Collaboration and Architecture
Haben Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Egon Eiermann oder andere Vertreter der Moderne ihre Architekturen eigentlich alleine geplant und errichtet? Vermutlich nicht.
Aber wer sind die vielen Anderen, die Entwurf und Ausführung von Architektur begleiten?
Was wissen wir über die Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeiter in den Architekturbüros der Moderne?
Welchen Einfluss hatten die Fachleute in den ausführenden Firmen?
Und: Welche Rolle spielten die Partnerinnen und Partner?
Auf solche Fragen fehlen uns häufig zufriedenstellende Antworten.
Der Architekt David Chipperfield sagt: Architecture does not just happen. Sein Name steht für eines der interessantesten Architekturbüros der Gegenwart. Er beschreibt Architektur als ein Zusammenspiel von Anforderungen, Erwartungen, Vorschriften und hoffentlich auch Visionen.
Deshalb erfordert Architektur Kollaboration. Und ihr Erfolg hängt maßgeblich davon ab, wie gut diese Kollaboration funktioniert.
Im Podcast spreche ich mit Fachleuten über Bauten der Moderne und über das Netzwerk der Menschen, die das Planen und Bauen begleitet und beeinflusst haben. Das klappt heute nicht immer gleich gut, weil Quellen fehlen oder die Frage nie gestellt wurde. Aber in den letzten Jahren sind spannende neue Erkenntnisse gewonnen worden. Die möchte ich vorstellen.
Mein Name ist Christiane Lange. Ich bin Kunsthistorikerin und Mitbegründerin des gemeinnützigen Vereins Projekt MIK. www.projektmik.com
Ein Podcast von Projekt MIK, produziert vom Studio K22, Krefeld, Germany
English Version:
Did Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Egon Eiermann, and other representatives of modernism actually plan and build their buildings on their own? Probably not.
But who are the many others who accompany the design and execution of architecture?
What do we know about the employees in modernist architecture firms?
What influence did the experts in the executing companies have?
And what role did partners play?
We often lack satisfactory answers to such questions.
Architect David Chipperfield says: Architecture does not just happen. His name stands for one of the most interesting architectural firms of our time. He describes architecture as an interplay of requirements, expectations, regulations, and hopefully also visions.
That is why architecture requires collaboration. And its success depends largely on how well this collaboration works.
In the podcast, I talk to experts about modernist buildings and the network of people who accompanied and influenced their planning and construction. This does not always work equally well today because sources are missing or the question was never asked. But in recent years, exciting new insights have been gained. I would like to present them here.
My name is Christiane Lange. I am an art historian and co-founder of the non-profit association Projekt MIK. www.projektmik.com
A podcast by Projekt MIK, produced by Studio K22, Krefeld, Germany.
Collaboration and Architecture
F3 The Story of the Edith Farnsworth House by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
“All too often, depending on the case, the client is not seen as a protagonist.” (Michelangelo Sabatino)
The first seven episodes of the podcast are dedicated to architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and designer Lilly Reich. In episode 3, I talk to Michelangelo Sabatino, an architectural historian at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He recently published a beautiful book* about Mies van der Rohe's House for Edith Farnsworth which was built around 1950 close to Chicago. It is the most radical and beautiful house Mies ever built. A one-room house made of glass, surrounded by trees next to the Fox river.
But Sabatino doesn’t just discuss the architecture of the house. The focus is on the client, Edith Farnsworth. “I have made the case that Edith was not a mere client, but she was a client patron.” (Michelangelo Sabatino) Edith Farnsworth was convinced by Mies and gave him free rein. At the beginning she even believed that her house “might well become the prototype of a new and important element in American architecture.” That was from her memoirs 20 years later, published in Sabatinos book. But then conflicts arose. A legendary legal battle ensued, involving the press and leading to a deep rift. Edith Farnsworth never got over it. Even 20 years later, she remained unforgiving. She was never able to celebrate herself for having made this iconic building possible. And neither did the research.
“…there's a lot of innuendo about her being in love with Mies and Mies not being in love with her. But the reality is she was a medical doctor. She was an educated woman that understood expertise and professionalism.” (Michelangelo Sabatino)
We talk about Edith Farnsworth, Mies' beginnings in America, and the tasks of being the client, which should not be underestimated.
*The Edith Farnsworth House: Architecture, Preservation, Culture by Michelangelo Sabatino and others (Monacelli 2024)
A Translation into German is soon available on our Website www.projektmik.com
The Episode was recorded in Krefeld by Studio K22
