Peter Behrens and the Deutsche Werkbund Flashcards
Name some of the Werkbund Principles.
It was concerned with the impact of industrialisation and mass consumption on the entire field of applied architecture.
there was need for improved design in both craft and industry
such quality could only be achieved by artistically cultivated people, orientated towards machine production.
What was the importance of the text:
“Science, Industry and Art”
written by Gottfried Semper in ___
“we have artists but no actual art”
it indicates how easy production is now becoming and states that there is a lack of ability to master the methods of production.
he states that the use of the machine is making the materials depreciate.
Who was Peter Behrens?
he can be considerd as a key figure in the transition from Jugendstil to Industrial Classicism.
He played a central role in the evolution of German modernism
On joining the AEG, he was confronted with the fact of industrial power. He had to accept industrialisaion of the German nation and his duty as an artist was to give form to this
He influenced the likes of Gropius. The Model Factory at the Werkbund exhibition in 1914 took on the ideas of Behrens turbine factory architectural aesthetic.
Discuss the importance of:
AEG Turbine Factory. Berlin. 1909.
a work of art, a temple of industrial power
successfully integrates art and mass production at a large scale
it can be seen as a modernist landmark
light steel frame on the street facade is terminated at the ends by solid battered corner elements, whos surfaces were rendered in such ways that deny any capacity for sustaining loads.
The way of flanking light frames with massive corners characterises almost all the industrial structures that Behrens designed for AEG.
