Werner Ruhnau

Werner Ruhnau (2007)

Chamber of Agriculture Münster, 1951–1952 with Hardt-Waltherr Hämer, (today office and commercial building as a monument)

Münster Theater, 1952–1956 Münster team of architects

The music theater in the Revier in Gelsenkirchen

Werner Ruhnau (born April 11, 1922 in Königsberg ; † March 6, 2015 in Essen ) was a German architect and university professor .

Life

Werner Ruhnau studied from 1941 to 1950 at the Technical University of Danzig , the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Technical University of Karlsruhe ; he completed his studies as a graduate engineer . During his work in the construction office of the Münster Chamber of Agriculture (1950 to 1952) Ruhnau sometimes lived on construction sites. Here he came up with the idea of ​​reviving the medieval construction works . From 1953 Werner Ruhnau, Max von Hausen and Ortwin Rave formed the team of architects in the construction office of the Chamber of Agriculture, to which Harald Deilmann belonged until September 1, 1955. The team of architects Munster realized including the Municipal Theater in Münster (opening on February 4, 1956) and won the competition for the musical theater in the area in Gelsenkirchen .

In 1956 Ruhnau founded his own office in Gelsenkirchen, where he was commissioned to build the music theater. Together with the artists Yves Klein , Paul Adams, Paul Dierkes , Norbert Kricke and Jean Tinguely , he created his most important work with this large theater building , which was influenced by the Bauhaus . Here Ruhnau and the artist group put the idea of ​​the Bauhütte into practice. You lived on the construction site, engineers and artists worked hand in hand.

Werner Ruhnau's grave in the artist necropolis of Kassel, 1995

From 1965 to 1967 Ruhnau held a professorship at Laval University and the École d'Architecture de Montréal . From 1971 to 1972 he taught at the University of Cologne , Institute for Theater Studies . In 1972 Ruhnau developed the open- plan office of the Herta KG company in Herten for Karl Ludwig Schweisfurth, in which he incorporated works of art into the design. Works by Daniel Spoerri , Hugo Kükelhaus , Christo and the installation Mit (H) ropa by Wolf Vostell were exhibited in the open-plan office. He was a member of the German Werkbund , at times also its state chairman. Relying on the ideas of Karl Ernst Osthaus , the founder of the Folkwang concept , and Hugo Kükelhaus's ideas of the field of experience for developing the senses , Ruhnau developed z. In 1985, for example, in the disused Carl colliery in Essen, he had his own festival control room , Sinnario , which emphasizes the diversity and unity of the arts. Werner Ruhnau worked from 2012 to 2015 with the gallery owner Inge Baecker and his son the architect Georg Ruhnau on the realization of a Vostell Museum that was to be built in  Marl . After it could not be realized in Marl, it was planned for Gelsenkirchen . It didn't happen there either.

Orders and honors

On July 7, 2012, Ruhnau received the Cross of Merit 1st Class of the Federal Republic of Germany for his commitment as an ambassador for theater architecture .

The sculptor Peter Hohberger designed a relief portrait of the architect.

In his will, Werner Ruhnau has committed himself to be buried in the Kassel artist necropolis . He created his tomb named Spielraum as early as 1995.

Projects

• 1951–1952 Münster Chamber of Agriculture with Hardt-Waltherr Hämer
• 1952–1956: Stadttheater Münster (with Harald Deilmann, Max von Hausen, Ortwin Rave)
• 1959: Musiktheater im Revier , Gelsenkirchen (with Max von Hausen, Ortwin Rave)
• 1972: Open-plan office of the company Herta KG , Herten
• 1972: Olympic Games Street , Munich
• 1977: Model school, Remscheid (with Busmann + Haberer , Manuel Reig )
• 1985: Piltz house, Düsseldorf (with Horst Lerche )
• 1985: Administration building of Flachglas AG , Gelsenkirchen (with Adolf Luther )
• 1986: Werkbundsiedlung Oberhausen (with Heinz Döhmen , Wolfgang Meisenheimer , Mirko Schul , Hanns Uelner , Richard Bödeker )
• 1990: Grillo Theater in Essen : conversion into a variable room theater, reduction from 670 to 400 seats - reopening in September 1990
• 1995: Reconstruction of the Altmark Theater , Stendal (including two podium pianos with row podiums) (with Leonardo Mosso and VA Wölfl )
• 1995: Werner Ruhnau's tomb in the Kassel necropolis (with Jochen Leyendecker )
• 2002: Stadtwunde Memorial at the Schwarze Poth subcamp in Essen

Literature / sources

• Werner Ruhnau: Art at the new theater. In: Bauwelt , 48th year 1957, issue 51, pp. 1342–1343.
• Heiner Stachelhaus (ed.): Ives Klein / Werner Ruhnau. Documentation of the cooperation in the years 1957–1960. Bongers, Recklinghausen, n.d. (1976).
• Van Ham database archive, Werner Ruhnau: "Air conditioning of the room". Homage to Yves Klein.
• Gerd Hergen Lübben : Cante jondo of the ensemble. "Semaphorism". (To the sketch by Naftali Bezem , version for Werner Ruhnau, the architect of the space theater) In: Gerd Hergen Lübben: “Feuerfuss meinetwegen” or “Die Zebattu-Pentade” - five pieces. Emphases for stage. Essen 1993, ISBN 3-89206-511-X , p. 160.
• Architecture and fine arts 1954–1995. Retrospective by Werner Ruhnau. 1995. (Brochure design: G. Ruhnau)
• At that time it was allowed to think in such utopian dimensions. Noemi Smolik spoke to Werner Ruhnau about his collaboration with Yves Klein. In: Kunstforum International , No. 129 (1995), pp. 392-394.
• Association of German Architects - District Group Ruhr Area (Ed.), Michael Hesse u. a .: Werner Ruhnau. Gelsenkirchen 2002.
• M: AI Museum of Architecture and Engineering NRW (Ed.): Werner Ruhnau. The space, the game and the arts . Gelsenkirchen 2007.
• Ulrich Brinkmann: Werner Ruhnau in Gelsenkirchen. In: Bauwelt , 98th year 2007, No. 18, pp. 6–7.
• 50 years of theater construction in Gelsenkirchen 1959–2009. Werner Ruhnau. Concepts and their history. o. O. 2009, ISBN 978-3-00-029247-7 .
• LABKULTUR.TV European web magazine about city, change, future: The Essen architect Werner Ruhnau - a dream in ultramarine blue . (June 18, 2012 - Accessed August 9, 2014.)

Web links

Commons : Werner Ruhnau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of Prof. Werner Ruhnau
• Werner Ruhnau in the ifa artist database
• Literature by and about Werner Ruhnau in the catalog of the German National Library
• www.musiktheater-im-revier.de
• "Great master builder and team player" - obituary for Werner Ruhnau in the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung by Jens Dirksen
• Route to buildings by Werner Ruhnau at baukunst-nrw

Individual references / comments

1. ^ Karl Götze, Theo Driessen van der Lieck, Werner Rudolf Vogt: KLS ... on the way, ... on the search . Herta KG Karl Schweisfurth / Sala Druck, 1980 (without ISBN)
2. ↑ Cf. Elisabeth Stelkens: On the trail of the field of experience for the development of the senses by Hugo Kükelhaus. Food 2007
3. ↑ Celebrations - Diversity and Unity of the Arts ( Memento of the original from August 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .
4. ↑ Werner Ruhnau awarded the Order of Merit , In: Welt online, July 7, 2012
5. ↑ Artist Archive, European Culture Foundation, 2014
6. ^ Artists' necropolis Kassel
7. ↑ Werner Ruhnau (Ed.): Architecture. Essen 1992, p. 76 f.
8. ↑ The catalog for the exhibition “Space, Games and the Arts”, published in 2007, documents Werner Ruhnau's work as a young architect, influenced by the Bauhaus, Werkbund and Classical Modernism.