German Postwar Modern

That the history of the Bauhaus also is an international reception history demonstrate the countless students and teachers who spread the school‘s example and ideas all over the world. Also in Brazil...

German Postwar Modern

Looking at Paul Schneider-Esleben’s architecture is like looking at the history of postwar architecture in Germany en miniature: PSE, as he was known among colleagues and employees, very attentively...

German Postwar Modern

The history of the Brazilian capital Brasília, inaugurated in 1960, is deeply intertwined with photography: probably no other city’s history has been so extensively documented in photographs, for one...

German Postwar Modern

Autocratic power and architecture throughout history have formed a number of unholy alliances in which architects often played an opportunistic role. One such example was Franz Roeckle (1879-1953),...

German Postwar Modern

With the currency reform of 1949 the German government heralded the start of the Wirtschaftswunder, a one and a half decade long boom of the German postwar economy. Along with it went a construction...

German Postwar Modern

The architecture of the 1950s in Germany and Europe showed an almost exuberant use of colors, patterns and material combinations, expression of economic recovery after WWII and likely also a desire of...

German Postwar Modern

The German architect Paul Stohrer (1909-75) was a real bon vivant: with his gullwinged Mercedes 300SL, expensive suits and a butler serving drinks in his luxury apartment he was the talk of the town...

German Postwar Modern

A while ago I posted Francis Strauven’s very comprehensive and incredibly detailed monograph on Aldo van Eyck, a brick of a book that maybe not everyone wants to wrestle through. A briefer but still...

German Postwar Modern

Rising from the ashes of WWII Yugoslavia, as a multiethnic construct envisioned by Josip Broz Tito, had to constantly work towards unity since former enemies as well as religious differences had to be...

German Postwar Modern

While many accounts of Louis Kahn’s undoubtedly epochal work focus on his large-scale projects it is also his houses that reveal a lot about the master: how he engaged with and interpreted modernism...

German Postwar Modern

At the very end of his life the circle closed for Erich Mendelsohn: his first and very last buildings were of religious nature, commissioned by Jewish communities in what was then East Prussia and the...

German Postwar Modern

Although it has been declared dead several times the book is still alive and breathing. The same goes for the library and public library in particular, an institution formerly struggling with the...

German Postwar Modern

Corporate architecture can be a double-sided medal of great quality or mediocrity, a source of inspiration or pure boredom. The Swiss architect Roland Rohn (1905-71) throughout his entire career...

German Post-War Modern

The notion of a building being a total work of art is a recurring topic in modern architecture, especially during its heroic period. Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and many others filled their...

German Post-War Modern

The 1970s in the Netherlands was a decade of immense activity and experimentation in the field of housing: fostered by a state-funded program progressive quarters sprung up all over the country, new...

German Post-War Modern

The Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965 thoroughly liberated church architecture and enabled architects to experiment with forms and layouts. Innovative church designs were developed all over...

German Post-War Modern

It’s part of Dutch cultural heritage and an icon of the De Stijl movement: the Maison d’Artiste, jointly designed by Theo Van Doesburg and Cornelis van Eesteren and for the first time presented in...

German Post-War Modern

The example of Mies van der Rohe’s architecture has had countless followers, some of them developing further his approach, some badly and superficially imitating his style. In 1938 Mies was appointed...

German Post-War Modern

Calling him the „pope“ of rationalization in architecture is no exaggeration: with his „Bauentwurfslehre/Architects’ Data“, commonly referred to as „The Neufert“, Ernst Neufert (1900-86) wrote the...

German Post-War Modern

As the first recipient of the Pritzker Prize from a Nordic country Sverre Fehn (1924-2009) arguably was the most important architect of his generation in Scandinavia. In 1950 Fehn together with Arne...