Fritz Eller
Fritz Eller (born February 28, 1927 in Schwaz , Austria ; † May 31, 2018 in Aachen ) was a German-Austrian architect and architecture professor at RWTH Aachen University . Under the umbrella of the Düsseldorf architectural office Hentrich & Petschnigg , he was significantly involved in the design of large high-rise projects in the Federal Republic ( Friedrich-Engelhorn-Hochhaus der BASF in Ludwigshafen, Dreischeibenhaus in Düsseldorf, Unilever-Haus in Hamburg, etc.). The most famous projects of his office Eller Moser Walter (EMW), founded in 1964, include areas of the Ruhr University Bochum and the state parliament building in North Rhine-Westphalia .
Study and participation in the CIAM congress
Eller attended the secondary school in Innsbruck and passed the Matura in 1947 . From 1949 to 1953 he studied architecture at the Graz University of Technology . During his studies he met Robert Walter and Erich Moser , with whom he subsequently had a professional partnership that lasted for decades. After graduating in architecture, he was sent to the 9th Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM) in Aix-en-Provence in the summer of 1953 with Walter and Moser as an Austrian junior delegate . There they came into contact with important modern architects such as Le Corbusier and accepted his invitation to visit the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille.
Cooperation with Hentrich & Petschnigg
Fritz Eller and Robert Walter moved to Düsseldorf and have been working as freelance architects in the Hentrich & Heuser architectural office since 1953 ( Hentrich & Petschnigg office since the end of 1953 ). There they took over the construction management for the reconstruction of the war-damaged Jägerhof Palace in Düsseldorf-Pempelfort . At the same time, Eller was involved in the competition design for the BASF high-rise in Ludwigshafen . The design was awarded first prize and realized (built 1954 to 1957). The Friedrich-Engelhorn-Hochhaus was one of the first high-rise buildings with reinforced concrete construction and a light curtain wall and until 1963 the tallest building in Germany.
Together with the senior partners of the architecture office and Erich Moser, who has meanwhile also come to Düsseldorf, Eller and Walter worked on the competition for the high-rise of the Phönix Rheinrohr (later the Thyssen high-rise or Dreischeibenhaus). In 1955, the order for the Dreischeibenhaus in Düsseldorf followed .
Eller was also significantly involved in numerous other projects in the Hentrich & Petschnigg office, including: Headquarters of the iron and steel works in Rheinhausen (construction 1956–57); Laboratory building for application technology AWETA at BASF in Ludwigshafen (built 1960–1963); Unilever high-rise in Hamburg (built 1961–1964, today under the name Emporio high-rise ); Bayer high-rise W 1 in Leverkusen (built 1959–1961).
In 1959 Eller became a partner of the newly named working group architects BDA Hentrich, Petschnigg, Eller, Moser, Walter, Köllges, Stutz, Rüping. With Eller's participation, the working group achieved further competition successes in the next few years, including the Oberfinanzdirektion Münster (around 1960), the Europa Center Berlin (early 1960s) and the international ideas competition at the Ruhr University Bochum (1st prize in the 1961 competition).
In 1962, Eller succeeded Hans Mehrtens at the chair for structural and industrial design at the Technical University of Aachen and held this position until his retirement in 1992. He took over the management of the Institute for School Construction and carried out research on the structural modernization of schools and universities as part of the educational reform in North Rhine-Westphalia .
At the end of 1963 Eller, Walter and Moser left the previous working group with Hentrich and Petschnigg.
Architects' office Eller Moser Walter (EMW)
In 1964 the three architects founded the architectural office Eller Moser Walter (EMW) in Düsseldorf with further branches in Aachen and Bochum. Their first major project emerged from the competition they won for the Ruhr University in Bochum, for which they built several scientific institute buildings and the East Lecture Hall Center (1964–1972).
The EMW office took part in numerous competitions. Her projects in the field of education included the Mechernich Progymnasium (1964), the University of Bremen (1968), the University of Dortmund (1969), the RWTH Aachen University's disposal center (1971), the Bochum comprehensive school (completed in 1974), the Siegen University of Education (early 1970s), the Jülich school center (completed in 1977), the disposal center of the University of Oldenburg (around 1974), the physics and mechanical engineering halls of the RWTH Aachen (late 1970s), the University of Oldenburg with its central area, library, cafeteria and sports facilities (early 1980s) and the Duisburg Comprehensive University (1980s).
Other projects by the EMW office were the Hochdahl-Kocksheide residential development near Düsseldorf (1966/67), the Büttgen town hall (1968), the Schoenstatt monastery (1st prize in the 1968 competition), Bayer AG sales department (1st prize in the 1972 competition), the Bayer AG casino (1st prize in the 1974 competition), the Gödecke AG administration building in Freiburg (1st prize in the 1970s competition), the Mannesmann - Röhren AG headquarters in Lintorf near Düsseldorf (1st prize in the 1976 competition), the UHDE administration building in Dortmund (1st prize in the 1980 competition), the EBV staff building in Ahlen (1st prize in the 1981 competition), the SMS Schloemann-Siemag AG headquarters in Düsseldorf (1st prize in the 1982 competition, completion 1984), the Federal Ministry of Transport in Bonn (mid-1980s), the vehicle entertainment systems of the Deutsche Bundespost in Essen (1980s), the Haniel Academy with guest house in Duisburg (1st prize in the competition in 1990 and implementation), the Bergheim tax office (1st prize) . Prize in the competition 1990), the Düsseldorf Chamber of Crafts (1990) and others.
Eller himself described the state parliament building in North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf as the main work of the EMW architectural office. It was built until 1988 and was the first new parliament building in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Eller was also entrusted with numerous renovations such as the Brauer umbrella factory for the Ludwig Forum for international art in Aachen (1988–1991) and the conversion of the former customs office building in Cologne's Rheinauhafen to the Imhoff Chocolate Museum (1990–1993).
In 1994 Eller was appointed to the supervisory board of the Bundesbaugesellschaft Berlin for the new government buildings in Berlin.
In 1997 Fritz Eller and Robert Walter left the office as senior partners, but continued to serve on the advisory board. The office was continued under the name Eller + Eller by the sons Philipp Eller, Erasmus Eller and Marc Eller. Since 2003 it has been run by Erasmus Eller as sole managing director.
Eller was married and had four children. He died on May 31, 2018 at the age of 91 and found his final resting place in Aachen's Westfriedhof .
Honors
Eller was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia on June 4, 1993 . In 2002 he was awarded the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Web links
- Eller, Fritz. Brief vita on the NRW architecture database of the University of Dortmund
- Wolfgang Voigt: Fritz Eller on his 90th birthday. In: Bauwelt. 2017 .
- Guido Hartmann: A great master builder takes stock. In: The world . April 22, 2012 .
- Ludger Baten: Kaarst: A triad for life. In: RP Online . May 18, 2007 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Fritz Eller in conversation with Gabriele Wiesemann, Wolfgang Voigt and Erasmus Eller, on March 3, 2018 in Aachen.
- ^ Wolfgang Voigt: Fritz Eller on his 90th birthday . In: Bauwelt . tape 5 , 2017, p. 13 .
- ↑ Wolfgang Voigt, Philipp Sturm, Bernhard Unterholzner: Research project for the former BASF high-rise in Ludwigshafen, 2015–2018. Unpublished manuscript .
- ↑ a b Hans-Bernhard Adams (Ed.): 50 years of HPP. Hentrich-Petschnigg & Partner, Architects. Düsseldorf 1983, p. 9 .
- ↑ Thomas Becker, Stephan Malessa: Built for Democracy. Prof. Fritz Eller and his architecture office planned the building of the state parliament of North Rhine-Westphalia 30 years ago. In: Deutsches Architektenblatt . No. 6 , 2018, p. 14-15 .
- ↑ Obituary notice , on aachen-gedenken.de from June 5, 2018
- ↑ Merit holders since 1986. (PDF) State Chancellery of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, accessed on March 11, 2017 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Eller, Fritz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian-German architect |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 28, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Schwaz , Austria |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 31, 2018 |
| Place of death | Aachen , Germany |