Ferdinand Pfammatter

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Dreikönigen Church, Zurich-Enge (1949–1951)
Maria Frieden Church, Dübendorf (1950–1952)
St. Konrad Church, Zurich-Albisrieden (1953–1955)
St. Gallus Church, Zurich-Schwamendingen (1956–1957)
Sainte Famille Church, Zurich-Hottingen (1966)

Ferdinand Pfammatter (* 1916 ; † May 16, 2003 in Berlingen TG ) was a Swiss architect . With his church buildings he helped shape modern Catholic church architecture.

life and work

Pfammatter was born in Valais , but grew up in the Catholic diaspora of Zurich . He studied architecture from 1937 to 1942 at the ETH Zurich and graduated with Hans Hoffmann. From 1942 to 1945 he was assistant to William Dunkel . He then wrote his dissertation on concrete churches, which was published as a book by Benziger Verlag in 1948 .

Together with Walter Rieger , Ferdinand Pfammatter won second prize in the architecture competition for the Catholic Church of St. Felix and Regula in Zurich-Hard in 1946 . The two architects ran a joint office from 1948 to 1967. During that time, Rieger and Pfammatter created a total of eleven churches, eleven schoolhouses, a kindergarten and nine commercial buildings in addition to numerous renovations, conversions and extensions.

In 1951, Ferdinand Pfammatter was co-founder and first secretary of the International Society of Catholic (today: Christian) Artists SIAC , a branch organization of the Pax Romana ICMICA .

After his separation and the dissolution of the joint architecture office, Ferdinand Pfammatter created his last church work in 1970 with the Church of St. Fridolin , Siglistorf AG.

Appreciation

The architects Pfammatter and Rieger stood in the tradition of French concrete architecture. About the buildings by Ferdinand Pfammatter it is said: "The work brings back memories of the French brothers Auguste and Gustave Perret , who were considered pioneers of concrete architecture in the 1920s."

In the 1930s, the liturgy movement of the Catholic Church raised the demand for a spatial union of priests and believers. This requirement had an influence on the development of the church buildings by the architects Pfammatter and Rieger. The first two church buildings by the architects Dreikönigen Zürich-Enge and Maria Frieden Dübendorf , for example , still show a clear design as traditional multi-aisle longitudinal buildings . In the case of the Dreikönigen church, the influence of Denis Honegger's chapel at the Misericorde University in Friborg can still be clearly seen. At the Maria Frieden church, however, Pfammatter and Rieger are already moving away from the three-aisled hall by spanning the space with parabolic concrete girders. Even St. Konrad Zurich-Albisrieden established by the plan been almost a central building is standing with his cross tonnes of the aisles on the model of Notre-Dame du Raincy points. The churches of St. Gallus Zurich-Schwamendingen and St. Marien Herrliberg go even further in the direction of a unified space with a vaulted or tent-shaped shell. Finally, the last joint work by Pfammatter and Rieger, the Sainte Famille church in Zurich-Hottingen , made the transition to the transverse structure. With this, this church consistently implements the requirement of the liturgy constitution of the Second Vatican Council , in that the transverse structure enables semicircular seating so that the faithful can gather close to the altar .

Buildings (selection)

During the period from 1948 to 1967, Ferdinand Pfammatter and Walter Rieger created a total of eleven churches, eleven school buildings, a kindergarten and nine commercial buildings in addition to numerous renovations, conversions and extensions.

literature

  • Ferdinand Pfammatter: Concrete churches. Einsiedeln / Cologne 1948.
  • Ueli Pfammatter: Architect Ferdinand Pfammatter has died . In: tec21 . tape 129 , no. 25 , 2003, p. 34 ( e-periodica.ch ).
  • Markus Fischer: Dreikönigskirche in Zurich-Enge. Society for Swiss Art History. Bern 2011

Web links

Commons : Ferdinand Pfammatter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ parish journal of the Catholic parish of St. James Steckborn 2003/13
  2. ^ Fabrizio Brentini. Building for the Church. Catholic church building of the 20th century in Switzerland. Edition SSL 1994, p. 294.
  3. ^ Markus Fischer: Dreikönigskirche in Zurich-Enge. P. 10
  4. ^ Obituary for Ferdinand Pfammatter, in: Architekturfachzeitschrift Tec 21 , year 2003, quoted from: Gamma: 50 Years Church of St. Gallus Zurich Schwamendingen. P. 12.
  5. ^ Markus Fischer: Dreikönigskirche in Zurich-Enge. P. 22
  6. ↑ BGE 84 II 570 - p. 571
personal data
SURNAME Pfammatter, Ferdinand
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss architect
DATE OF BIRTH 1916
DATE OF DEATH May 16, 2003
Place of death Berlingen TG