Heinz Tesar
Heinz Tesar (16 June 1939 – 18 January 2024) was an Austrian architect who had an international reputation for his church and museum architecture.
Heinz Tesar
böhringer friedrich · CC BY-SA 2.5
- Born
- 1939 · Innsbruck.
- Died
- 2024 · Baden.
- Nationality
- Austria
- Occupation
- architect · university teacher
- Fields
- architecture
- Education
- HTL Bau Informatik Design Innsbruck · Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
- Teachers
- Norbert Heltschl · Roland Rainer
- Honours
- City of Vienna Prize for Architecture · Grand Austrian State Prize
- Languages
- German
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Documentary summary
Heinz Tesar (16 June 1939 – 18 January 2024) was an Austrian architect who had an international reputation for his church and museum architecture.
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Documentary evidence
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Authority files
gnd · 1091194742 · wikidata · Q90504 · wikipedia · Heinz Tesar
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
Heinz Tesar studied at HTL Bau Informatik Design Innsbruck and Academy of Fine Arts Vienna. Training under Norbert Heltschl and Roland Rainer is recorded. The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is architecture. Places of work recorded in the authority are Munich, Hamburg and Amsterdam. Employment is recorded with Technical University of Munich and ETH Zurich. Work by Heinz Tesar is recorded in the collections of Art Institute of Chicago. Distinctions recorded are City of Vienna Prize for Architecture and Grand Austrian State Prize.
Tesar studied architecture from 1961 to 1965 at the Akademie der bildenden Künste in the master class of Roland Rainer. After several stays in Hamburg (1959–1961), Munich (1965–1968) and Amsterdam (1971), he opened, in 1973, his own studio in Vienna. From 1972 to 1977 he was a member of the Board of the Austrian Society for Architecture and from 2002 to 2006 he was a member of the Baukollegium of the city of Zurich. In 2000 he opened an office in Berlin. Tesar died on 18 January 2024, at the age of 84, in Baden bei Wien.
Academic career
Academic career
From the 1980s, he taught at various universities in Europe and America: • 1983 Visiting Professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York • 1985–1987 Visiting Professor at the ETH Zurich • 1988 Visiting Professor at Syracuse University, New York • 1990 Visiting Professor Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts • 1990–1991 Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Munich • 1992 Cass Gilbert Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis • 1995 International Summer Academy in Salzburg • 1996–2000 Visiting Professor Istituto Universitario di Architettura di Venezia • 1997–1998 Visiting Professor University of Fine Arts Hamburg • 2000–2006 Visiting Professor Accademia di Architettura, University of Italian Switzerland, Mendrisio
Design competitions
Design competitions
For various international competition entries he received the first or second prize: e.g. for Klösterliareal in Bern (1981), the University Library in Amiens (1991), the Synagogue in Dresden (1997), the Museum for Art and Design in Ingolstadt (2000) and the Museum of Medicine in Padua, Italy (2004).
Notable buildings
Notable buildings
• Illustration — Dresden: Haus am Zwinger (right) & Taschenberg Palace (left) • 1974–77 Music Studio, Steinach am Brenner • 1976–78 Unternberg Parish church. • 1977–86 Church and Cemetery, Wagrain • 1976–83, 1985–88 Residential Development, Vienna, • 1981–83 Firestation Perchtoldsdorf. • 1981–83 Haus Grass Bregenz. • 1981–85 Biberhaufenweg settlement, Vienna, (with Carl Pruscha and Otto Häuselmayer) • 1985–87 House Grobecker, Vienna, • 1986–87 Administration building Schömer, Klosterneuburg, • 1987–90 Day-care, residential complex Wienerberggründe, Vienna. • 1991 Design Koloman Walisch Square, Kapfenberg. • 1993–95 Keltenmuseum in Hallein • 1994 Stadttheater / cinema and museum, Hallein, (the conversion of Wunibald Deininger building which was erected in 1925 – Deininger was a student of Otto Wagner) • 1995 Evangelical Church, Klosterneuburg. [3] • 1995 Warehouse area, St. Gallen Styria, • 1995 ″Taschenberg Residence″ (Haus am Zwinger next to Taschenberg Palace), Dresden • 1998–99 Essl Collection Museum Klosterneuburg • 1999 Donau City Church of Christ, hope of the world in the Danube City Vienna. • 1999 Haus am Zwinger, Dresden • 2000–05 Conversion Bode Museum Kaiser Friedrich Museum, Berlin, • 2001–06 Teichgartencalvario, Klosterneuburg near Vienna, • 2001–06 BTV City Forum, Innsbruck, • 2007–08 Auditorium, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA), Klosterneuburg • 2013 Conversion of Kahlsperg Castle for the Franciscan Sisters of Hallein [2] • Illustration — Klosterneuburg evangelic church • Illustration — The Keltenmuseum, Hallein from the river Salzach. Former Salt Warehouse and Offices converted by Heinz Tesar • Illustration — Donau City Church, Vienna • Illustration — Residential area in Bregenz, house by Tesar is the second house from the right (white with high windows) • Illustration — ESSL Museum • Illustration — Haus am Zwinger 2010
Kriegerdenkmal zum Ersten und Zweiten Weltkrieg,
Anton-kurt

This media shows the Vienna residential building (Gemeindebau) with the ID 584.
Thomas Ledl
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1939
Heinz Tesar was born in 1939 at Innsbruck.
2024
Heinz Tesar died in 2024 at Baden.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Innsbruck.
Birth place
Baden.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q90504: Heinz Tesar
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Heinz Tesar”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority file
- Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091194742, Heinz Tesar (1982 : Basel).
General reference · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Heinz Tesar dies at 85: Cause of death and obituary announcement. 2024-01-19.
- 2.Architekt Heinz Tesar ist gestorben
- 3.Heinz Tesar : Christus Hoffnung der Welt, Wien. Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/London 2002, .
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
authority file
Gemeinsame Normdatei 1091194742, Heinz Tesar (1982 : Basel).Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Secondary witnessreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q90504: Heinz TesarWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Design
11,558 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Heinz GraffunderDesigner
- Heinz HessDesigner
- Heinz IslerDesigner
- Heinz RuthaDesigner
- Heinz WinklerDesigner
- Helen Binkerd YoungDesigner
- Helen BullardDesigner
- Helen Fessas-EmmanouilDesigner
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