Reform architecture

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Hans Erlwein : Draft for a school building in Arnsdorf near Dresden, 1911, in the homeland security style of reform architecture

Reform architecture , also reform style or reform architecture , is a term used around the turn of the millennium for a part of the architectural trends that turned away from historicism at the beginning of the 20th century , but clung to traditional building materials and construction methods. This differed significantly from the New Building direction propagated by the Deutscher Werkbund , which also preferred objective and simple forms. Because of the recourse to regional traditions, a large part of the buildings attributed to reform architecture can also be described with the term Heimatschutzarchitektur , also known as Heimatschutzarchitektur , which has long been known . However, other buildings also show the influence of Art Nouveau .

Origins

The reform movement started in Great Britain, where the art historian and writer John Ruskin (1819–1900) was the first to formulate the reform ideas. For architecture he called for the revival of the "beloved and admired Middle Ages". His ideals were "Simplicity and naturalness in the formation and feeling, sincerity in the tectonic design, for which the conditions are to be sought in the purpose, in the material and in the construction, emphasis on the work-like, characteristic, soil-grown, summarizing artistic creation and nature observation". Ruskin's theories were first put into practice by William Morris , who founded the arts and crafts firm Morris, Marshall & Falkner in 1861 , the starting point for the entire reform movement.

Morris formulated a large part of the goals of the Arts and Crafts Movement , which later also inspired the founders of the Deutscher Werkbund:

“This goal is the democracy of art, the ennobling of daily and collective work, through which hope and joy will one day take the place of fear and pain. Hope and joy will be what keep the world going. "

And:

“At some point this will drive our vision so that it overtakes the slow passage of time. Then that victorious day will come when millions of those who sit in darkness today will be enlightened by an art made by the people and for the people, for the joy of those who make it and those who use it . "

features

British heritage architecture in Germany: Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam

A characteristic of the reform architecture is the increased and simple monumentality. They did not want a direct style reference as in historicism, but an indefinite association with the cited style. The classic orders of historicism were rejected. A freely structured building mass was preferred. Reduced forms and rusticated surfaces were further characteristics. One motive for the demarcation from historicism was its internationalism, i.e. reform architecture, not as a detachment from the traditional, but as a homeland security architecture . While functionalist design and objectivity set the tone in “classical modernism” , in the case of architects of reform architecture they stood in the field of tension between monumentality and regional tradition. Styles within reform architecture are:

Beyer building of the Technical University of Dresden

Reform architecture and modernity

With recourse to regional traditions, the concealment of modern construction methods and a certain inclination towards monumentality, protagonists of the architectural trends now summarized under reform architecture smell of having pioneered architecture under National Socialism . However, the boundaries between the architecture of the Deutscher Werkbund and that of the Bauhaus were quite fluid and also the political sympathies were not clearly separated, as is clear from Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , who was the protagonist of New Building (and not of reform architecture ), was for a time Vice President of the Deutscher Werkbund, taught for a few years at the Bauhaus, then came to terms with the Nazis, then emigrated to the USA in 1938 and created works of classical modernism there .

Buildings

Entrance building to the old Elbe tunnel in Hamburg
Christ Church in Dresden-Strehlen

In Dresden, the following are examples of reform architecture:

One example in Senftenberg is the garden city of Marga with its mixture of Heimatschutz (residential buildings) and Art Nouveau (church).

In Hamburg , traffic structures such as the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken (1907–1909, moderate Art Nouveau) and the Hamburger Hochbahn can be seen as examples of reform architecture.

In Essen , the Moltkeviertel , which was newly laid out from 1908, was built entirely in a moderate Art Nouveau style and can also be attributed to the reform architecture.

The Mannesmann House in Düsseldorf (1911–1912) anticipated the monumental style of central Nazi buildings. The Ernemann plant in Dresden is much more traditional in appearance than the Fagus plant in Alfeld , which was built at the same time, and in Germany it is the earliest evidence of the New Objectivity .

reception

A building of reform architecture is described by Helas and Peltz as follows:

“The former district court building on Münchner Platz (in Dresden) from the years 1902–1907 by Oskar Kramer is not an Art Nouveau building, rather a material style, like monumental art. The building belonged to the 'new building concept', freely associating historicizing motifs, but different from the strictly historicizing architecture. "

Well-known architects

Well-known representatives of the reform architecture were:

in Germany:

in Austria:

Web links

Commons : Reform architecture in Germany  - collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Sigrid Hofer: Reform Architecture 1900–1918. German architects in search of the national style. Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart / London 2005, ISBN 3-936681-01-5 (also habilitation thesis at the University of Frankfurt am Main , 1998 under the title: Tradition, Reform, Innovation ).
  • Julius Posener : The architecture of the reform (1900-1924). (= Lectures on the history of new architecture , part II.) In: arch + , year 1980, issue 5 (September 1980).
  • Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani , Romana Schneider (Hrsg.): Modern architecture in Germany. Reform and tradition. Hatje, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-7757-0363-2 .
  • Ulrich Hübner et al .: Symbol and truthfulness. Reform architecture in Dresden. Verlag der Kunst Dresden, Husum 2005, ISBN 978-3-86530-068-3 .
  • Volker Helas, Gudrun Peltz: Art Nouveau architecture in Dresden. Knop, Dresden 1999, ISBN 3-934363-00-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Hermann Muthesius: The English House, Volume 1. Berlin 1904.
  2. ^ Nils Aschenbeck: Heinz Stoffregen 1897–1929. Architect between tradition and avant-garde. Friedr. Vieweg & Sohn, Braunschweig / Wiesbaden 1990, ISBN 3-528-08746-3 .
  3. ↑ a b William Morris: How we live and how we could live. Four essays. (edited by Hans Christian Kirsch) Cologne 1983.
  4. ↑ Hübner et al., P. 8.
  5. ↑ Helas, Peltz, p. 26, image no. 22nd
  6. ↑ Introductory chapter for download: History and theory , Sigrid Hofer, Reformarchitektur 1900–1918 - German architects in search of the national style (PDF, 8 pages).