Sitte Traces

The Sitte family of architects – the internationally renowned Camillo, his father Franz and his son Siegfried - worked on architectural, urban planning and theoretical projects throughout Central Europe. Their lives and work are characterised in equal measure by the continuities and cultural-historical ruptures of the 19th and first half of the 20th century and, not least for this reason, make a significant contribution to Austria's cultural heritage.

The legacy of the three Sitte generations has been held at the TU Wien since the 1960s and is scientifically catalogued and managed by the Urban Design Research Department and the Camillo Sitte Society. Against this background, the comprehensive edition of Sitte's writings and works, published between 2003 and 2014 in six volumes as the Camillo Sitte Complete Edition, set a milestone.

The much-needed restructuring and digitisation of the estate of the Sitte family of architects – with regard to the Sitte Traces research project – is now being tackled as part of the start-up funding from the TUW Blue Sky Research Fund. This will create a central basis, on the one hand for the planned preparation of a funding application to the FWF, but also for the urgently needed exchange with international researchers demanded by the Accademia.

The TU Wien Vice-Rectorate for Research, Innovation and International Affairs has ‘launched the TU Wien Blue Sky Research Fund – Phoenix Call, a programme designed to give researchers at TU Wien the opportunity to advance new and ambitious ideas. The aim of this funding is to demonstrate feasibility in order to be successful in a mandatory resubmission or in a new submission based on the project results.’ (Application guidelines, TU Wien 2024)

As part of the TU Wien Blue Sky Research Fund – Phoenix Call, the Sitte Traces is now one of the first generation of projects funded in this way. Based on the original concept of a digital estate of the Franz/Camillo/Siegfried Sitte family of architects in collaboration with the TUW-Library and TUW-archive, the aim is to reorient the content towards the international perception of the Sitte family of architects and to finally submit the project for funding in 2025.