Armand Weiser

Armand Weiser ( September 25, 1887 in Zurich - September 18, 1933 in Mödling ) was an architect and specialist writer.

life and work

Armand Weiser came from a well-off merchant family with a cosmopolitan background. His father Max Weiser was a factory director in Istanbul. Although he was born in Switzerland, he came to Vienna at an early age, where he completed his school days and then studied architecture at the Technical University from 1908 . He completed a long internship with the Hungarian architect Oskar Kaufmann in his Berlin studio. Kaufmann specialized in the construction of theater buildings.

In 1916 Armand Weiser returned to Vienna and completed his studies with a doctoral thesis “The scale of architecture”. He then worked as a freelance architect and from 1917 was a member of the Austrian Association of Engineers and Architects , the Wiener Bauhütte and the Central Association of Architects in Austria .

Because of the First World War , he temporarily went to Switzerland, where he was able to obtain a generous donation from the Swiss architects for the virtually unemployed, needy architects in Austria. This made it possible to finance ideas competitions.

Weiser returned to Vienna in the mid-1920s, from where he also took on a number of assignments in Znojmo in Czechoslovakia . In 1925 he and Karl Lehrmann took part in the competition for the Geneva-Cornavin train station , albeit unsuccessfully. In 1930 he planned the Goldstein house, and he was also given the task of designing a large community building in Vienna's third district. The residential area was finally listed as a historical monument and has been named Alice-und-Heinrich-Scheuer-Hof since 2009 , named after two victims of the Nazi regime .

Like many of his colleagues, Weiser also worked as an interior and furniture designer. In addition to his practical work, he wrote numerous articles for specialist journals such as the architecture magazine Moderne Bauformen , for Die Kunst and the Deutsche Bauzeitung , for interior decoration and German art and decoration . He also acted as the editor of the monthly Austrian Architecture and Crafts , which became an important forum for contemporary architecture.

Weiser last lived in Mödling, where he also died at the age of 46. He was married to Natalie ("Natti") Weiser, an artisan. The couple had two sons, the cultural manager Peter Weiser (1926–2012) and the industrial director Clemens Weiser (born 1930).

rank

The Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945 writes: “Weiser was one of the protagonists of moderately modern architecture that had established itself in the inter-war period around Adolf Loos , Josef Hoffmann and Josef Frank in Vienna, concentrating almost exclusively on residential building. However, his architectural work is relatively small due to his early death and extensive journalistic activities. "

Weiser is a typical representative of the “Viennese living culture”, which “was characterized by its lightness and elegance.” He developed a lasting influence as a publicist and mentor of Austrian inter-war architecture. He became one of the masterminds and theorists for unpretentious and functional architecture. He helped the Austrian colleagues to gain cross-border attention through lively publications in the German media.

Works

Residential complex of the municipality of Vienna, 3., Neulinggasse 39

• 1916: Villa Sievers, Berlin
• 1916: Villa Heinemann, Berlin
• 1921: Rental house, Vienna 20th , Treustraße 31
• 1926: Szilagyi furrier shop, Vienna 4th , Rilkeplatz 2 (not preserved)
• around 1927: Fritz Weinberger residence , Znaim
• 1928: Villa Weiser (conversion and furnishing), Mödling
• 1929: Hans Weinberger's house (remodeling and furnishing), Znaim
• 1930: House EL, Znaim, Na Valech 9
• 1930: Dr. Elschnig, Znaim
• 1930: House Goldstein, Vienna 19. , Stürzergasse 1 (heavily changed)
• 1930–1931: Residential complex of the municipality of Vienna, 3rd , Neulinggasse 39 / Salesianergasse / Grimmelshausengasse
• 1930–1931: House Hilde G., Vienna 19., Hohe Warte

Unrealized projects

• 1913: Stadttheater Bonn (competition, with Oskar Kaufmann )
• 1916: Mathiaskirche Berlin-Wilmersdorf (competition, with Albert Weber )
• 1916: Library of a banker, Frankfurt (competition)
• 1917: Gardens in front of the Palais Trautson , Vienna 7th , competition, with Clemens Holzmeister , one prize
• 1921: Kurhaus and Sanatorium Tobelbad , Styria (competition, one purchase)
• 1925: Geneva- Cornavin train station (competition, with Karl Lehrmann )

Meetings

• M. Eisler: A. Weiser's house, Fritz W.'s house in Znaim. In: Moderne Baufformen 28.1929, p. 163ff
• M. Eisler: Armand Weiser, residential building on the Hohe Warte. In: Moderne Baufformen, 32.1933, p. 323ff
• K. Gutschow: Der Umbau , Stuttgart 1932, p. 44f u. P. 50.
• H. and R. Hautmann: The municipal housing of Red Vienna 1919–1934, Vienna 1980
• Municipal housing in Vienna , departure 1923–1934. Broadcasts (exhibition catalog), Vienna 1978
• R. McGrath: Twentieth Century Houses , London 1934, pp. 39, 41 and 130
• I. Meder: Open Worlds , The Vienna School in Single Family Housing 1910–1938, Diss. Stuttgart 2003
• H. Weihsmann: Das Rote Wien , Vienna 2002

Web links

• Armand Weiser. In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Armand Weiser: The house HW in Znaim. Architect dr. Armand Weiser – Vienna . In: Interior Decoration, Vol. 39, 1928, pp. 412–439 ( digital copy )