VMA has been the lead studio design consultant for ORF political programs including the National Elections since 1993. The modular studio with variable elements enhanced a four week pre-election discussion  and a larger election day coverage in the main television studio with all day coverage and a variety of program elements requiring multiple presenter positions and camera movements.

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VMA was presented the Adolf Loos Staatspreis Gold Award 2002; Eyes and Ears Europe Gold Award 2002; and PROMAX Europe Silver Award 2003 for the ORF Newsroom Studio Architecture.

The Newsroom started on-air on May 2, 2002 with 7 daily news programs (approx. 2 millions daily viewers) and 3 pre-recorded information programs per week. 4 further live magazines of 50 minutes per week started in October 2002. The 356m2 circular 360 degree studio plan focusses upon the central element – the ‚newsdesk‘ – which is rotating to 5 different positions throughout the daily on-air cycle with translucent sliding walls  framing and masking the individual ’sets’ and providing a soft transition between the moderator and the background layer. The secondary areas located adjacent to the central ‚newsdesk‘ add flexible spaces for weather reports (bluebox), studio discussions, promotion spots, breaking news reports, and smaller format news coverage and 5 weekly news magazine programs. Flatscreen monitors used for live correspondent reports and graphic information are mounted on tracks revolving around the studio to further enhance the studio flexiblility.

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VMA designed the studio for Kunststuecke – an avantgarde program of contemporary art and culture – as an abstract three dimensional space with virtual borders where surface edges/contours fade in and out amidst the extreme whiteness of the studio space. Suspended translucent and transparent plexiglass objects provide a hint of a spatial reference as the camera slowly moves and the foreground/background objects dissapear and blend together leaving the presenter as the central focus of the environment.

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The design concept to create a trade fair interior pavilion for the presentation of ENLIGHTENED^TM Swarovski Elements gemstone brand at the BASELWORLD Watch and Jewellery Show 2008 is based on translating the fascination exerted by a gem into a magical and sensual three-dimensional experience. The form of the space follows the logic of the folded faceted structure, which originally derived from the need to conceal the extremely restrictive and rather banal geometry of the existing outer tent construction and ultimately took the shape of a cut gem. The structure itself is composed of a pneumatic membrane divided into inflated facets. Animated lighting and sound design transformed the space into a spacious free-flowing subtle visual, acoustic and tactile spatial experience. VMA’s long-term creative partner, the British graphic designer Neville Brody/Research Studios, devised a series of animated graphics that highlight and enhance the key elements of Swarovski’s new brand while harmonising completely with the unique luminescent space created by VMA’s gradually alternating lighting cycles. Expertise in the area of new materials as well as the integrative approach to the lighting and multimedia components helped the VMA designers to reinterpret the archetypical idea of a crystal creating an expressive and iconic brand space.

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The Sprachpavillon was the central element in a touring exhibition in Austria as part of the ‘European Year of Languages’. The pneumatic form provides an soft interface between the interior and exterior spaces which activates the surrounding urban context through subtle natural and dynamic artificial lighting.  The internal media terminal represents an experimental approach to the expression of languages in a visual context through means of architecture/design, film, and typography. The architectural, graphic and human entities revolve and interact around this point in space eliminating borders, boudaries, and obstacles and thus emphasizing the fluidity of space itself.

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