Egon Eiermann

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File:Stamp Germany 2004 MiNr2421 Egon Eiermann.jpg

Egon Eiermann on a German stamp

Egon Eiermann (29 September 1904 – 19 July 1970<ref name="Einrichten Design 1904">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>) was one of Germany's most prominent architects in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a furniture designer. From 1947, he was Professor for architecture at Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe (today Karlsruhe Institute of Technology).

BiographyEdit

Eiermann was born in Template:Ill (now part of Babelsberg, Potsdam), the son of Wilhelm Eiermann (1874–1948), a locomotive engineer and his wife Emma Gellhorn (1875–1959).<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /><ref name="Leo" /> He archived his Abitur at the Althoff-Gymnasium<ref name="Leo" /> and studied architecture at Technische Universität Berlin.<ref name="Einrichten Design 1904" /> From 1925 to 1928, he was master student of Hans Poelzig.<ref name="Jouini" /> After graduating in 1928, he gained professional experience in the construction departments of Karstadt AG in Hamburg and the Berlin electricity works (Template:Ill).<ref name="Leo" /> From 1931 to 1945, he was an independent architect in Berlin and initially planned residential buildings.<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /><ref name="Architekturguide Krefeld 2021" /> Before World War II he had an office with fellow architect Template:Ill. During the Nazi era, he mainly created industrial architecture.<ref name="domradio.de 2020" /> In 1945, he escaped to Buchen in West Germany, the birthplace of the father.<ref name="Stadt Buchen (Odenwald)" /> From 1946 to 1965, he had a shared office with Robert Hilgers.<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> In 1948, the office was relocated to Karlsruhe.<ref name="Leo" /> He joined the faculty of the Technische Hochschule Karlsruhe in 1947,<ref name="Jouini">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Biografie WHOS WHO">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> working there on developing steel frame construction methods. Students were Oswald Mathias Ungers and Template:Ill.<ref name="Tagesspiegel 2007">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="UAA 2018">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="GmbH 2001">Template:Cite news</ref> During a study trip to the United States in 1950, he met Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer and Konrad Wachsmann in Boston, and in 1956 also Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /> In 1967, Eiermann chaired the jury in the architectural competition for the Olympic Park in Munich.Template:Efn<ref name="Kubitza 2018">Template:Cite journal</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

In 1940, he married in Berlin interior designer Charlotte, Template:Née Friedheim (1912–2001) and in 1954 in Berlin architect Brigitte, née Feyerabendt (1924–2019). He had two children: with his first wife Andreas (born 1942), from his second marriage Anna (born 1956).<ref name="Leo">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He died in Baden-Baden, aged 65.<ref name="De 2022">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He is buried at the Buchen Cemetery.<ref name="Stadt Buchen (Odenwald)">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

WorksEdit

During the years of reconstruction, his steel-frame industrial buildings became exemplary.<ref name="Architekturguide Krefeld 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The buildings are transparent, inviting, democratic, making order visible.<ref name="Biesler 2020">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

A functionalist, his major works include: the textile mill at Blumberg (1951);<ref name="Deutsche BauZeitschrift 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the West German pavilion at the Brussels World's Fair (with Sep Ruf, 1958);Template:Efn<ref name="Biografie WHOS WHO" /> the Embassy of Germany, Washington, D.C. (1958–1964);<ref name="Biografie WHOS WHO" /> the highrise Langer Eugen for the German Parliament in Bonn (1965–1969); the IBM-Germany Headquarters in Stuttgart (1967–1972);<ref name="De 2022" /> and, the Olivetti building in Frankfurt (1968–1972). By far his most famous work is the new church on the site of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin (1959–1963).

The sets of the 1926 film The Pink Diamond were designed by Eiermann.<ref name="Murnau Stiftung">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Leo"/>

Source:<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1929–1930 Substation of the Berliner Elektrizitätswerke AG, Berlin-Steglitz
1931–1933 Hesse residential building, Berlin-Lankwitz
1936–1937 Steingroever residential building, Berlin-Grunewald
1938 factory building and boiler house of the Degea-AG-Auergesellschaft, Berlin-Wedding
1938–1939 expansion and conversion of the Total-Werke Foerstner & Co, Apolda
1939–1941 factory buildings of Märkische Metallbau GmbH, Oranienburg
1948–1950 administration and factory building of Ciba AG, Wehr/Baden
1949–1950 handkerchief weaving mill/spinning mill, Blumberg/Black Forest
1950–1953 administration building of the United Silk Weaving Works, Krefeld
1951–1956 experimental power plant of TU Karlsruhe<ref name="Karlsruhe Erleben 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1953 St. Matthew Church, Pforzheim<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1953–1954 Burda Moden publishing house, Offenburg
1954–1961 residential building, Interbau, Hansaviertel, Berlin-Tiergarten
1955–1957 Volkshilfe administration building, Cologne
1956–1958 German Pavilion, World Exhibition in Brussels (with Sep Ruf, exterior planning by Walter Rossow)
1956–1960 administration building of Steinkohlebergwerke AG, Essen
1957–1963 Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Berlin-Charlottenburg<ref name="Evangelische Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirchengemeinde Berlin">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="rbb24 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

1958–1961 Head office of Neckermann Versand KG, Frankfurt am Main
1958–1961 administration building of the steel structure Gustav Müller, Offenburg
1958–1964 Chancellery building of the German Embassy, Washington<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="BBR 2021">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Arup">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1959–1962 Eiermann house, Baden-Baden<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
1961–1967 buildings for the DEA-Scholven GmbH refinery, Karlsruhe<ref name="Plate 2014 pp. 261–263">Template:Cite journal</ref>
1965–1969 high-rise building for members of the German Bundestag, Bonn<ref name="Weg der Demokratie 1970">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1967–1972 Administration and training center of Deutsche Olivetti, Frankfurt am Main,<ref name="ZEIT ONLINE">Template:Cite news</ref>
1967–1972 IBM headquarters, Stuttgart-Vaihingen (Template:Ill)<ref name="DIE WELT 2013">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-P060400, Berlin, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis Kirche und Kurfürstendamm.jpg

CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Olivetti Buildings - Egon Eiermann.jpg

CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
MiRO0.jpg

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Langer Eugen, Bonn, June 2018.jpg

Langer Eugen, Bonn – detail of the facade<ref name="domradio.de 2020" />
Expo Brüssel 1958.JPG

Expo Brüssel 1958 German pavilion<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

DesignEdit

From 1949, the first functional and serially produced seating furniture made of wood and tubular steel was created in cooperation with the Esslingen company Template:Ill.<ref name="Style Deco 2019">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Source:<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" /><ref name="Tagesspiegel 1999">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1950 SE 68 tubular steel chair
1952 E 10 wicker chair
1952–1953 SE 18 wooden folding chair
1953 table frame Eiermann 1
1960–1961 Church seat SE 121
1965 table frame Eiermann 2

AwardsEdit

Template:OSM Location map Template:OSM Location map Source:<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" />

1962 Berlin Art Prize
1965 honorary doctorate from Technische Universität Berlin
1965 Grand State Prize for Architecture of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
1968 Grand Prize of the Association of German Architects (Großer BDA Preis)
1968 Grand Federal Cross of Merit
1969 Template:Ill of the BDA Baden-Württemberg
1970 Order Pour le Mérite for Science and Arts

In 1997, the Egon Eiermann Society was founded in Karlsruhe.<ref name="Egon Eiermann Gesellschaft e. V.">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 2004, the Bundespost honored Eiermann with a special postage stamp.<ref name="Leo" /> In Karlsruhe, Egon-Eiermann-Allee (Template:Coord) was named after him in 2009.<ref name="De 2022" /> One of the lecture halls in the architectural building (Template:Coord) of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology bears his name.<ref name="Karlsruhe: Hörsaal Egon Eiermann 2003">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Template:Ill is an international ideas competition in architecture.<ref name="Deutsche BauZeitschrift 2021_2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

MembershipsEdit

Source:<ref name="Akademie der Künste, Berlin" />

1926 Founding member of the "Group of Young Architects" ("{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}")<ref name="gesichter-des-dka.gnm.de">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1931 Member of the Association of German Architects ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
1931 Member of Deutscher Werkbund<ref name="Museum der Dinge">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

1951 Founding member of the German Design Council ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}})
1955 Member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin (West), Section Architecture
1960 Honorary member of the Central Association of Austrian Architects
1962 Member of the planning council for the new buildings of the German Bundestag and the German Bundesrat in Bonn
1963 Corresponding Honorary Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects
1969 Founding member of the Housing and Environment Institute of the Hessian state government