Alexander Koch (architect)

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Portrait before Koch's move in 1885
Hirschengraben schoolhouse, 1891–95
Villa Egli, formerly Rüegg-Honegger, 1897–1902

Alexander Koch (born January 10, 1848 in Zurich , † April 23, 1911 in London ) was a Swiss architect .

Education and Swiss career

After graduating from the canton school in Frauenfeld, Koch studied from 1866 at the Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum in Zurich under Gottfried Semper , with whom he also worked at the New Hofburg in Vienna in 1869 . 1870–71 he completed his studies at the Berlin Building Academy . In the same year he founded an office with Heinrich Ernst in Zurich and was commissioned by the Baden Trade Association for the first bank there. In 1873 he pushed ahead with the layout and development of the Zurich English Quarter, after studying English housing. The development of this private road with Belgian cottages failed, however, the central part was built by Georg Müller.

After he was able to build the Linth-Escher schoolhouse together with Ernst in 1873-75, in 1876 he won Frauenfeld's first building competition for the Spanner schoolhouse, which he was able to realize by 1878. His outstanding design approach, the realization of the largest possible window area in the facades, was heavily criticized, but praised as brave by the trade journal Die Eisenbahn . In 1881, Koch and his brother Martin published the Swiss Construction and Engineering Calendar for the first time, today's construction manual . In 1885 Koch emigrated to England.

In London

First, Koch attended the Art Training School of the South Kensington Museum for a year and a half, and in 1889 he founded the Academy Architecture and Architectural Review , which was published by 1931. Koch's most important Swiss buildings only date from this period: the Hirschengraben schoolhouse and the Egli villa. Koch made use of a late historical style pluralism, in which every building task was carried out in a style appropriate to him, such as the Hirschengraben schoolhouse in the English neo-Gothic, the Geneva Art Museum in neo-relaxation forms, the concert hall in Solothurn in a local Swiss style. It is the importance of Koch above all as a publicist and propagandist of the English Neo-Gothic and Picturesque, for example in his sensational article in the New Year's edition of the Schweizerische Bauzeitung from 1889.

Works (selection)

  • Linth Escher school building. Zurich, 1873–75 (with Heinrich Ernst, broken off in 1967)
  • English Quarter. Project, Zurich, 1891–95
  • Breakthrough in Petersstrasse Project, Zurich, 1881
  • Art museum. Project, Geneva, 1886
  • Red lock. Project, Zurich, 1891–93 (with Heinrich Ernst)
  • Hirschengraben schoolhouse. Zurich, 1891–95
  • Concert hall. Project, Solothurn, 1896
  • Villa Egli. Zurich, 1897–1902
  • University building. Project, Cape Town, 1903
  • Peace Palace. Project, The Hague, 1906
  • School. Project, Schaffhausen, 1910

Writings, editorships

  • Swiss construction and engineering calendar. (from 1881, from 1952 construction manual).
  • Academy Architecture and Architectural Review. 1889–1931, 62 volumes.
  • The exhibition of the royal. Academie in London and English architecture. In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung. Volume 14, Issue 1, 1889, pp. 1-5. doi: 10.5169 / seals-15640

literature

  • Othmar Birkner : Alexander Koch: Englandschweizer und Stilpluralist , In: Journal for Swiss Archeology and Art History , Vol. 29, 1972, pp. 131-140 ( digitized version ).
  • Jan Capol: Alexander Koch. In: Isabelle Rucki, Dorothee Huber (Hrsg.): Architectural Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century. Birkhäuser, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7643-5261-2 .
  • Alexander Koch. (Nekrolog) In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung. Volume 57, Issue 18, 1911, p. 254. [1] .

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Hanspeter Rebsamen, Peter Röllin, Werner Stutz: Inventory of the newer Swiss architecture, 1850-1920. Volume 1: Aarau, Altdorf, Appenzell, Baden. Orell Füssli, Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-280-01509-X . P. 446
  2. ↑ Hanspeter Rebsamen, Cornelia Bauer and others: Inventory of newer Swiss architecture - 1850–1920. Zurich. Separate print from volume 10 of the complete series. Bern: Society for Swiss Art History 1992. p. 203.
  3. ↑ Hanspeter Rebsamen, Cornelia Bauer and others: Inventory of newer Swiss architecture - 1850–1920. Zurich. Separate print from volume 10 of the complete series. Bern: Society for Swiss Art History 1992. p. 326.
  4. ↑ The railroad . tape 10 , no. 3, 4, 7 , 1879, pp. 13 f., 21, 41 f .
personal data
SURNAME Koch, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss architect
DATE OF BIRTH January 10, 1848
PLACE OF BIRTH Zurich
DATE OF DEATH April 23, 1911
Place of death London