Friedrich St.Florian

Imaginary Architecture Exhibition
Now On View

Maker

Friedrich St.Florian (American, 1932-2024, (RISD Faculty 1963-2005, Professor of Architecture)

Title

Imaginary Architecture Exhibition

Year

1969

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Image/sheet: 21.1 x 29.3 cm (8 5/16 x 11 9/16 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of the artist

Object Number

2023.101.14

Type

Exhibition History

This Is a Thing
Recent Gifts to Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, 2020–2025
Aug 23, 2025 – Feb 15, 2026

Label copy

Interpretation

Bright light silhouettes the people shown in these photographs, including architect Friedrich St.Florian himself in the image on the right. In the 1960s, St.Florian explored imagined architecture projects, highlighting the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of the built environment. In those works, he designed spaces defined by laser beams. This approach posed challenges, however, as laser beams are not visible in pure air. To solve this, St.Florian created hazy conditions to make the light visible, which included encouraging gallery staff to smoke in the exhibition spaces.

Acquisition note

These photographs were part of a 2023 gift of 58 objects from Friedrich St.Florian. An architect with significant international, national, and local projects, St.Florian was a longtime RISD faculty member. He left the RISD Museum his archive, which spans imaginative projects, built projects, and design concepts, so that students and historians could learn from his work. Architectural drawings of his home and studio are on view in the next gallery. St.Florian passed away in 2024.

[CM]

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

In copyright This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Friedrich St.Florian (American, 1932-2024
b. in Graz, Austria)
Imaginary Architecture Exhibition, 1969
Gelatin silver print
Image/sheet: 21.1 x 29.3 cm (8 5/16 x 11 9/16 inches)
Gift of the artist 2023.101.14

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.