Ulm School of Design

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Ulm School of Design (1955)
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The Ulm School of Design ( HfG Ulm ) was founded in 1953 by Inge Aicher-Scholl , Otl Aicher , Max Bill and others in Ulm and was closed in 1968 as a result of management errors. It is considered the most important international design university after the Bauhaus . Internationally she enjoyed an excellent reputation and was a pioneer and role model both for future design courses at universities of design as well as for the professional profile of the designer .

history

Ulm stool
Railcar DT2 of the Hamburger Hochbahn from 1962
Lufthansa corporate design
Toys designed by Hans von Klier
Teapot as part of a stackable service, designed by Hans Roericht
Max Bill designed this kitchen clock for Junghans during his time at the HfG.

The years 1945 to 1952 were characterized by conception, financing and structuring plans. Through Bill's contacts with Walter Gropius , US foundations also became aware of the project. The Allied High Commissioner John McCloy supported the initiative to found the HfG. The HfG was to get a college-like campus based on the US model, so that the university members could live together in a free community of teachers and students. In 1952, shortly before his departure as High Commissioner, John McCloy presented Inge Scholl with a check for a million  DM on the condition that she would raise another million in Germany. The money comes from a US fund that was intended for the democratic education of the German population after the Second World War. Part of the other funds came from Norwegian European Aid .

The official sponsor of the future HfG was to be the Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung , which was founded by Inge Scholl in memory of her siblings Sophie and Hans Scholl . As members of the White Rose resistance group, they were executed by the National Socialists in 1943. On April 1, 1953, Max Bill became the first rector of the newly founded university.

On August 3, 1953, teaching began in the rooms of the Ulm Adult Education Center . Josef Albers , Walter Peterhans , Johannes Itten and Helene Nonné-Schmidt taught the first 21 students. The training was designed for four years. In the first year, the basic course took place, the other three years served to specialize in the fields of product design, visual communication , building, information (until 1964) and film , which until 1961 was at home in visual communication and from 1962 as an independent subject was continued. With this concept, the teaching methods and content of the future design profession were developed.

On September 8, 1953, the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the HfG complex on the "Upper Kuhberg" took place based on a design by Max Bill. The HfG was one of the first reinforced concrete skeleton buildings in Germany with spacious workshops, student dormitories and cafeteria. The interior fittings and furnishings were designed for the flexible use of the university. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on July 5, 1954. From 1955, teaching took place on the premises of the HfG. The official opening of the classroom took place on October 2, 1955, when Walter Gropius gave the opening speech.

In 1955 Max Bill resigned as rector for reasons of a change of direction in the educational structure and the courses of the HfG and left it in 1957 for the same reasons. Bill advocated continuing the Bauhaus model, while other lecturers wanted a more science and theory-oriented training model. A rectorate board was set up, among them Otl Aicher .

In 1958 the first edition of the HfG magazine »ulm« appeared, which was published in German and English until the end of the university. The public became aware of the HfG through radio and television from 1959 onwards, after lecturers and students had achieved initial successes in the previous years with the design of audio equipment for the Braun company , the appearance of Lufthansa and the trains for the Hamburger Hochbahn, which gained the reputation of the HfG. After seven years on the Rector's Board, a new constitution for the HfG came into force in 1962, again providing for a sole Rector. The choice fell on Otl Aicher. In 1963, the university was given the equipment of the Siemens studio for electronic music , which had been closed shortly before for cost reasons.

Internal disputes about the educational orientation of the university's teaching operations gave the press the first opportunity to attack the HfG in 1963. In a Spiegel article from this year it was said: “But no foundation has promised so much more than it kept, no other academic-artistic teaching and research institute has been plagued by so many crises and quarrels to this day, by co-founders and Employees criticized as sharply as the company supported by the “Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung” on the Ulmer Oberer Kuhberg. ”The state parliament of Baden-Württemberg issued a ten-point ultimatum, which the HfG accepted, with which the state grants were secured. Nevertheless, the problems increased after the state parliament in 1967 demanded the affiliation of the HfG to the engineering school, the forerunner of the technical college . The federal grants were canceled, the financial situation increasingly difficult.

In the course of 1968, the first lecturers had to be dismissed due to the difficult financial situation and the number of courses limited. The Geschwister-Scholl-Foundation, the sponsor of the HfG, was heavily in debt. Internal quarrels and attacks in the press repeatedly prompted debates in the state parliament about the eligibility of the HfG. The remaining lecturers refused to teach for financial and personal reasons. The main reasons for the closure are controversial today. Contemporary witnesses hold the Baden-Württemberg government under Hans Filbinger responsible, the historian René Spitz comes to the conclusion, based on an analysis of files and minutes, that the HfG was largely to blame for its end. The fact is that on July 18, 1968, the Stuttgart State Parliament again approved the grant for the 1969 academic year, subject to certain conditions. However, since these conditions were not met on time, the funds were blocked at the end of 1968. The Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung closed the university on December 31, 1968.

“Mostly false reports are circulating about the closure of the HfG. [...] Against better knowledge, the myth of the HfG is maintained, which was struck down by the blow of a dumb Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister. "

- René Spitz : A5 / 06: HfG Ulm: A brief history of the University of Design

“At that time, in 1968, the CDU was determined to dissolve the HfG in Ulm, although it had a fairly important task - also in the post-war discussion and in its relationship with the Scholl siblings. [...] For the ruling CDU everything that took place in Ulm was a bit scary. "

- Lothar Späth, 1968 member of the finance committee of the Baden-Württemberg state parliament

The Offenbach am Main University of Applied Sciences, which was renamed the Hochschule für Gestaltung in 1970, was the first to adopt large parts of the teaching concept of the Ulm School of Design . After Ulm, it was the only university to carry the designation University of Design adopted from the Bauhaus . Further training centers followed later.

The Institute for Environmental Planning Ulm at the University of Stuttgart was founded to enable the remaining students to graduate . Several lecturers were appointed on a temporary basis. After the students graduated, the institute's budget was transferred to the University of Stuttgart, where it was partly used to set up the Institute for Fundamentals of Planning, headed by Horst Rittel from 1973 onwards .

The architecture of the HfG

The buildings of the Hochschule für Gestaltung are among the most important of the early FRG and with their "concrete architecture" tie in with the tradition of the Bauhaus , which was not least due to the influence of Walter Gropius , who was consulted by the founders and the opening speech in 1955 the college held. The architect was a former Bauhaus student with the Swiss Max Bill .

The buildings were built between 1953 and 1955. Not only was the budget tight, Max Bill also had to use materials that had been donated by industrial companies. Steel companies were first discussed as donors, then, after they had jumped off, concrete manufacturers came into play and the buildings were constructed using a concrete skeleton construction. Fred Hochstrasser was the site manager.

A source says about the design of the building:

“The aesthetics of the architecture of the HfG is constitutive - combined with the postulate of material honesty - the consequent reduction not only of the forms, but also of the materials. Mainly exposed concrete, natural wood and plastered brick were used. Colored asphalt slabs and - in central traffic areas - terrazzo were laid as flooring. The concrete-gray structural elements that create the rhythm and structure of the facades and rooms are clearly legible. The wood composite windows sit flush with the outer skin, the roofs are completely flat. "

The ensemble of former buildings of the HfG has been protected as a cultural monument of special importance since 1979.

The building was first renovated in 1976 by the architect Fred Hochstrasser (the former site manager). A second renovation took place between 2009 and 2014 under the direction of Adrian Hochstrasser, a son of Fred Hochstrasser.

Use of the HfG building

After being closed in 1968, the buildings of the HfG were used in full from 1972 to 2011 by the University of Ulm as the general tenant. The Institute for Media Research and Media Development (IMM) was the last “holdover” of the HfG. At the IMM a. a. In 2003 the documentation "Design for Millions" was published.

After Ulm University moved out in 2010, the former university building was renovated by the Hochschule für Gestaltung HfG Ulm - successor to the Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung - in order to transfer it to its new use as the "Center for Design HfG Ulm". The new tenants in the building are the Ulm HfG Archive, which as part of the Ulm Museum has now returned to its original location with the deposit, a permanent exhibition on the history of the Ulm HfG and a temporary exhibition room. In addition, design offices from the fields of interior design, product design, communication design, jewelry design and marketing as well as the Aicher-Scholl-Kolleg of the vh ulm have moved into the house.

HfG Archive Ulm

In 1987 the city of Ulm founded the HfG archive in the former HfG buildings. The initiative for this came from former members of the Hochschule für Gestaltung, who had come together in the club off ulm ev and collected archives from the HfG. The purpose of the archive is to comprehensively document the history of the HfG. This is intended to make the content and meaning of their work accessible to a broader public.

The HfG archive organizes changing exhibitions and symposia and issues publications. In 1993 the HfG archive was attached to the Museum Ulm as a separate department and its own permanent exhibition on the history and development of the HfG was shown in the Museum Ulm. Since autumn 2013 a new permanent exhibition on the history of the HfG Ulm has been presented in the rooms of the HfG archive.

In addition to numerous archive materials, the HfG archive also has the historical library of the former university, as well as a collection of current books and magazines on the history of design. These are publicly accessible as a reference library.

Works from Ulm Design

Personalities

Lecturers at the HfG

Teaching assignments at the HfG

Well-known students

literature

is first sorted alphabetically, needs to be revised: See WP: Literature .
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

  • The new one lives in the old Bauhaus. Fifty years ago, Max Bill's University of Design had to close - an appreciation. By Bettina Maria Brosowsky in the NZZ, October 23, 2018, online
  • ulmer museum / hfg archive: ulm school of design 1953-1968, ulm school of design 1953-1968, Ostfildern-Ruit 2013: Ulmer models, models to Ulm. Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-7757-9142-6 . With contributions by Bernhard E. Bürdek, Gui Bonsiepe, Silvia Fernandez, Bernd Meurer u. a. m. ISBN 3-7757-9142-6
  • Bernhard E. Bürdek: Design. History, theory and practice of product design. Basel 2015 (4th edition), ISBN 978-3-0356-0404-7
  • Gerhard Curdes: The building department at the hfg (University of Design) Ulm. A reflection on development, teaching and the program. Publication series club off ulm e. V. Ulm 2000. (PDF)
  • Gerhard Curdes (Ed.): HFG Ulm: 21 retrospectives. Build - Community - Doctrines. Publication series club off ulm ev, Ulm 2006. (PDF)
  • Gerhard Curdes: Hfg - IUP - ZPI 1969–1972. Design or planning? On the paradigm shift of the 1960s and 70s using the example of the Ulm School of Design, the Ulm Institute for Environmental Planning and the Planning Institute of the University of Stuttgart. Dorothea Rohn, Lemgo 2015, ISBN 978-3-939486-94-7 .
  • Karl-Achim Czemper (Ed.): Hfg ulm, The Product Design Department, 39 reviews . Series of publications ulm club off ev 2008. Dorothea Rohn Verlag, Dortmund 2008, ISBN 978-3-939486-32-9 .
  • Martin Krampen, Günter Hörmann: The Ulm School of Design - the beginnings of a project of unyielding modernity . Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-433-01647-X .
  • Hubert Krins: Why is the Ulm University of Design a listed building? In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg . 27. Vol. 1, 1998, pp. 23-28. (PDF)
  • Klaus Krippendorff: The Semantic Turn; A New Foundation for Design. CRC Press Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, FL 2006, Chapter 9, "Roots in the Ulm School of Design?"
  • Herbert Lindinger: Ulm School of Design . Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-433-02272-0 .
  • Gerda Müller-Krauspe: Self-assertions; Women at the HfG Ulm . Anabas-Verlag, 2007.
  • Gerda Müller-Krauspe: hfg ulm. the basic theory from 1953 to 1960. 16 reviews and 6 short portraits . Rohn, Detmold 2011, ISBN 978-3-939486-15-2 .
  • David Oswald, Christiane Wachsmann, Petra Kellner (eds.): Review. The information department at the hfg ulm. 2015, ISBN 978-3-939486-95-4 .
  • Rodrigo Otávio da Silva Paiva: 421 posters from the Ulm School of Design. klemm + oelschläger, Ulm / Münster 2010, ISBN 978-3-86281-011-6 .
  • Rodrigo Otávio da Silva Paiva: Max Bill no Brasil. 2011, ISBN 978-3-943347-13-5 .
  • Marcela Quijano: HfG Ulm, program becomes construction . Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7995-8018-2 .
  • Thomas Reinke, Gordon Shrigley: Max Bill: HfG Ulm: Drawing And Redrawing: Atelierwohnungen, Studentenwohnturm. Marmalade Publisher, London 2006, ISBN 0-9546597-1-6 .
  • Tilo Richter: Structure and Content for the Human Environment: The Ulm School of Design, 1953–1968. In: Reto Geiser (Ed.): Explorations in architecture. Teaching, design, research. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel / Boston / Berlin 2008, p. 158f.
  • Dagmar Rinker: Essay “The product design is not art” ulm models - models post-ulm ulm 1953–1968 University of Design . 2003.
  • Daniela Sannwald: From the film crisis to the new German film. Film training at the Ulm School of Design 1958–1968 . Wissenschaftsverlag Volker Spiess, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-89166-200-9 .
  • Peter C. Slansky: Film schools in Germany. History - typology - architecture . edition text + kritik, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-86916-116-7 .
  • Marie Schneider: A legend through the ages. The Ulm School of Design. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg. 40th year 2011, issue 1, pp. 29–34. (PDF)
  • Peter Schubert, Monika Maus - the film department - institute for film design at the ulm hfg, 1960–1968. Review 2012, ISBN 978-3-939486-16-9 .
  • René Spitz: hfg ulm. the look behind the foreground. the political history of the college for design (1953–1968) . Stuttgart / London 2002, ISBN 3-932565-16-9 .
  • René Spitz: HfG IUP IFG. Ulm 1968-2008 . Published by the International Forum for Design IFG Ulm, Ulm 2012, ISBN 978-3-9802864-2-8 .
  • René Spitz: HfG Ulm. Brief history of the Hochschule für Gestaltung / Concise History of the Ulm School of Design. A5 / 06, ed. by Jens Müller, Zurich 2014, ISBN 978-3-03778-413-6 .
  • Markus Stegmann, René Zey: The design dictionary. Directmedia Publishing, Berlin 2004.
  • Barbara Stempel, Susanne Eppinger Curdes - review: the visual communication department at the ulm hfg. 2010, ISBN 978-3-939486-14-5 .

Web links

Commons : Ulm School of Design  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b René Spitz: A5 / 06: HfG Ulm: Brief history of the college for design . Ed .: Jens Müller. 1st edition. Lars Müller Publishers , 2013, ISBN 978-3-03778-413-6 , pp. 21 + 22 .
  2. ^ Bernhard Schulz: In the undergrowth of politics: New research on the 50th birthday of the legendary Ulm University of Design. In: tagesspiegel.de. Der Tagesspiegel , October 18, 2003, accessed on October 12, 2015 . Benefactor. In: hfg-ulm.de. Stiftung Hochschule für Gestaltung HfG Ulm, archived from the original on August 22, 2010 ; accessed on October 11, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Brief history of the Ulm School of Design. In: renespitz.de. René Spitz , April 26, 2013, accessed on March 23, 2016 .
  4. ↑ Gerhard Richter: Ulm School of Design. End of an intellectual awakening. In: Deutschlandfunk DLF. August 1, 2018, accessed October 4, 2019 (German).
  5. ^ Ulm: On the Kuhberg: Universities . In: Der Spiegel . No. March 12 , 1963 ( spiegel.de [accessed October 12, 2015]).
  6. ↑ Gui Bonsiepe: Open letter to a historian . In: form + Zweck . No. 20 , 2003, ISBN 3-935053-03-7 , pp. 9-11 .
  7. ↑ a b René Spitz: HfG Ulm. The look behind the foreground - the political history of the Hochschule für Gestaltung 1953–1968 . 1st edition. edition axel menges, 2002, ISBN 3-932565-16-9 , p. 390 ff .
  8. ↑ Geschwister-Scholl-Stiftung: Minutes of the board meeting on December 18, 1968 . HfG Archive Ulm, December 24, 1968.
  9. ^ Lothar Späth: I believe in the Young Generation - They will do it . In: Yearbook 10 - Things Beyond Control, edited by Nadine Jäger, Jean-Baptiste Joly and Konstantin Lom . Akademie Schloss Solitude, 2010, ISBN 978-3-937158-51-8 .
  10. ^ Foundation HfG Ulm - Fred Hochstrasser
  11. ^ Fred Hochstrasser: Architect Max Bill. "It could be devastating". on: one day . December 22, 2008.
  12. ↑ Ulm School of Design. In: deutsche bauzeitung. April 9, 2015.
  13. ↑ Ulm School of Design. In: deutsche bauzeitung. April 9, 2015.
  14. ↑ Design for Millions: TV Show (2003). (No longer available online.) In: imm-ulm.de. Institute for Media Informatics (Ulm University), archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on October 12, 2015 .
  15. ↑ HfG Archive Ulm. In: hfg-archiv.ulm.de. HfG-Archiv Ulm (Ulmer Museum - Stadt Ulm ), accessed on October 12, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Current: Ulm School of Design - From zero hour to 1968: New permanent exhibition in the Ulm School of Design. In: hfg-archiv.ulm.de. HfG-Archiv Ulm (Ulmer Museum - Stadt Ulm ), accessed on October 12, 2015 .
  17. ^ Entry for Hans von Klier in the design dictionary