Karl Böttcher (architect)

Karl Böttcher (born March 27, 1904 in Berlin-Friedrichshain , † 1992 in Berlin ) was a German architect and university professor . After the end of the war in Berlin he was responsible for clearing away the debris and for reconstruction work .

Live and act

Karl Böttcher was born in Berlin-Friedrichshain in 1904 as the son of a bricklayer foreman . In 1917 he was sent to large farmers who were distantly related for six months . He then completed a three and a half year apprenticeship as a bricklayer from 1918 to 1921 and, overlapping with this, attended the building trade school in Berlin from 1920 to August 1924 . Sergius Ruegenberg was also in the same senior year .

In his first job with a heating company, he worked with warm air heating . The employment relationship ended in November 1925. From February 1926 he worked for one year in the office of architect Johann Emil Schaudt . He planned department store conversions there and was the site manager of an extensive renovation of the Michels silk house on the corner of Kurfürstendamm and Rankestrasse . The result of his measures was praised in the Berlin press with regard to the spatial organization and even more with regard to the lighting conditions.

In March 1927 Hugo Häring , secretary of the architects' association “ Der Ring ”, hired him . In this way he met Hans Scharoun and Ludwig Hilberseimer , among others . He devoted himself to new buildings, country houses and again a department store, then to the large Siemensstadt estate in Charlottenburg-Nord with 432 apartments for the construction company on Heerstraße, built between 1928 and 1930. In addition to Scharoun and Häring, partial orders went to Otto Bartning , Walter Gropius and others, construction and structural engineering were co-determined by Böttcher.

A short jobless phase and four months as a bricklayer was followed by a long-term activity in the private construction industry from August 1933 to January 1936 and an interim solution in a building association that lasted until June 1937 , because then he found work again in a company in the construction industry, namely from June 1937 until April 1945. Negotiations with clients and authorities were just as much a part of his duties as construction drafts , building supervision, structural calculations , calculations and invoices. In 1941/42 his focus was on industrial and commercial buildings such as the Anton Flettner aircraft factory in Berlin-Johannisthal , the car repair hall in Berlin-Marienfelde and a machine factory in Berlin-Rudow . In 1943 he passed the master builder examination .

Immediately after the end of the war, in May 1945, he accepted a position with the Magistrate of Greater Berlin . He headed the “Main Office for Building Materials” that had just been established, which soon became the “Main Office for Construction Implementation” due to growing tasks. He worked closely with Hans Scharoun, who was head of the building and housing department in the municipal administration. His tasks were clearing the rubble and rebuilding the dilapidated city, associated with the procurement of building materials, but also preventing dismantling wherever possible and, due to the staff required to carry out the construction work, developing re-training regulations.

Hydromentwerk Rummelsburg

In his article Mountains of rubble pose problems in the Berliner Zeitung of October 13, 1945, Böttcher named the recycling of valuable materials lying under rubble as a necessity, worried about the procurement of new building material and formulated possible solutions. He achieved that a "large-scale rubble recycling plant" could be put into operation quickly. His exploration of plastic application possibilities led to the development of the "plastic assembly house". He also invented a new binding agent using combustion residues from the nearby thermal power station (“Klingenbergasche”) and initiated the construction of its production facility under the name “ Hydromentwerk ”.

One by intrigue procured ouster in March 1946 caused an immediate change in the currently constituent Bauwissenschaftliche research and development site. Despite rehabilitation, Böttcher quit his service with the City of Berlin in March 1947. He was now limited to his two secondary activities: On the one hand, this was a teaching position at the Technical University of Berlin in the field of "New building materials and their development" (altogether from 1946 to 1949, later from 1951 to 1958 he taught structural engineering at the Werkakademie Kassel ) On the other hand, the American military government, the Office of Military Government for Germany (US) (OMGUS), had recruited him in September 1946 as a consultant on construction issues.

In March 1948 he gave up his consulting work at OMGUS because Scharoun had initiated the formation of an institute for construction at the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin . Hans Scharoun himself became the director of the institute, while Karl Böttcher was appointed head of the "Building Materials and Construction" department.

From 1951 Böttcher worked as a freelance architect and as a project worker at Scharoun, Ruegenberg and other specialist colleagues. Worth mentioning are the expansion of the Titania Palace in Berlin-Steglitz (designed by Hermann Fehling ) in 1953 and the air-conditioning house for Hans Leistikow in Kassel ( Heinrich Lauterbach , 1951).

Publications

Karl Böttcher wrote numerous articles in architecture and craft magazines, for example The Assembly House as a Social Necessity (1947), Hugo Häring and Technology (1957), The Building Climate (1957), Tension and Color Dynamics as Factual Elements of Modern Building (1962). In particular during his time with the magistrate, he also wrote newspaper articles and gave radio speeches. He published a construction -technical loose-leaf collection (from 1945) as well as construction-technical dimensioning boards (1953), a pocket book for construction managers (1966 and 1967) and a work calendar for construction foremen (also 1966 and 1967). For the Brockhaus Lexicon (1951 to 1975) and the Brockhaus offshoot of the natural sciences and technology (1955) he created articles in the field of " building materials science ".

In his book Karl Böttcher. Architect. He reported on my work , which appeared in 1990 as the “second supplement to the project History of the Berlin Apartment Building in the Research Focus Theory and History of Building, Space and Everyday Culture of the Faculty of Architecture at the University of the Arts” ( ISBN 3-924206-06-6 ) his career, his contacts and projects. As a cooperation partner of well-known architects, so to speak as a “man for the rough”, he is hardly mentioned when it comes to the “authorship” of buildings or as the subject of secondary literature. The book by Joachim Ganzert and Katrina Obert is an exception : “New building” in Biberach / Riß - the house at Mettenberger Weg 17. Guido Schmitz - Hugo Häring - Karl Böttcher (= contributions to the history of architecture and culture, volume 5), published in 2010 at Petersberger Imhof Verlag ( ISBN 978-3-86568-578-0 ).

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , life data, p. 10-14 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Eva-Maria Barkhofen (ed.): Architecture in the archive. The collection of the Academy of Arts . DOM Publishers, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86922-492-3 , Karl Böttcher, p. 64 f .
↑ ^a ^b Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , As an employee, p. 20-30 .
↑ Michels & Cie. at the Memorial Church. The new house . In: 8 o'clock evening paper . No. 207/1926 , September 6, 1926.
↑ ^a ^b ^c Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , In a construction company, p. 30-35 .
↑ ^a ^b Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). HDK press office, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , removal from office, p. 48-56 .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , municipal work, p. 36-48 .
^ Karl Böttcher: Mountains of rubble pose problems . In: Berliner Zeitung . No. 139/1945 , October 13, 1945, p. 2 .
↑ Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , teaching assignments, p. 72-75 .
↑ Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , Consultant at OMGUS, p. 59-64 .
↑ Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , head of department in the institute for construction, p. 64-72 .
↑ Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , Brockhaus-Lexikon, p. 75 .

Web links

Literature by and about Karl Böttcher in the catalog of the German National Library
Literature by and about Karl Böttcher (architect) in the bibliographic database WorldCat
Karl Böttcher Archive in the Archive of the Academy of Arts , Berlin
Projects in the holdings of the Architekturmuseum der TU Berlin

personal data
SURNAME	Böttcher, Karl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German architect
DATE OF BIRTH	March 27, 1904
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin-Friedrichshain
DATE OF DEATH	1992
Place of death	Berlin

[KBa-1] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , life data, p. 10-14 .

[Barkhofen-2] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Eva-Maria Barkhofen (ed.): Architecture in the archive. The collection of the Academy of Arts . DOM Publishers, Berlin 2016, ISBN 978-3-86922-492-3 , Karl Böttcher, p. 64 f .

[KBb-3] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , As an employee, p. 20-30 .

[4] Michels & Cie. at the Memorial Church. The new house . In: 8 o'clock evening paper . No. 207/1926 , September 6, 1926.

[KBc-5] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , In a construction company, p. 30-35 .

[KBd-6] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). HDK press office, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , removal from office, p. 48-56 .

[KBe-7] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , municipal work, p. 36-48 .

[8] Karl Böttcher: Mountains of rubble pose problems . In: Berliner Zeitung . No. 139/1945 , October 13, 1945, p. 2 .

[9] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , teaching assignments, p. 72-75 .

[10] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , Consultant at OMGUS, p. 59-64 .

[11] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , head of department in the institute for construction, p. 64-72 .

[12] Karl Böttcher: Report on my work (= supplements to the project history of the Berlin apartment building in the research focus theory and history of building, space and everyday culture of the architecture department of the University of the Arts . No. 2 ). Press office of the HDK, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-924206-06-6 , Brockhaus-Lexikon, p. 75 .