Frida und Fred, Children's museum in Augarten, Graz, Austria
Frida und Fred is a children's museum in Augarten designed for young visitors to learn by doing rather than watching. The exhibition spaces feature hands-on activities organized by age group, allowing kids to explore topics through direct engagement and experimentation.
Built under architects Hemma Fasch and Jakob Fuchs, the museum opened on 22 November 2003, only 10.5 months after the January groundbreaking, during Graz's year as European Capital of Culture. Its first exhibition, Weltenbummel, was planned with BEHF Architects of Vienna. Construction cost 3.7 million euros, and in 2006 the building won the 1st Austrian Architecture Award.
The museum is named after the two figures Frida and Fred, and its German name is written FRida & freD. Several times a week it stages children's theatre performances and workshops alongside the changing exhibitions. Since 2010 a laboratory on the exhibition themes has been a fixed part of the programme.
The building stands in the Augarten; its entrance is only about 2.30 m high, which limits how large objects can be brought in. The middle of the staggered exhibition levels is step-free for wheelchairs, and a lift reaches every level. Window bands run almost all the way around the facade, letting you see into the exhibition spaces from outside.
A 15-metre indoor cable car hangs above the exhibition space, developed by the operator team during construction and supplied by Leitner AG. A single passenger propels the cabin by turning a hand crank. The building's grey PU-foil skin was chosen to match the colour of tree bark in the Augarten.
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