Abraham was an influential architect in his native Austria and the New York avant-garde. Abraham's poetic architectural vision was influenced by the Viennese tradition to align
architecture with
sculpture, and also by the
Austrian physicist and
philosopher Ernst Mach. Abraham theorized architecture on a
collision course with the needs of humans, yet striving for coexistence, in a constant state of creative tension. Beginning in the late 1950s, his enigmatic architecture placed Abraham among the avant-garde, such as
Hans Hollein,
Walter Pichler and
Günther Domenig. In 1958, Abraham collaborated with
Friedrich St. Florian, placing third in an international competition to design the Pan Arabian University of Saudi Arabia, and in 1959, placing second, for the design of the
Democratic Republic of the Congo Cultural Center in
Léopoldville. Abraham criticized mainstream architecture's preoccupation with style, its indifference to history, and the rigid definition of
Modernism at that time. Abraham went on to influence generations of professional architects through architectural drawings, projects, and teaching. A self-described
incurable formalist, Abraham's notable built architecture includes
House Dellacher (1963–67), in the
Oberwart District of Burgenland, Austria,
Public Housing Complex, (1968–69), and
Experimental Kindergarten (1969-70) in
Providence,
Rhode Island. In 1973, Abraham was awarded the commission for
Rainbow Plaza in
Niagara Falls, New York, which he co-designed with Giuliano Fiorenzoli. The same year, Abraham was asked to transform the New Essex Market Courthouse building, located at 32 Second Avenue,
New York City, for reuse as the
Anthology Film Archives (1980–89), with collaborator-architects Kevin Bone and Joseph Levin. The portfolio
Untitled marked the occasion. In the mid-1980s, Abraham won the architecture competition to build a mixed-use residential and commercial complex, IBABERLIN, in
Friedrichstraße 32-33 (1985–88), a major street in central
Berlin, which forms the core of the
Friedrichstadt neighborhood. The area was originally constructed to extend the city center, during the first half of the 18th century, in the
Baroque style, and after significant damage during
World War II, and then partly rebuilt before the division of the
Berlin Wall. Abraham explained the work as a tribute to
"a city of memories, hope and despair. A City mutilated and fragmented by war, offended through reconstruction and isolated by political manipulations. Historical fragments remain, monuments of the past, elements for a new architectural beginning. New elements are suggested. First independent, then connected to form a dialectical topography of urban Architecture." Abraham contributed the design for
Traviatagasse (1987-1991), in
Vienna, with Carl Pruscha. Other buildings designed by Abraham include
Residential/Commercial Building (1990–93), in
Graz,
Austria;
House Bernard (1985),
Hypo-Bank and
Hypo-House (1993–96), situated in the historic center of the small town of
Tyrol, in
Lienz,
Austria. In later years, Abraham designed his own home in Mazunte,
Mexico. Among Abraham's many well known hypothetical projects is
Seven Gates to Eden, a bold hand-drawn analysis of the suburban house, exhibited in the 1976
Venice Biennale, curated by
Francesco Dal Co, and included in a 1981 show at the
Yale School of Architecture, entitled
Collisions, curated by New York architect
George Ranalli. Abraham's
City Of Twofold Vision, Cannaregio West, (1978–80), is sited in Cannaregio, the northernmost of the six historic districts of the historic city of
Venice,
Italy. Abraham also designed the
Les Halles Redevelopment project (1980) for
Paris,
France, and
Interior (2001), and his design for
The New Acropolis Museum (2002) in
Athens,
Greece articulates new ideas about the contextualization of monuments. In 2002, Abraham contributed a poetic artistic response to New York's World Trade Center attack on September 11, 2001. Abraham's proposal is a poignant symbol to regain footing while envisioning a new future architecture for the City of New York. Perhaps Abraham's best known work of architecture is the
Austrian Cultural Forum New York (1993-02), at 11 East 52nd Street; a building ingeniously arranged onto a site only 25 feet wide. Architectural historian
Kenneth Frampton has recognized the Austrian Cultural Forum as "the most significant modern piece of architecture to be realized in Manhattan since the
Seagram Building and
Guggenheim Museum in 1959." Another notable project,
Musikerhaus or
House for Musicians (1999), in Hombroich, near to
Düsseldorf,
Germany. The built atop a former
NATO missile base. Abraham adapted the site for reuse as an artists' residence and exhibition gallery. Abraham's
Musikerhaus was completed posthumously, under the supervision of Abraham's daughter Una, in 2013. In 2015, The German Architecture Museum (DAM) identified Abraham's
Musikerhaus as a significant new building constructed in Germany. Abraham was awarded a
Stone Lion (1985), at the 3rd International Architecture Exhibition for "Progetto Venezia," an international competition sponsored by the
Venice Biennale, under the directorship of
Aldo Rossi. He also earned the
Grand Prize of Architecture (1995), and
Gold Medal of Honor (2005) for
meritorious service to the Province of Vienna. In 2011, Abraham was part of the ensemble cast in the film
"Sleepless nights stories," which included
Marina Abramović, Thomas Boujut,
Louise Bourgeois, Simon Bryant, Phong Bui, Pip Chodorov, Louis Garrel,
Björk Gudmundsdottir, Flo Jacobs, Ken Jacobs, Harmony Korine, Lefty Korine, Rachel Korine-Simon, Kris Kucinskas, Hopi Lebel, Jean-Jacques Lebel, Diane Lewis, Jonas Lozoraitis, Adolfas Mekas, Oona Mekas, Sebastian Mekas, DoDo Jin Ming, Dalius Naujokaitis,
Benn Northover, Hans Ulrich Obrist,
Yoko Ono, Nathalie Provosty, Carolee Schneeman,
Patti Smith, and Lee Stringer. The March 22, 2015 premiere of
Scenes from the Life of Raimund Abraham (2013), by film diarist Jonas Mekas, is a
cinéma vérité style documentary of the lift of Raimund Abraham which carries its subject, the visionary architect, into the future. == Drawing architecture ==