#gta verlag

[miamaimania]

"Klumpen" (2014) — book cover and spot illustrations, edited by GTA Verlag, Zürich; photographic rock texture with blue geometric line overlay

[germanpostwarmodern]

In May 1954 Ise and Walter Gropius upon the invitation of the Rockefeller Foundation set out for a three month voyage to Japan, an intense and crammed trip that Ise comprehensively documented in travelogues and letters to friends and family. A journalist by profession Ise after marrying Gropius, as per normal in that day and age, gave up her job and became the master’s wife and secretary. But as „Cooking Up Dinner Speeches: Ise Gropius in Japan“, edited by Almut Grunewald and published recently by GTA Verlag, shows, this is only one half of Ise Gropius’s story: in fact, she was much more than Walter Gropius’s wife and companion but a pivotal factor for his public and literary appearance. Not only did she „cook up dinner speeches“ for her husband during the Japan trip but she also redacted his writings and oversaw publications since the Bauhaus years, a fact that is duly mentioned in the literature but never yielded focused research as Almut Grunewald emphasizes in her brilliant essay „Ise and Walter Gropius: Work and Teamwork““. Their first collaborative project that also bears Ise’s name was the „Bauhaus 1919-1928“ exhibition at the MoMA in New York in 1938 where she appeared alongside Gropius and Herbert Bayer as editor of the exhibition catalogue. Against this background one can gauge the actual and regularly unmentioned contribution of Ise Gropius to the overall historiography of both her husband and the Bauhaus.

That she indeed was a pointed and mindful writer prove the facsimiles of her letters and travelogues reproduced in the volume and annotated by the editor: using different sources like newspapers, travel guides and history books she paints a comprehensive (yet idealized) picture of Japanese culture that includes observations of everyday living, fashion, cooking, depictions of plants and gardens just as well as technical architectural information she received first-hand in discussions with experts. Compared with Walter’s brief postcards sent during the Japan voyage, Ise’s accounts are of course way more comprehensive but also provide insights into the relationships she forged with the wives of architects, artists and designers with whom she discussed their roles and remained in contact with afterwards.

It was high time to shed light on the woman behind Walter Gropius’s fame and legacy and „Cooking Up Dinner Speeches“ finally lets Ise Gropius hit the limelight. A highly recommended read!

[germanpostwarmodern]

Lisbeth Sachs (1914-2002) is rightly regarded as a pioneer of architecture in Switzerland, even more so as she was a woman in a male dominated discipline. In 1934 and motivated by her mother she enrolled in the architecture program of ETH Zurich and in 1939 received her diploma. In the meantime, Sachs did bricklayer and carpentry internships as well as an internship in Alvar Aalto’s Helsinki office in 1938, an experience that just like the interdisciplinary character of her studies greatly influenced Sachs. Shortly after leaving university she took part in the competition for the Kurtheater in Baden and, much to her and professional circles’ surprise, won it. This unforeseen success promptly gained the 25-year-old significant attention and thus the Kurtheater also takes the center stage in Rahel Hartmann Schweizer’s monograph „Lisbeth Sachs. Animate Architecture“, recently published by GTA Verlag. The author e.g. discusses the lengthy building process, interrupted by WWII, of the Kurtheater which was opened as late as 1952 and also involved the architect Otto Dorer who won the second prize in the competition: since the client wasn’t convinced that a 25-year-old would be able to manage the building process, Dorer was installed as „partner“ and turned out to introduce quite some conflict in the building process. But this notwithstanding, the Kurtheater turned out a great building that embodies Sachs’ restrained and sensible approach to architecture.

The catalogue raisonné in the back of the book counts 94 entries, a rather small oeuvre since many of the entries weren’t carried out but those that were are just as noteworthy as the Kurtheater: the Strauss House (1967) in Aesch e.g. is a beautiful timber structure that demonstrates Sachs’ nature-near building principles that includes plants, animals, humans just as well as rocks.

Thus, and although the author dedicates that much space to the Kurtheater and accordingly lesser space is given to other interesting projects, „Lisbeth Sachs. Animate Architecture“ is a highly readable and important contribution to the history of women architects in both Switzerland and in general. Warmly recommended!

[germanpostwarmodern]

The reception of the „Neues Bauen“ in Switzerland is widely dominated by the likes of Max Ernst Haefeli, Werner M. Moser or the young Max Bill, all of whom designed buildings that wrote architectural history. One of their contemporaries and fellow modernists was Karl Egender (1897-1969) who nonetheless is far lesser known. Primary reasons for his second-row existence surely are his reluctance to fully subscribe to a rectangular modernism as well as his overall taciturnity regarding his architecture. That Egender also didn’t care much about posthumous fame also demonstrates the lack of a properly ordered project archive, a circumstance that nonetheless didn’t discourage Dorothee Huber from editing the first comprehensive monograph devoted to the architect: „Karl Egender. Architektur der Darbietung“, recently published by GTA Verlag, in its title already hints at a key characteristic of Egender’s architecture: throughout his entire career the architect concerned himself with the presentation of objects, consumer goods and, yes, people. Already in his early successes, the Limmathaus (1927-32) and Albisriederhaus (1932-35) in Zurich, both so-called „Volkshäuser“ established by the Social Democratic Party, Egender and his then partner Adolf Steger found representative forms for a „Volkhaus“ and its commissioner the Social Democratic Party. These early competition wins led to a number of commissions in the realm of exhibition design and architecture, e.g. for the Zürcher Fachausstellung in 1927 or the Landi of 1939, both also in Zurich. For the Landi he designed a remarkably poetic exhibition for the Swiss textile industry, housed in a large building accentuated by the pyramid-shaped pavilions. From this it was only a small step for him to become one of Switzerland’s leading department store architects whose renown also resulted in projects beyond Swiss borders.

In view of Karl Egender’s significant contribution to 20th century Swiss architecture the present volume was long overdue and by virtue of its work catalogue, the excellent archival material reproduced and the insightful essays, is a profound and highly readable publication.

[germanpostwarmodern]

For almost 10 years between 1929 and 1938 theoretician and architectural historian Sigfried Giedion worked on a book project that only peripherally dealt with architecture and eventually also remained unpublished: „Die Entstehung des heutigen Menschen“, the emergence of modern-day man. It was an ambitious project spread over approximately three volumes dealing with different topics related to the emergence of modern-day man. In Giedion’s archive at the ETH Zurich the material related to the book project has survived and Sokratis Georgiadiscin collaboration with Almut Grunewald edited and annotated them. The result is has recently published by @gtaverlag

In the first volume, entitled “Construction and Chaos”, Giedion recounts the discoveries and inventions from the 17th century up to the First World War, effectively the emergence of the industrialized world and the human being within it. It is the most complete of the three volumes and through Georgiadis’ introductory text receives additional political, sociological and ultimately intellectual context that especially with regard to the Industrial Revolution is helpful.

In the second volume Giedion finally deals with architecture, namely in the form of social building tasks, and thus one of the most discussed topics of modern architecture in the first half of the 20th century. For this Giedion collected examples of German, French and British housing designs, a hint at his overall focus on Europe.

In the shortest fragment, dealing with the prevailing taste, Giedion takes to the popular art of the 19th century and reveals his bourgeois perspective on his research subject.

Although sympathetic with Giedion, Georgiadis keeps his distance and critically discusses his conceptions and also uncovers his shortcomings, e.g. the underlying assumption that a division between thought and feeling characterized the industrialization: Georgiadis proves that this notion is insufficient to explain the actual hardships of the industrial labor forces and typical of a bourgeois point of view. On the other hand the book closes a gap in Giedion’s list of publications and due to its unfinishedness offers interesting perspectives on a major thinker’s trains of thought and research methods. A fascinating read, most of all because of Georgiadis’ brilliant annotations.

[germanpostwarmodern]

At the height of its distribution in the late 1960s and early 1970s system building also was having a hard time: criticized as one of the reasons for the perceived monotony of the cities its adversaries picked it to pieces. And yet the history of system building is full of good intentions aimed at reducing building costs and time through prefabrication and standardization. The concept was particularly widespread in Switzerland and makes up the majority of postwar buildings, a circumstance that also relates to the numerous systems developed in the country. Although Fritz Haller’s steel frame system probably is the best known example there literally are dozens of others, sometimes tailored to a specific typology, sometimes more general in layout. ICOMOS Suisse and the research group „System & Serie“ haven taken to the heritage of system building and in a long-term interdisciplinary research project explored the manifold building systems and inventoried the remaining buildings designed on their basis. At the same time the researchers posed preservation and durability questions in order to determine long neglected monument values. The result of seven years of research is „System & Serie: Systembau in der Schweiz – Geschichte und Erhaltung“, edited by ICOMOS Suisse/Arbeitsgruppe System & Serie and recently published by GTA Verlag: the book approaches Swiss system building from various angles and offers analyses going way beyond architecture: history, sociology, building physics and historic preservation are equally taken into account and contribute to the comprehensive picture painted in the book. By highlighting both the advantages and the disadvantages of system building with regards to economies of scale, perceived monotony as well as the extensive transportation requirements associated with it the authors provide a well-balanced and differentiated analysis. What emerges from it is a fresh perspective on an undeniably important aspect of postwar architecture that, as the extensive and detailed catalogue of buildings proves, is diverse and far from monotonous. Against this background the book is the perfect source for an in-depth reappraisal and highly recommended!

[germanpostwarmodern]

Ernst Gisel's (1922-2021) approach towards architecture was very hands-on and undogmatic, a reflection of his character and biography: initially trained as a draughtsman with the idea of becoming an artist Gisel eventually followed courses at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zurich and for two years worked in the office of Alfred Roth, the grand seigneur of Swiss modernism. But Gisel didn’t follow in Roth’s vein of modern architecture as demonstrates his breakthrough project: only two years after he established his office Gisel in 1949 won the competition for the theater in Grenchen, a pivotal project for Gisel and a display of what his architecture was and remained to be about: plasticity, sensibility and individuality. Often likened to Alvar Aalto’s Säynätsälo town hall the theater not only displayed Gisel’s admiration for the Finnish master but also demonstrated his natural know-how with regards to the sensual qualities of materials. Irrespective of Gisel’s admitted relationship to Aalto it should be noted that the latter’s project came into existence after the Grenchen theater. In fact the story highlights the architect’s quest for a situationally appropriate architecture beyond stylistic straitjackets, an attitude that he maintained throughout his entire career although certain hints of brutalism, rationalism and postmodernism cannot be denied.

Still the most comprehensive source to Gisel’s oeuvre is „Ernst Gisel. Architekt“ from GTA Verlag, edited by Bruno Maurer & Werner Oechslin, which has seen three editions since its initial release in 1993. It contains a detailed, comprehensively illustrated catalogue of Gisel’s diverse works but also insightful essays by experts and colleagues. In this regard it is Oechslin’s introductory essay that stands out as an emphatic yet precise portrait of the architect: he carves out the qualities of Gisel’s architecture beyond simple comparison and situates him in his time. For Gisel architecture was a plastic principle aimed at a direct relation between building and human being achieved by sensitivity rather than overbearing theories. In view of this individual philosophy the book is both a visual and intellectual pleasure that is highly recommended!

[germanpostwarmodern]

„The era of the building artist is over“ remarked Hans Fischli once and replaced artistry with solid craft. This notion is even more astounding in view of Fischli’s dual career as architect and artist. But for him architecture was about rationality, fulfilling functions and the best possible quality. From these convictions speaks Fischli’s brief but ultimately formative study visit at the Bauhaus, a sojourn of a mere year but which left a deep impression on the young architect. Consequently Fischli’s architectural oeuvre is characterized by good proportions, rationality, functionality and structural stringency. Already his first work, the „Schlehstud“, a multigenerational house built for himself, his parents and his aunt in Obermeilen in 1933, displays these qualities: with its steel-frame construction, a flat roof, large windows and wooden lagging it is both crafted and rational, open and where privacy is needed closed. The „Schlehstud“ consequentially opens up Karl Jost’s examination of Fischli’s architectural oeuvre in the former’s fundamental monograph „Hans Fischli - Architekt, Maler, Bildhauer“, published by GTA Verlag in 1992. Organized along the architect’s major tasks workers’ housing, factory and apartment buildings as well as buildings for young people and single-family houses Jost analyzes Fischli’s built work and carves out the fundamentals of his architecture as described previously. The result is the portrait of an architect at the service of occupants, irrespective of whether they were working-class families, industrialists or orphans.

Interestingly his artistic oeuvre initially took a different direction as Karl Jost explains: Fischli started out as creator of organic, cell-like forms that developed into Tachist abstractions that in his late work rigidified and became increasingly geometric. These tendencies also showed in his sculptures carried out from the 1960s on which before consisting of basic geometric forms went through a period of amorphous forms.

As demonstrates the above sketch of book and artist, Hans Fischli‘s oeuvre is very diverse and through Jost’s detailed and readable exegesis takes clear shape in the readers’ minds. A milestone!