Background
Petschnigg was born in Klagenfurt, and went to school in Villach.
Petschnigg was born in Klagenfurt, and went to school in Villach.
After the Second World War he resumed his studies at the Graz University of Technology (Technology Union Graz), under Karl Raimund Lorenz and Friedrich Zotter, and graduated with an engineering degree in 1947.
In 1934 he began to study architecture at the Vienna University of Technology, where he entered the Hansea Vienna branch of the Kösener Corps student society. Before he could graduate, however, he was called up for military service. In 1948 he began working at the architectural firm of Helmut Hentrich and Hans Heuser.
After Heuser"s death in 1953, Petschnigg became his replacement and founded the Himachal Pradesh firm together with Hentrich.
The firm was expanded to six partners in 1959 and renamed HPP Hentrich, Petschnigg & Partners. Over the following decades it became one of the most prolific and best-known architectural firms in Germany.
In 1962 Petschnigg was granted entry to the Corps Marchia Brünn branch of the Kösener Corps in Trier. Petschnigg"s particular passion was the maintenance of memorials.
He died in 1997.
In 1988 he became an honorary member of the Engineers" and Architects" Association of North Rhine-Westphalia.