Post-war modernity

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High- rise residential buildings in West Berlin's Hansaviertel , Interbau 1957
Stairway with EAM high-rise in Kassel , 1953

The term post-war modernity arose in the 1990s in the course of research into post-war architecture in Central Europe. He positions himself against an opinion that was widespread in the 1970s and 1980s that architecture from the 1950s and 1960s was not part of modernism . A popular proponent of the latter view was Christoph Hackelsberger , who let this view live on in the title of his 1985 pamphlet The Postponed Modernism .

description

However, based on stylistic and cultural-historical studies of the history of architecture , the more recent research since the 1990s has been able to show that the references to classical and international modernity are far-reaching, and that the period between 1945 and around 1975 is to be reckoned with its main trends towards modernism of the 20th century .

When differentiating within the period of post-war modernism, a subdivision into two phases is generally assumed in all publications, which is usually given in general terms as “the fifties ” and “the sixties ”. However, attention was repeatedly drawn to the fact that this designation is unfavorable, since the phases would not end at the limits of the decades. Therefore, the naming of the two phases as The First Post-War Modernity and The Second Post-War Modernity has recently been proposed in a publication that deals with the architecture of the First Post-War Modernity. In addition, a distinction must be made between the architectures of the two historical German states, the GDR and the then Federal Republic .

Phases of post-war architecture in the Federal Republic of Germany

The possibility of a new architecture but there was since the end of the war and the capitulation of 1945. Some continuities since the Nazi era are indeed stylistically striking, the assumption that the architecture of the postwar period was from the time of National Socialism have been determined as a whole, is not true. The architecture of the post-war period can then be divided into the early phase, which is often called "The 1950s" and actually extended until around 1957, when the International Building Exhibition ( Interbau ) took place in West Berlin . This first phase from 1945 to 1957, which was determined by the grid facade, can be described as the first post-war modernism . A transition phase then began, which was determined by the curtain wall as the front solution and which led overall into an international modern age. From around 1963, the architecture of the Second Post-War Modernism began , which lasted until the late 1970s, and was then gradually replaced by various, sometimes overlapping architectural currents such as postmodernism , structuralism or high-tech architecture as well as deconstructivism .

Phases of post-war architecture in the German Democratic Republic

The period division of post-war architecture in the GDR is determined by the research of Andreas Butter and Ulrich Hartung, which was largely adopted. With the book “Ostmoderne” they introduced a term that is now predominantly used. However, it is not always quoted with the precise delimitation that the authors wanted. In his book on architecture since 1945 in the Soviet occupation zone and later GDR, Andreas Butter has shown in great abundance of material that there was architecture linked to classical modernism and various international tendencies as early as 1950. As a result of various political endeavors, there was a shift towards a traditionalist architecture in the GDR since 1950. It is known as the "Architecture of National Traditions". This architectural period was to a large extent determined by the Soviet architectural style and “ The 16 Principles of Urban Development ”. It was a forced, mainly stylistically based and politically understood turn in the architecture of the GDR: The "party" SED as the government itself forced the architects to change. The publications by Werner Durth , Jörn Düwel and Niels Gutschow provide a comprehensive basis, especially for this period and there, with a focus on urban planning. Even in the phase of the “national traditions” there was probably already a multitude of efforts towards industrialization and typification . But it was only after a building conference in 1955 that the GDR swiveled back gradually to a second phase of modernity. So here too there was a transition phase, which, however, extended slightly to the FRG from 1955 to 1960. From 1960 onwards, one can speak of a second phase of modernity in the architectural history of the GDR.

literature

  • Dieter Hoffmann-Axthelm: Germany 1945–80. The architect without architecture. in: ARCH + 56 Aachen 1981, archplus.net .
  • Christoph Hackelsberger: The postponed modernity. Attempt to classify the architecture of the fifties. Braunschweig 1985.
  • Werner Durth: German Architects. Biographical entanglements 1900–1970. Braunschweig 1986.
  • Werner Durth, Niels Gutschow: Architecture and urban development of the fifties (=  series of publications of the German National Committee for Monument Protection. Volume 33). Bonn 1987.
  • Werner Durth, Niels Gutschow: Architecture and urban development of the fifties (=  series of publications of the German National Committee for Monument Protection. Volume 41). Bonn 1990.
  • Ralf Lange : From the office to the open-plan office. Office buildings and business districts in Hamburg 1945–1970 (=  The Blue Books ). Langewiesche publishing house, Königstein i. Ts. 1999, ISBN 3-7845-4611-0 .
  • Walter Zschokke : Post-War Modernism in Switzerland. Architecture by Werner Frey, Franz Füeg, Jacob Zweifel. Basel 2001.
  • Andreas Butter, Ulrich Hartung: Ostmoderne. Architecture in Berlin 1945–65. Berlin 2005.
  • Andreas Butter: New life, new building. Modernism in the architecture of the Soviet occupation zone / GDR 1945–1951. Berlin 2006.
  • Adrian von Buttlar , Christoph Heuter (Ed.): Monument! Modern. 1960s architecture. Rediscovery of an era. Berlin 2007.
  • Sandra Wagner-Conzelmann: Interbau 1957 in Berlin. City of today - city of tomorrow. Petersberg 2007.
  • Roman Hillmann: The First Post-War Modernism. Aesthetics and perception of West German architecture 1945–63. Petersberg 2011.
  • Olaf Gisbertz, Network Braunschweiger Schule (Ed.): Post-war modern controversial - positions of the present. JOVIS Verlag, Berlin 2012.
  • Saxon Academy of Arts (ed.): Laboratory of Modernity. Post-war architecture in Europe. German English. Dresden 2014.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Hackelsberger: The postponed modernity. Attempt to classify the architecture of the fifties . Braunschweig 1985
  2. ^ Werner Durth, Niels Gutschow: Architecture and urban development of the fifties . (=  Series of publications by the German National Committee for Monument Protection , Volume 41), Bonn 1990
  3. ^ Andreas Butter, Ulrich Hartung: Ostmoderne. Architecture in Berlin 1945–65 . Berlin 2005
  4. ↑ Klaus Jan Philipp (Ed.), Rolf Gutbrod: Buildings of the sixties . 2011, p. 52
  5. ^ Roman Hillmann: The first post-war modernity. Aesthetics and perception of West German architecture 1945–63. Petersberg 2011
  6. ↑ This was examined in great detail by: Krausse-Jünemann, Eva-Maria, Hanns Dustmann (1902–1997). Continuity and change in the work of an architect from the Weimar Republic to the end of the 1950s, Kiel 2002. Comp. also: Roman Hillmann: The First Post-War Modernism. Aesthetics and perception of West German architecture 1945–63. Petersberg 2011, pp. 250-254
  7. ↑ This is very detailed: Winfried Nerdinger: Material Aesthetics and Grid Construction. On the character of architecture in the 1950s , in: Durth and Gutschow 1990, pp. 38–49, esp. 39–41
  8. ^ Sandra Wagner-Conzelmann: The Interbau 1957 in Berlin. City of today - city of tomorrow , Petersberg 2007
  9. ^ Roman Hillmann: The first post-war modernity. Aesthetics and Perception of West German Architecture 1945–63 , p. 26 Petersberg 2011, p. 250–254
  10. ↑ The assumption of this transitional phase tends to be already laid out in Werner Durth's research and can then be found specifically in: Roman Hillmann: Die Erste Nachkriegsmoderne. Aesthetics and perception of West German architecture 1945–63 , Petersberg 2011, p. 26 and: ders., Order and diversity. On the architecture of the 1960s , in: Klaus Jan Philipp (Ed.), Rolf Gutbrod: Buildings in the boom years of the 1960s , Salzburg 2011, pp. 50–67
  11. ^ Roman Hillmann: order and diversity. On the architecture of the 1960s , in: Klaus Jan Philipp (Ed.), Rolf Gutbrod: Buildings in the boom years of the 1960s , Salzburg 2011, pp. 50–67
  12. ^ Andreas Butter, Ulrich Hartung: Ostmoderne. Architecture in Berlin 1945–65 , Berlin 2005
  13. ↑ Ulrich Hartung: On the specifics of the modern in the GDR architecture . Theses, in: Mark Escherich (Hrsg.): Monument Ost-Moderne - Appropriation and preservation of the architectural heritage of post-war modernism . JOVIS Verlag, Berlin 2012, pp. 26–41. Partly online In: jovis.de ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.jovis.de
  14. ↑ Andreas Butter: New life, new building. Modernism in the architecture of the Soviet occupation zone / GDR 1945–1951 , Berlin 2006
  15. ^ Institute for Regional Development and Structural Planning (ed.) And Gerhard Mahnken (editor): Reise nach Moskau , Berlin 1995.
  16. ↑ Werner Durth, Jörn Düwel and Niels Gutschow: Ostkreuz. Architecture and urban development in the GDR , Frankfurt, New York 1998 and: the same, construction. Cities, Topics, Documents, Frankfurt, New York 1998.
  17. ^ Roman Hillmann: Tradition and Type. Gap buildings and small ensembles in Berlin Weissensee 1955–1960 , in: Andreas Butter and Ulrich Hartung: Ostmoderne. Architecture in Berlin 1954–1965 , pp. 100–113.