Lothar Kwasnitza

Lothar Kwasnitza (born April 30, 1929 in Reinsberg (Saxony) , † August 23, 1983 in Berlin ) was a German architect .

His father Josef Kwasnitza was a member of the KPD from 1926 and after the war mayor of Reinsberg. Lothar Kwasnitza was a staunch anti-fascist and communist . His father survived the Nazi system despite being a member of the KPD, but the family was exposed to reprisals (for example, his father's arrest immediately after the Reichstag fire in 1933).

Lothar Kwasnitza was married several times. He has a daughter Katja from his marriage to Silwa Dumanjan , also an architect in Berlin. From 1969 to 1982 he was married to Christiane Billing, here an adopted son Thomas, and their son Josef.

education

After attending the Meissen Business School ("Red School") until 1945, he trained as a carpenter (1945–1947). This was followed by a visit to the university in Dresden from 1947 to 1949 with preparation for studying architecture. From 1949 Kwasnitza studied architecture at the Technical University of Dresden . In 1952 he was delegated to Moscow, where he passed his diploma examination in 1958 with the design topic “ Motel ”.

Kwasnitza liked studying architecture during the so-called thaw period in Moscow, which after his return to the GDR led to constant friction with the functionaries. For example, during the Müggelturm talk , in which the “young rebels” of the GDR architects were supposed to be brought back on line by the newly appointed building minister Wolfgang Junker in 1963 , a scandal broke out when Kwasnitza announced that for further progress in socialism “one had to go with the Cut a machete through the jungle of bureaucracy ”.

First work and projects

Kwasnitza worked on the redesign of Leipzig Central Station (1958-1959) and later worked as a senior consultant in the Ministry of Construction (primarily in building city centers). He was also a research assistant at the GDR Building Academy . From 1965 he worked as an architect at Berlin Projekt (later changed to Industriehochbau Berlin IHB). In 1972 he received his doctorate with a dissertation on "The warehouse warehouse and its influence on the design of the department store".

Work

Honeycomb facade at the Centrum department store

The most important design implemented in 1969 was the redesign of the memorial for the victims of fascism and militarism on Unter den Linden . The honeycomb facade of the Centrum department store was also considered successful. In contrast to the reddish natural stone used by Josef Paul Kleihues during the renovation in 2004, the specially developed facade made of cast aluminum appeared airier and more elegant. The former Ministry of Foreign Affairs has also disappeared or torn down . a. a residential building on Alexanderplatz, the North Korean embassy and a barracks in Erkner . The drafts for the Foreign Ministry as well as the Centrum department store were created in the collective of Josef Kaiser, who is officially an author.

Competition successes and awards

In the first half of the 1960s, Kwasnitza received several collective awards for urban planning designs for various East German city centers: Guben, Dresden, Halle-West. 1969 "Activist" by the state. The design for the "Unter den Linden Memorial" was awarded in 1970 as "Best Building". 1979 Kwasnitza received the Schinkel Medal in bronze.

From 1961 he was a member of the BdA and at times the editorial board of the magazine "Deutsche Architektur".