Erich Moser (architect)

Dreischeibenhaus of Thyssen AG in Düsseldorf, planned 1955, built 1957–1960

Unilever high-rise, today Emporio high-rise, planned in 1958, built 1961–1964

Erich Moser (born April 1, 1930 in Bregenz , Austria ) is an Austrian architect . He played a key role in the design of large high-rise projects in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s and early 1960s ( Dreischeibenhaus in Düsseldorf, Unilever House in Hamburg, etc.). The best-known projects of his office Eller Moser Walter (EMW), founded in 1964, include areas of the Ruhr University Bochum as well as numerous school and university buildings in North Rhine-Westphalia.

life and work

Moser attended high school in Innsbruck and then studied architecture at the Graz University of Technology (Archduke Johann University). During his studies he met Robert Walter and Fritz Eller , with whom he had a professional partnership that lasted for decades.

Before the end of his studies, Moser and Eller and Walter were invited as an Austrian young delegate to the 9th Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France in the summer of 1953 . There they came into contact with important modern architects such as Le Corbusier .

Following his fellow students Eller and Walter, Erich Moser also went to Düsseldorf after completing his architecture degree in 1954 and worked as a freelance architect in the Hentrich & Petschnigg office . When the office received an invitation to compete for the Phoenix-Rheinrohr (later Thyssen AG) high-rise in Düsseldorf, the three architects were entrusted with the design. Hentrich let her work on it very independently. Their contribution won the first prize and they also built the high-rise under the roof of the Hentrich & Petschnigg office. The sensational building, later also referred to as the three- pane house because of the three slender panes of different heights , was clad with a completely smooth and extremely elegant curtain wall. Even before its completion, Henry-Russell Hitchcock described it as the most beautiful skyscraper in the world and put it on a par with the Seagram Building by Mies van der Rohe . It is still one of the most famous high-rise buildings in Germany today.

Erich Moser was significantly involved in the following projects in the Hentrich & Petschnigg office: Unilever high-rise in Hamburg (2nd prize in the 1958 competition, then execution draft, construction 1961–1964, today under the name Emporio high-rise ); Bayer high-rise W 1 in Leverkusen (1st prize in competition, construction 1959–1961) and others.

In 1959, Moser became a partner of the firm , which was named Arbeitsgemeinschaft Architekten BDA Hentrich, Petschnigg, Eller, Moser, Walter, Köllges, Stutz, Rüping .

In 1961, Eller-Moser-Walter, in cooperation with the Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner office, won the international ideas competition for the Ruhr University in Bochum , in which Walter Gropius also took part.

In 1964, Erich Moser founded the architectural office Eller-Moser-Walter (EMW) together with Eller and Walter, with locations in Düsseldorf and Bochum .

Ruhr University Bochum, natural sciences

Its main works include the central facilities and the buildings for the natural sciences of the Ruhr University Bochum . The EMW office shaped the North Rhine-Westphalian school and university landscape up until the 1980s. Many other orders in the field of education can be traced back to competitions that have been won, including the Mechernich Progymnasium (1964), the University of Dortmund (1969), the Bochum Comprehensive School (completed in 1974), the Jülich School Center (completed in 1977) and the University of Oldenburg with its central area, Library, cafeteria and sports facilities (early 1980s). In addition, the EMW office designed the comprehensive university in Duisburg (1980s).

The EMW office also built numerous administrative buildings for companies and public institutions.

In the mid-1980s, Erich Moser left the office and moved back to Austria.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Erich Moser in conversation with Gabriele Wiesemann and Erasmus Eller, on August 4, 2018.
2. ↑ Erich Moser in conversation with Gabriele Wiesemann and Erasmus Eller, on August 4, 2018.
3. ↑ Andreas Rossmann: scale bad. Fritz Eller turns 70 . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . February 28, 1997.
4. ^ Henry Russell Hitchcock: HPP. Buildings and designs. Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner . Düsseldorf 1973, p. XI .
5. ↑ Hans-Bernhard Adams (Ed.): 50 years of HPP. Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner, Architects . Düsseldorf 1983, p. 9 .
6. ↑ Richard Hoppe-Sailer, Cornelia Jöchner, Frank Schmitz (eds.): Ruhr University Bochum. Postwar modern architecture vision . Berlin 2015.