Rudolf Steiger (architect)

Zurich high-rise to the palm tree

Rudolf Steiger (born October 4, 1900 in Zurich ; † June 24, 1982 in Zurich) was a Swiss architect .

Live and act

He completed his studies at the ETH Zurich , where he studied from 1919 to 1923 simultaneously with his future wife Flora Crawford and later office partner Max Ernst Haefeli, with a diploma under Karl Moser . After working in the Dumont office in Brussels , he went to Korn and Weitzmann in Berlin that same year . In 1924 he was able to set up his own office with Flora Crawford in Basel with a contract for the Sandreuter house , which the couple moved to Zurich the following year. In 1928, Rudolf Steiger was a founding member of the historically significant platform for new building, the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne . Along with Haefeli, Hubacher, Moser, Artaria, Roth and Schmidt, he was also one of the architects of the Neubühl housing estate (1930–32) in Zurich, which is important in terms of architectural history . During the same period, together with Carl Hubacher , the Zett-Haus am Stauffacher, an emblematic modern building in Zurich, was built, as well as the Bella Lui sanatorium in Montana with his wife and Arnold Itten .

In the mid-1930s, Steiger began the long-term work on the General Motors engine factory in Biel. In 1937 he was successful in the idea competition for the new building of the Zurich Cantonal Hospital, in the same year he founded the architecture office Haefeli Moser Steiger with the architects Max Ernst Haefeli and Werner Max Moser , a partnership that lasted until 1970. However, he always teamed up with other architects, including his son Peter.

Rudolf Steiger and his wife Flora Steiger-Crawford were parents of the architects Martin Steiger and Peter Steiger .

literature

• J. Christoph Bürkle: Steiger, Rudolf. In: Isabelle Rucki and Dorothee Huber (eds.): Architectural Lexicon of Switzerland - 19./20. Century. Birkhäuser, Basel 1998. P. 512 f. ISBN 3-7643-5261-2

Individual evidence

1. ^ Paul Marti: Modern commercial buildings . In: The work . tape 21 , no. 1 , 1934, p. 1 ff .
2. ^ NN: Sanatorium Bella Lui in Montana (Wallis): Architects Arnold Itten, Thun and R. and F. Steiger, Zurich . In: The work . tape 20 , no. 3 , 1933, pp. 74 ff .