Josef Berger (architect)
Josef Berger (born September 13, 1898 in Vienna , † August 22, 1989 in London ) was an Austrian architect and designer .
Life
Josef Berger was a Jew and the son of a private civil servant. He studied at the Technical University of Vienna , interrupted by military service in World War I, until 1921. He also attended the arts and crafts school under Oskar Strnad for a short time and was a student of Adolf Loos .
In 1921 Berger founded an architecture office together with his fellow student Martin Ziegler, in which his brother Artur Berger also worked for a time . In the absence of architectural contracts, the office initially dealt with furniture designs and interior design. This resulted in the Bimini workshops that Josef Berger set up with his brother Arthur and brother-in-law Fritz Lampl in 1923 . In the mid-1920s, Berger founded the Association of Young Austrian Architects with his brother Arthur and Martin Ziegler .
From 1926 onwards, Berger was able to build a number of residential complexes for the Vienna community's housing program. In addition, only smaller buildings were built. Due to the steadily deteriorating order situation in his home country, Berger, who had been married to the craftsman Margarete Hamerschlag since 1922, hoped for better opportunities to emigrate. The Berger couple emigrated to Palestine in 1934 under the impression of the Dollfuss murder . There he worked with Tibor Schön , but again without professional success. Therefore, Berger emigrated to London in 1937, where he founded a branch of the architectural office Berger & Ziegler . In 1939 Ziegler followed him to London. With Fritz Lampl, who also emigrated to London, he continued the bimini workshops under the name Orplid Glass .
It was only after Josef Berger had been interned on the Isle of Man for six months in 1940 and his London architecture office was destroyed in the same year as a result of a bomb hit (which prompted Martin Ziegler to emigrate to America) that Berger managed to gain a foothold in London. He became an employee of the London Country Council and built residential and school buildings until his retirement in 1963.
From 1938 to 1945, Berger was a member of Otto Straßer's "Bund Deutsche Erneuerung" in England, an association based on estates and the occidental.
power
The council Bergers in Vienna differ from most simultaneous municipal residential systems by dispensing with decorative elements. His buildings are factual and functional and are based on cubic principles. His villa buildings also follow this international style through their use of unadorned cubic elements. Within the shared office with Martin Ziegler and his brother, Josef Berger is considered to be the leading and creative force. He also published articles in specialist journals, both on current building developments and on the question of contemporary interiors.
Works
- Housing complex of the municipality of Vienna , Ludwig-Koeßler-Platz 3, Vienna 3 (1926–1928), together with Arthur Berger and Martin Ziegler
- Residential house , Altmannsdorfer Strasse, Vienna 12 (1926), together with Martin Ziegler
- Housing complex of the municipality of Vienna , Hernalser Gürtel 26, Vienna 9 (1929), together with Arthur Berger and Martin Ziegler
- Housing complex of the municipality of Vienna , Schrankenberggasse 22, Vienna 10 (1929), together with Arthur Berger
- Villa Paul and Fritzi Hohenberg , Gaßmannstraße 39, Vienna 12 (1931), together with Martin Ziegler
- Freiberger House , Geylinggasse 8, Vienna 13 (1931), together with Martin Ziegler
- Grassinger Hof , residential complex of the municipality of Vienna, Walkürengasse 12, Vienna 15 (1932–1933), together with Arthur Berger and Martin Ziegler
- House Dr. Schur , Formanekgasse 32, Vienna 19 (1933), together with Martin Ziegler
- Haus AG, Schreiberweg 79, Vienna 19 (1934), together with Martin Ziegler
- Woodberry Down School , London (1949–1950)
Web links
- Josef Berger (architect). In: Architects Lexicon Vienna 1770–1945. Published by the Architekturzentrum Wien . Vienna 2007.
- Berger in the database Architects in Exile 1933 - 1945 at the Institute of Art and Building History, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, by Ellen Klassen
notes
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Berger, Josef |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian architect and designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 13, 1898 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 22, 1989 |
| Place of death | London |