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The Masters of Concrete Shells Concrete shell construction started
to become popular in the mid-20th century. Technically advanced
designs with conspicuous expressiveness began to appear all over
the world. With three typical protagonists - Felix Candela
(1910-1997), Heinz Isler (1926-2009), and Ulrich Muther (1934-2007)
- the book examines this construction method. Their work -
primarily in Mexico, Switzerland, and the former GDR - was carried
out under very different political, economic, social, and cultural
conditions. The authors analyze the buildings and projects against
the background of developments in architecture and engineering at
that time. The focus is on mutual influence, shared aspects and
differences in the design processes, the structural design, and the
execution. In addition, the book examines how the work was received
and today's application of the building method. Learning from Felix
Candela, Heinz Isler, and Ulrich Muther and their historic shell
construction buildings Unknown material from the drawing archives
In English with summaries in German and Spanish
Text in English & German. In the years after 1933 several
hundred architects were forced to emigrate from Germany by the
National Socialist dictatorship. Between seventy and eighty of them
went to Great Britain -- in part, prominent representatives of
Modernism like Walter Gropius, Erich Mendelsohn, Erwin Gutkind,
Arthur Korn and Marcel Breuer, but also less well known architects
who had adopted very divergent positions. They found the
architectural scene in Great Britain to be surprisingly
conservative. Only a small circle of architects, clients and
specialist journalists was open to modern design and construction
methods and stylistic idioms. A few emigrants very quickly and
successfully managed to gain a foothold in an environment that was
for the most part unfamiliar to them, while for others exile meant
a serious break in their career. Just a few months after his
arrival in Great Britain, Erich Mendelsohn, together with Serge
Chermayeff, won the prestigious competition for the De La Warr
Pavilion in the southern English seaside resort of Bexhill
(1933-35). The leisure centre is one of the most important examples
of classic Modernism on the British Isles. Impington Village
College (1936-39), which Walter Gropius designed in partnership
with E. Maxwell Fry, also received a great deal of attention and
had an impact on the development of British architecture.
Furthermore, the spectrum of projects tackled by the emigrants
ranged from houses to traffic structures and industrial buildings
to buildings for Jewish communities and designs for exhibitions and
shops. During this period German architects also left their mark in
Great Britain as university lecturers, scientists and publicists.
The book offers an overview of the topic and presents select
buildings in detail. Moreover, hitherto largely unpublished
documents from the estate of Walter Gropius provide a direct
insight in-to his life and work in British exile.
Text in English & German. When architects design a house for
themselves, the often tense relationship between clients and
builders is usually absent. That is why in many such buildings the
architect-designers artistic stance and political position,
preferences and antipathies, temperament and character are more
pronounced than usual. Moreover the architectural theories, debates
and trends of an epoch also leave their traces in them in a
particular way. We encounter both attachment to tradition and
commitment to the avant-garde, willingness to experiment and
pragmatism, distinctive artistry and views shaped by the fact that
a building is also a product of engineering. And last but not
least, expressed in their houses are the personal life
circumstances of the people concerned, or the messages the houses
are meant to convey above and beyond their actual purpose: as a
'manifesto', as the 'self-portrait' of the architect, but also as
an advertising tool or as a sign of connection to specific milieux
or positions. Building for oneself has a special connotation under
the conditionsof migration and exile. Among the most prominent
examples are the private homes of Rudolph Schindler in West
Hollywood (1921/22), Richard Neutra in Los Angeles (1932), Walter
Gropius in Lincoln, Massachusetts (1937/1938), Ernst May near
Nairobi (1937/1938), Bruno Taut in Istanbul (1937/1938), Ernoe
Goldfinger in London (19371939), Marcel Breuer in New Canaan,
Connecticut (1938/1939 and 1947/1948), Josep Lluis Sert in
Lattingtown, New York (19471950) and Max Cetto in Mexiko-Stadt
(1948/1949). What expression could voluntary migration or forced
change of location find in these buildings? To what extent do the
architects other buildings differ from such 'homes of ones own' in
a foreign country, to use an expression borrowed and modified from
Virginia Woolf? The book is a collection of contributions by
internationally renowned authors and examines not only the
buildings themselves but also other aspects of the topic that have
hitherto received little attention.
Internal criticism of the Bauhaus For a long time, the topic of
far-left currents within Bauhaus was one of controversy. Thanks to
recent research on the Communist Student Fraction (Kostufra), the
leftist students are finally coming into focus. Their magazine:
bauhaus. sprachrohr der studierenden. organ der kostufra was a
venue for unsparing critique of events, curricula, and teachers.
The journal was published between 1930 and 1932 in Dessau and
Berlin in 15 hectographed issues in a loose-leaf collection and is
critically discussed here for the first time by researchers from
art and cultural studies, architecture, and editorial studies. It
clearly demonstrates that the experimental value of Bauhaus cannot
be separated from its political radicalism. First detailed
reappraisal of communism in Bauhaus With contributions by Peter
Bernhard, Marcel Bois, Magdalena Droste, Elizabeth Otto, Patrick
Roessler, and others
Text in German & English. Dahlem has developed in two different
ways since the early years of the 20th century. An important
scientific centre emerged on the site of this former royal
territory south-west of Berlin, alongside a suburban villa colony.
Elite research institutes were established in Dahlem, with the
intention of creating a "German Oxford", including the first
institutes for the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft, founded in 1911.
Then Dahlem was chosen as the location for the Freie Universitat
Berlin after the Second World War. The Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
commissioned a new building in these surroundings in order to
provide the Institute for the History of Science, dating from 1994,
with accommodation appropriate to its needs. The building was
erected in 2004/5 to a competition design by the Stuttgart
architects Marion Dietrich-Schake, Hans-Jurgen Dietrich and Thomas
Tafel (who left the team after drawing up the planning
application). The buildings adjacent to the plot, which is bordered
by streets on three sides, date mainly from the 1930s. Alongside
the institutional buildings detached homes determine the local
character. The Max-Planck-Institut reflects the dimensions and
structure of its surroundings. Its height relates to the two-storey
homes; the building masses were structured as eight connected,
pavilion-like sections, which means that, despite its size, the
institute is reticent in its impact on the urban space. The
symmetrical complex is built around a spacious courtyard with old
chestnut trees. The library is the key element of the building, and
so was arranged around all four sides of the inner courtyard.
Extensively glazed internal and external walls afford a wide range
of views into the library rooms. This ensures a constant presence
for the institute's most important set of working tools, and at the
same time makes it accessible over very short distances from
various parts of the building.
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