Schwanzer explained that maximum effects had to be achieved with minimum effort as the Austrian budget was tighter than those of most other countries participating at Expo 58.

The starting point was to put man at the centre of cultural and intellectual progress, in line with the event's motto: "Striking a balance for a human world".

The building was designed as a lightweight structure, its upper 40 by 40 metre floor, six meters above the ground, resting entirely on four buttresses creating a floating effect.

Schwanzer's ground-breaking minimalistic design is widely regarded as a masterpiece of modern architecture, created more than ten years before Ludwig Mies van der Rohe presented his iconic version of flexible interior space and transparent walls in the form of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.

On 30 January 1958, the daily newspaper Die Presse described the exhibition hall as "a virtually ideal foundation for a Museum of Modern Art".

Karl Schwanzer adapted the steel skeleton construction to the museum's purposes: the ground floor was glazed, the courtyard was covered with a roof, all façades were substantially modified, and the whole structure was reinstalled in the Schweizer Garten between Arsenal and the former Südbahnhof.

[4] The work also entailed providing additional space by re-erecting the 75 meter long original porch from the 1960s and by lowering the area in front of the structure, transforming it into an atrium crossed by an access bridge.

[1][15][16] The opening exhibition under the title: "Schöne Aussichten" (English: fine prospects) presented artworks from Lucio Fontana, Andrea Fraser, Marcus Geiger, Florian Thorsen, Lois Weinberger, Franz West und Heimo Zobernig.