Werner Frey

Werner Frey (born June 27, 1912 in Unterseen ; † October 18, 1989 in Zurich ) was a Swiss architect whose buildings helped shape post-war modernism in Zurich. His work covers a wide range of residential, educational, commercial and industrial buildings in Zurich, Brugg and Winterthur.

Training and work

Frey studied at the ETH Zurich from 1932 to 1937 . He then worked in Josef Schütz's office before he was able to set up his own business in 1943. At first he ran the office with his partner Oskar Becherer, from around 1949 alone.

Early residential buildings

The first draft of the office, the Bellariapark houses, a group of multi-family houses for the upper middle class on the site of the former Gretengut in Zurich-Enge, received the award for good buildings from the city of Zurich , an award that his houses received received a total of seven times, more often than anyone else. For example, the Lux-Hof, a six-storey residential and commercial building that combines several plots of land with shops on the ground floor, above an office and four residential floors. Immediately after the Second World War, the office also built the Mattenhof estate, located on the outskirts of Zurich in Schwamendingen.

1940s movie theaters

Between 1947 and 1948 he and the set designer Roman Clemens created the movie theater Studio 4. The cinema is located in the Neuegg commercial building, also planned by Frey, which was built on Pelikanplatz in the city on Pelikanplatz, which was then rapidly developing along the Talacker. It surprises with its sophisticated cinema portal, behind which the volume of the cinema hall is clearly visible in the foyer. Under a wave-like ceiling that extends into the building, filled with unevenly sized mirror points, the visitor is, to a certain extent, washed into the building: «Werner Frey and Roman Clemens accomplish the feat here of making the transition from the street to the cinema hall, which has been offset by half a floor, at a very short distance perform. A moment ago you stood on the light-dark floor slabs of the foyer to buy the cinema tickets, then splashed down the four broad steps in front of the firmament of mirror points and was washed away on both sides via further steps and washed into the cinema ... »Another cinema was planned Frey a few years later in the old town, in Niederdörfli, with the Cinema Étoile. Here, too, the path goes from the ground floor foyer with the cash registers built into the side down to the cloakroom to the completely underground cinema, above which the green inner courtyard is located. While reflective surfaces dominate in the foyer - the floor made of polished quartzite, the walls clad with dark gray, gold and light blue colored glass, the hall is dominated by the dark side walls that are folded towards the projection surface like a bellows camera and the upholstery of the seating.

Buildings for education

The primary school Heubeeribühl was built up on the Zürichberg in 1954, a small school building with three classrooms on a terrace, the square floor plan of which with free seating solved the problems of exposure through an additional skylight that gives the building its characteristic shape.

At the end of the 1950s, the Erika youth home followed on Rötelstrasse, which structurally made a family group system possible. This building was discussed in the special issue of the trade journal Werk under the topic of boarding schools, student housing. The five family groups for around ten young people each are arranged around the central building for management, dining room, central kitchen, etc.

In the mid-1960s, the women's professions department was spun off from the Zurich trade school and was given a new building in the industrial quarter, which replaced an older school building there.

Industrial and commercial buildings

The commercial buildings on Giesshübel, built between 1955 and 1956, are three strictly lined up blocks, the street and rail façades of which live from the play of repetition, while the staircase and supply wings in between cleverly encompass the individual blocks.

List of works

• Bellariapark , double apartment buildings, Zurich 1944–45 (with Oskar Becherer)
• Mattenhof settlement , Zurich 1946–47 (with Oskar Becherer, Otto Dürr, Karl Kündig)
• Luxhof , residential and commercial building, Zurich 1946–47 (with Oskar Becherer, René Schneider)
• Studio 4 , cinema, Zurich 1948–49 (with Roman Clemens) in the new building of the Neuegg commercial building (Werner Frey)
• Golden sword , hotel, with Ciné Etoile , Zurich 1951–52 (with Otto Dürr, Willi Roost, Hans R. Beck)
• Heubeeribühl , School Pavilion , Zurich 1953–54
• Warehouse , chemical factory Brugg 1954–55
• Giesshübel , Commercial Buildings, Zurich 1955–56
• Central administration SBKK , (today SWICA), Winterthur 1956–57
• Erika youth home , Zurich 1958–59 and 1969–70
• Trade School of the City of Zurich , Women's Professions Department, Zurich 1962–63
• Kumag office building , Zurich 1959–60
• Office and commercial building, Eichhof brewery depot , Zurich 1963
• Tank farm , Chemische Fabrik Brugg 1963–64
• Patria office building , Zurich 1963–69
• Etzelgut , Retirement Home , Zurich 1965–67
• Cafeteria , University of Zurich, 1968–69
• Administration building , Chemische Fabrik Brugg 1971–72
• Bayer AG , commercial building, Zurich 1972
• Acid and lye storage , Chemische Fabrik Brugg 1972–73
• ACS House , Zurich 1977–78
• Central administration SBKK , Winterthur 1980–83

literature

• Walter Zschokke among others: Post-war modern Switzerland. Architecture by Werner Frey, Franz Füeg, Jacques Schader, Jakob Zweifel. Birkhäuser, Basel 2001, ISBN 3-7643-6638-9

supporting documents

1. ^ NN: Bellaria multi-storey car parks Zurich 1944/45. O. Becherer & W. Frey, Architects, Zurich . In: The work . tape 34 , no. 5 , 1947, pp. 154 ff ., doi : 10.5169 / seals-27001 .
2. ↑ In the first 50 years of the award, only Claude Paillard's buildings received awards just as often: Bauamt II der Stadt Zürich (Ed.): 50 Years of Awards for Good Buildings in the City of Zurich . gta Verlag, Zurich 1995, ISBN 3-85676-063-6 . , P. 196 f.
3. ^ NN: "Lux-Hof" residential buildings, Zurich . In: The work . tape 38 , no. 1 , 1951, p. 16-18 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-82028 .
4. ↑ Robert Winkler : Modern Zurich Housing and Upcoming Building Regulations . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 65 , no. 5 , 1947, pp. 64-67 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-55824 .
5. ^ NN: "Neuegg" office building with cinema in Zurich: 1948/49, Werner Frey, architect SIA, Zurich . In: The work . tape 37 , no. 7 , 1950, pp. 208-211 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-29048 .
6. ^ Walter Zschokke: In: Ders .: Post-war modern Switzerland. Architecture by Werner Frey, Franz Füeg, Jacques Schader, Jakob Zweifel. Birkhäuser, Basel 2001, ISBN 3-7643-6638-9 , p. 109
7. ^ NN: Neues Ciné Etoile, Zurich . In: Building + Living . 1 to 5, no. 11 , 1949, pp. 34 f ., doi : 10.5169 / seals-328066 .
8. ↑ NN: Primarschulhaus "Heubeeribühl" . In: Building + Living . tape 9 , no. 5 , 1955, pp. 362 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-329043 .
9. ^ NN: Youth home "Erika" in Zurich . In: The work . tape 48 , no. 9 , 1961, pp. 318-320 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-37620 .
10. ^ NN: New building of the women's professions department at the Zurich Trade School . In: Building + Living . tape 19 , no. 7 , 1965, pp. 265-268 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-332228 .
11. ^ NN: Commercial buildings at Giesshübel train station in Zurich . In: Building + Living . tape 10 , no. 7 , 1956, pp. 236-240 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-329279 .