Hermann Alker

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hermann Reinhard Alker (born March 13, 1885 in Lambrecht ; † May 25, 1967 in Karlsruhe ) was a German architect and university professor .

Life

Alker first attended the Kaiserslautern District Building Trade School from 1901 to 1904 , then studied from 1904 to 1911 at the Technical University of Karlsruhe with Carl Schäfer , Josef Durm , Friedrich Ostendorf , Max Laeuger and Hermann Billing . During trips to his brother, who lived in Tivoli near Rome, he became acquainted with Italian architects, including Giuseppe Sacconi (1854–1905). Afterwards Alker was an assistant in Ostendorf's office and from 1914 also represented him on his chair. From 1913 he worked as a construction trainee in the state building administration, from 1918 assistant to Karl Caesar (1874–1942) at the Karlsruhe University. After passing the 2nd state examination , he was appointed government master builder ( assessor in state construction) in 1919.

In 1920 he received his doctorate under Walter Sackur (1871–1926) and completed his habilitation . From 1920/1921 he held a teaching position at the Technical University of Karlsruhe , and in 1924 he received an extraordinary professorship . In addition, he took on various teaching positions, including for building materials science , descriptive geometry , building science , history of architecture and garden art of the Italian Renaissance . In 1928 he took part in the art competitions of the Summer Olympic Games in Amsterdam , as well as in 1932 in the art competitions for the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles ; In the latter case, he did not receive a medal for his submitted design for the Karlsruhe University Stadium, but received an “honorable mention” from the IOC in the discipline of urban planning . In 1935 he was appointed by the National Socialists as one of twelve Durlach city ​​councilors . In 1936 he received the Gauleiter's culture award in Baden . Erich Schelling was one of the employees in Alker's Karlsruhe architecture office .

On September 1, 1937, Alker was appointed by Adolf Hitler to be a “city planning officer with special tasks” in Munich and took over the management of the “special building authority for the expansion of the capital of the movement”. On the instructions of Hitler, Alker was dismissed with immediate effect on June 27, 1938, without giving reasons, after an unauthorized interview with Alker was published in the Völkischer Beobachter on June 24, 1938. Alker's successor as head of the municipal building department was Karl Meitinger . In 1939 Alker received a full professorship at the Technical University of Karlsruhe. In the same year he won first prize in the architectural competition for a design for the radio house of the Reichssender Stuttgart , but this design was not carried out. From 1940 he taught at the Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, succeeding Hermann Billing.

Due to his Nazi past, Alker was excluded from university service by the military government on June 30, 1945 and subsequently retired in 1950 . In post-war Germany he worked as a freelance architect. Among other things, he designed numerous residential buildings and public facilities - which was one of the most common building tasks for architects after the destruction of the Second World War - and was involved in Michelangelo studies.

Alker's work was characterized by traditional design in the early phase, which was shaped by his Karlsruhe teachers, later the influence of modernity is clearly recognizable. Alker now renounced decorative elements (for example in the incomplete radium brine bath in Heidelberg, 1924) and only used brick to structure the building . He mainly used plaster and cement for structuring the facade .

Buildings and designs (selection)

Old stadium
Heidelberg Thingstätte on the Heiligenberg
Zweribachwerk

He also designed numerous residential buildings in Karlsruhe (including the block development around 1930 in the south-west of the city between Black Forest, Ebert, Schnetzler and Klosestrasse).

Fonts

  • Friedrich Ostendorf (author), Hermann Alker a. a. (Ed.): German architecture in the Middle Ages. Edited from his estate by his students. Published by Wilhelm Ernst & Sohn, Berlin 1922.
  • Hermann Reinhard Alker: The portal facade of St. Peter in Rome based on the Michelangelo design in connection with the overall architecture of the cathedral. (2 volumes) Dissertation , Technical University Karlsruhe 1923.
  • Baden Ministry of Culture and Education (Hrsg. Hermann Reinhard Alker): templates for the technical drawing and modeling lessons of the building trades at the trade schools. [In addition to] instructions for the technical sketching and drawing and the modeling of the bricklayers as well as for the use of the templates for the technical drawing and modeling lessons of the building craftsmen at the vocational schools. CF Müller Verlag, Karlsruhe 1925.
  • Hermann Reinhard Alker: Equipment for military sports and general physical exercises at the Technical University of Karlsruhe. (with a plan on a scale of 1: 500) Karlsruhe 1933.
  • Hermann Reinhard Alker: Michelangelo and his dome of St. Peter in Rome. Braun Verlag, Karlsruhe 1968.

estate

His extensive professional estate is in the Southwest German Archive for Architecture and Civil Engineering .

literature

  • Gerhard Kabierske (author), City of Karlsruhe (ed.): Documentation on the design of the Durlacher Schloßplatz by Hermann Alker in the 1920s. Karlsruhe 1988.
  • SarchEtrans, Marlene Drewitz (Red.): Stadtbaukunst. Matthäuskirche Karlsruhe. (Booklet for a conference, a dispute in 2009 and information on the history of the Matthäuskirche, Karlsruhe: Hermann Alker 1927, processing of the interior by HR Riegel 2009 [conference and workshop exhibition in the Karlsruhe architecture showcase, a church in the southwest receives light and color]) (= workbook, 10.) Mens Architecturae, Karlsruhe 2009, ISBN 978-3-923222-10-0 .
  • Dorothea Roos: The Karlsruhe architect Hermann Reinhard Alker. Buildings and projects from 1921 to 1958. Wasmuth, Tübingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-8030-0745-2 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Stanton: The Forgotten Olympic Art Competitions. The Story of the Olympic Art Competitions of the 20th Century. Trafford Publishing, Bloomington (Indiana, USA) 2000, ISBN 1-55212-606-4 , p. 360 and p. 374.
  2. ^ Dorothea Roos: The Karlsruhe architect Hermann Reinhard Alker. Buildings and projects 1921 to 1958. Tübingen 2011, p. 330 ff.
  3. ^ Rainer Freitag (ed.): The apartment block on Ebertstrasse in Karlsruhe. Materials on architecture by Hermann Reinhard Alker. Chair for building theory and design at the University of Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe 1981 ?.
personal data
SURNAME Alker, Hermann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alker, Hermann Reinhard (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German architect and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 13, 1885
PLACE OF BIRTH Lambrecht (Palatinate)
DATE OF DEATH May 25, 1967
Place of death Karlsruhe