Max Kopp

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Max Kopp (born January 16, 1891 in Lucerne ; died May 17, 1984 in Kilchberg ZH ) was a Swiss architect who took a mediating stance between traditional architecture and modern trends and held important positions in Swiss heritage protection .

Live and act

Max Kopp, the son of a pharmacist, graduated from the canton school in 1909 and then began studying architecture at the ETH Zurich . The following year he moved to Munich, where he graduated from the Technical University in 1914 with Friedrich Thiersch . After active service as a lieutenant and lieutenant colonel during the First World War , he worked for German Bestelmeyer in Berlin, then for Pflegehard and Haefeli and then for Honegger and Moser in Zurich.

With his boss, Hans Wilhelm Moser (1889–1973), he founded a joint office in Zurich in 1924, which the partners ran until 1941. In 1924 he also built his own house in Kilchberg, followed by a large number of homes for a wealthy clientele throughout his career. Ernst Laur , the National Councilor and agronomist, called them “cultivated country estates”. In addition, there were a few larger new buildings, for example a residential building in Zurich's Niederdorf and an administration building for a rail factory in the Ruhr area in Schwerte .

Heritage and monument protection

Building in the listed buildings, restoring and renovating important monuments became more important for his further professional life. In 1928, on the occasion of the first Swiss exhibition for women's work , he advised the Swiss Farmers' Association on the design of an exhibition farmhouse and its interior furnishings for the fair. In doing so, he made contacts for the first time with the Swiss Homeland Security (SHS), for which he later played a key role. In 1939 he was the chief architect for the exhibition architecture on the right bank of Landi 39 , the so-called «Dörfli».

During the Second World War , when he was in command of a territorial company, he opened his own office in 1941 and in the same year became president of the Swiss Association of Engineers and Architects , an office that he held for eight years. In 1942 the Swiss Association for Homeland Security achieved that the restoration of houses was commissioned by the Confederation as a job creation measure. Max Kopp was appointed head of the planning department. After the end of the war the economy went unexpectedly well and no further job creation measures were financed, the association converted the planning office into a general monument protection building consultancy in 1946, the head of which remained Kopp. In the same year the SHS opened up new sources of finance by selling the Schoggitaler . In the course of the following decades, Kopp restored a large number of nationally significant, often historically emblematic buildings. Examples include the mill ensemble in Richterswil, the courtyard of the Stockalper Palace in Brig, the Haus zur Treib and the Tell Chapel , both located on the “ Swiss Path ” on Lake Lucerne, the Augustinian Church in Zurich's old town and Laufen Castle above the Rhine Falls.

Selection of works

  • Villa , Zurich 1927
  • Zum Höfli , single-family house, Zurich 1928
  • Parish hall , Kilchberg ZH 1932
  • Fraumünsterpost , renovation, Zurich 1932
  • Forge house , Zurich-Wiedikon, 1933
  • Mülenen , renovation of the mill ensemble, Richterswil 1950 and 1957
  • Stockalperpalast , renovation of the courtyard, Brig 1952
  • Tell chapel , renovation, Sisikon 1953
  • Mountain hotel , Rigi -Kulm 1953
  • Haus zur Treib , Treib 1954
  • House on Rindermarkt , Zurich 1954
  • House of the profile iron works , administration building, Schwerte (D) 1956
  • Haus zum Engel , Zurich 1957
  • Augustinian Church , renovation, Zurich 1959
  • Laufen Castle , renovation in 1961
  • Christ Church , renovation of the interior, Lucerne 1972

literature

  • Susanne Rümmele: Kopp, Max. In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds.): Architectural Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century. Birkhäuser, Basel 1998, ISBN 3-7643-5261-2 . P. 319 f.
  • EL (= Ernst Laur ): Our jubilee: Max Kopp . In: Heimatschutz . tape 56 , no. 1 , 1961, pp. 30–36 ( online [accessed January 7, 2016]).
  • Hans Pfister: Max Kopp in memory . In: Swiss engineer and architect . tape 102 , no. 27/28 , 1984, pp. 84 ( online [accessed January 7, 2016]).

supporting documents

  1. ^ EL (= Ernst Laur): Our jubilee: Max Kopp . In: Heimatschutz . tape 56 , no. 1 , 1961, pp. 31 ( online [accessed January 7, 2016]).
  2. ↑ Madlaina Bundi: Chronicle . 100 years of Swiss homeland security. Ed .: Swiss Association for Homeland Security. S. 5 ( online [PDF]).
personal data
SURNAME Kopp, Max
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss architect
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH Lucerne
DATE OF DEATH 17th May 1984
Place of death Kilchberg ZH