Getting a Doctorate at 93 Years of Age

An extraordinary chapter of university history is currently being written at TU Graz: The Graz architect, architectural theorist, author and university lecturer Eugen Gross has successfully completed his doctorate at the age of 93. According to the Ministry of Science, this makes him the oldest doctoral candidate recorded in Austria since 2000. No fully analysable data is available for earlier periods. In any case, he is the oldest doctoral candidate in the history of Graz University of Technology (TU Graz) and sets an impressive example of scientific curiosity and lifelong learning.

“Eugen Gross’s doctorate is an extraordinary personal achievement and at the same time an inspiration to our entire university community,” emphasises Horst Bischof, Rector of TU Graz. “His life demonstrates impressively that scholarly curiosity, creativity and the will to gain knowledge know no age limits. I congratulate Mr Gross from the bottom of my heart.” 

Co-founder of “Werkgruppe Graz”

Born in Bielitz-Biala in Eastern Silesia in 1933, Eugen Gross left his mark on Austrian architecture and planning culture for generations. Together with the architects Friedrich Groß-Rannsbach, Werner Hollomey and Hermann Pichler, he founded the “Werkgruppe Graz” and created some of the most important buildings of Austrian post-war modernism. The group realised more than 100 projects at home and abroad in three decades. Among the best known are the Terrassenhaussiedlung Graz-St. Peter, the Hafnerriegel student residence, the Leechgasse/Sonnenfelsplatz student residence, the First Surgical University Clinic at Graz Regional Hospital and the multi-award-winning Styria printing centre in Graz-Messendorf.

Eugen Gross’s academic career began almost seven decades ago. After studying architecture at the Graz Institute of Technology, now known as Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), he graduated in 1958 with a degree in architecture. Shortly afterwards, he became an assistant to the architect and spatial planner Hubert Hoffmann and dedicated himself to teaching and research at TU Graz for many years. 

“Even at the age of 93, I want to make a contribution to scientific development and contribute my experience from more than 60 years of professional practice as an architect to the discussion about architecture.” 

The joy of science knows no age

Eugen Gross began his doctoral studies in the winter semester of 2023 and completed them in the minimum amount of time. “The decisive reason for doing a doctorate is the joy I get from scholarly work,” says Gross. “Even at the age of 93, I want to make a contribution to scientific development and contribute my experience from more than 60 years of professional practice as an architect to the discussion about architecture.”

In his doctoral thesis “ARCHAEA URBANA: Urban utopia as a virtual city foundation, illustrated by the interrelation between island and structure”, Gross analyses utopian urban designs as “virtual city foundations”. The starting point is his decades-long preoccupation with urban planning utopias, dating back to his 1968 text “The Reality of Utopia in Urban Planning”. In his doctoral thesis, Gross develops the so-called “principle of double reversal”. It describes architectural perception as a reciprocal process of space and time, in which discontinuities and changes in perspective make architectural quality visible. He applied this model, among others, to the terraced housing development in Graz-St. Peter. “A building is not complete even after it is finished, but is constantly being recreated by the observer and user,” says Gross. “This perspective has also accompanied me in my scholarly work.” His doctoral thesis was supervised by Anselm Wagner from the Institute of Architectural Theory, History of Art and Cultural Studies.

In addition to his work as an architect, Eugen Gross has also worked as an architectural theorist, juror, exhibition organiser, author and university lecturer. He has taught at Washington University in St. Louis and at the Ortweinschule Graz, among others, and has worked as a visiting critic at international universities. His publications and contributions to the architectural debate characterised the development of Austrian architecture for decades.