Raimund-亚伯拉罕-on-acfny/。

[2] Austrian Cultural Forum. “Interview with Raimund Abraham, Architect of the ACFNY.” Nov. 2001. Last accessed 18 May 2015 at http://www.acfny.org/the-building/history/raimund-abraham-on-the-acfny/.

[2] Austrian Cultural Forum. “Interview with Raimund Abraham, Architect of the ACFNY.” Nov. 2001. Last accessed 18 May 2015 at http://www.acfny.org/the-building/history/raimund-abraham-on-the-acfny/.

[3]Grimes，William。“视觉建筑师雷蒙德·亚伯拉罕去世，享年76岁。”2010年3月6日。最后一次访问时间是2015年5月18日，网址是：http：/www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/ART/Design/06braham.html。

[3] Grimes, William. “Raimund Abraham, Architect With Vision, Dies at 76.” Mar. 6, 2010. Last accessed 18 May 2015 at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/arts/design/06abraham.html.

[3] Grimes, William. “Raimund Abraham, Architect With Vision, Dies at 76.” Mar. 6, 2010. Last accessed 18 May 2015 at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/06/arts/design/06abraham.html.

[4]亚伯拉罕、雷蒙德。说教。发表在“技术、地点和体系结构”上。肯尼斯·弗兰普顿，编辑。Rizzoli：美国，1998年，第16-29页。

[4] Abraham, Raimund. Lecture. Published in Technology, Place, and Architecture. Kenneth Frampton, ed. Rizzoli: United States, 1998, pp. 16-29.

[4] Abraham, Raimund. Lecture. Published in Technology, Place, and Architecture. Kenneth Frampton, ed. Rizzoli: United States, 1998, pp. 16-29.

建筑师雷蒙德·亚伯拉罕位于东52街11区33000.0英尺2工程年2002年照片由大卫·普拉克拍摄，davidplakke.com；奥地利文化论坛礼貌纽约分类遗产

Architects Raimund Abraham Location 11 East 52nd Street Area 33000.0 ft2 Project Year 2002 Photographs Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York Category Heritage

Architects Raimund Abraham Location 11 East 52nd Street Area 33000.0 ft2 Project Year 2002 Photographs Photo by David Plakke, davidplakke.com; Courtesy of Austrian Cultural Forum New York Category Heritage