Erwin Hauer's Continua

When Erwin Hauer’s former student, Enrique Rosado, approached the designer in 2006 to reissue his sculptural walls, Hauer was certain interest in his work had long since dried up. Instead, and now with the aid of enhanced computer-aided design and printing techniques, Hauer’s wall screens have enjoyed a resurgence – and they look more modern than ever.

Having developed his signature form making techniques in his native Austria, sculptor Erwin Hauer came to the United States on a Fulbright grant in 1955. His work had just been published in Domus, and would appear shortly in Interiors magazine; Arthur Drexler and Edgar Kaufman, Jr., of The Museum of Modern Art, would also tout Hauer’s work to celebrated contemporary architects and designers including Florence Knoll Bassett initiating a series of iconic commissions for Knoll and with the Knoll Planning Unit.

Hauer’s wall screens, called continua, are composed of several individual modules—the size of which changes according to the application. Made from cast stone, the modules are woven together to create a textile-like surface that diffuses light and divides space.  Hauer’s designs were featured in two celebrated Knoll Associates interiors: the Executive Offices of LOOK Magazine, and the First National Bank of Miami, Florida. His screens were also included in the Mexico City Knoll International Showroom, designed by Arnold Wasson-Tucker.

Beginning in the late aught’s, Hauer and Rosado updated and reissued several continua with the help of new production techniques. Recent installations include the LEED-certified Knoll, Inc. Showroom in Chicago (completed in 2006 and seen above), as well as the lobby and the roof of the Standard Hotel, High Line Hotel, and Centria in Rockefeller Center, both in New York.
 

First National Bank, Miami c. 1958-9. Hauer Design 5 (1956); Knoll Associates interior

Look Magazine executive offices, New York, 1960-1. Hauer Design 5 (1956); Knoll Associates interior

Knoll Showroom, Mexico City, 1961. Hauer Design 1 (1950)