Alois Giefer

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Alois Giefer (born September 9, 1908 in Frankfurt am Main ; † December 5, 1982 there ) was a German architect .

Life

Giefer studied at the Technical University of Berlin with Hans Poelzig , after the Second World War he founded an architecture office with Hermann Mäckler in Frankfurt am Main. Both were involved in the architecture debate of the post-war years, speaking out against the revival of ornamental and historicizing forms and, together with Walter Gropius, advocating a connection to the Bauhaus tradition and its functional aesthetics, which was interrupted by the Nazi regime . Giefer was on the board (temporarily chairman) of the BDA ( Association of German Architects ) and the German Werkbund , as well as being chairman of the Frankfurter Kunstverein for many years .

Services

The work of the Giefer and Mäckler partnership is one of the style-defining buildings of the first post-war decades. The reconstruction of the Frankfurt Imperial Cathedral marked the beginning of a series of new church buildings; schools, hospitals, libraries and university buildings were built, including the new building of the famous Institute for Social Research under Horkheimer and Adorno . In addition, Giefer also built private houses for befriended artists and intellectuals such as Eugen Kogon , Walter Dirks , Hans Leistikow , Kasimir Edschmid , Iring Fetscher and others. a. The participation in the Interbau in Berlin 1957 and in the German pavilion of the world exhibition in Brussels made Giefer internationally known. The largest construction site of the office was Frankfurt am Main Airport , for the planning of which Giefer and Mäckler won first prize in an architectural competition in 1950 and which was only opened 20 years later due to constant adjustments to the skyrocketing passenger numbers.

Important buildings

  • Construction of an office and cinema building Steinweg (formerly: Hotel zum Schwan ) in Frankfurt am Main (1949)
  • Reconstruction of the Frankfurt Imperial Cathedral of St. Bartholomew (1950–1953)
  • Administration building "Zipp-Haus" in Frankfurt am Main (1950)
  • Institute building of the Frankfurt Institute for Social Research (1951)
  • Rhein-Main Airport in Frankfurt am Main (1950–1972)
  • Maria-Hilf-Church in Frankfurt am Main (1951)
  • Private house Giefer in Frankfurt am Main (1953)
  • All Saints Church in Frankfurt am Main (1953)
  • Girls' dormitory in Frankfurt am Main, Buchgasse 3
  • House "Fries" in Frankfurt am Main, Mörfelder Landstrasse 250
  • Interbau in Berlin-Hansaviertel : group of residential buildings at Händelallee 43/47 (1957)
  • St. Katharinen Hospital in Frankfurt am Main (1957–1958)
  • Alfred Delp House in Frankfurt am Main (1958)
  • Catholic Curate Church of the Holy Spirit in Würzburg (1958)
  • German Library in Frankfurt am Main (1959), demolished in 2004 after being sold to KfW
  • German School in Madrid (1958)
  • Catholic Church of St. Petrus Canisius in Oberstedten (1964)
  • Catholic Church of St. Matthias in Frankfurt am Main (1965)
  • State chemical institutes in Hamburg (1968)
  • Expansion of Frankfurt am Main Airport (1973)
  • Reconstruction and expansion of the screen house on Weckmarkt in Frankfurt am Main (1980–1983)

Quote

“Building has always been a political process and it is now more than ever. Standstill is impossible, unstable proliferation means mortal danger. Building is a mirror of our time, our indecision and fear of the future. Our hopes and desires, our dreams and unsolved problems, everything becomes visible here. "

- Buildings and experiences , 1982

Awards

In November 1954, the Maria-Hilf-Kirche , the Allerheiligenkirche , the girls' dormitory and the house “Fries” (all in Frankfurt am Main) were called “exemplary” by a jury that was convened by the Association of German Architects and the Hessian Minister of Finance Buildings in the State of Hesse ”. The jury included the following architects: Werner Hebebrand , Konrad Rühl , Sep Ruf and Ernst Zinsser .

Fonts

  • (as editor): Planning and building in the new Germany. West German publishing house, Opladen 1960.
  • Buildings and experiences. Self-published, Frankfurt am Main 1982.

literature

  • Almut Gehebe-Gernhardt: The reconstruction of the city of Frankfurt am Main using the example of the architects Alois Giefer and Hermann Mäckler. Dissertation, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main 2006. (published on CD-ROM 2007)
  • Almut Gehebe-Gernhardt: Architecture of the 1950s in Frankfurt am Main using the example of the architects Alois Giefer and Hermann Mäckler. (= Studies on Frankfurt History , Volume 59.) Frankfurt am Main 2011, ISBN 978-3-86539-675-4 . (revised version of the dissertation)

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ The house was part of an overall complex with the houses of the graphic artist Hans Leistikow and the architect Hermann Mäckler .
  2. ↑ Award for exemplary buildings in the state of Hesse on November 6, 1954 . In: The Hessian Minister of Finance (Hrsg.): State Gazette for the State of Hesse. 1955 no. 4 , p. 70 , point 75 ( online at the information system of the Hessian state parliament [PDF; 3.6 MB ]).
personal data
SURNAME Giefer, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect
DATE OF BIRTH September 9, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH 5th December 1982
Place of death Frankfurt am Main