The subject of the research project is the ambivalent relationship between two closely related disciplines at the time of ‘Neues Bauen’ (1918–1933). The collaboration of architects and engineers is characterized by their mutual cooperation and influence in building projects as well as by a strongly competitive spirit. On the basis of contemporary sources and publications, the architect's view of the engineer will be empirically examined for the first time. In this vein, writing and commentaries of architectural criticism and art history of the time and thus the theoretical discussions with both disciplines, will be more closely examined. In particular, the building materials of iron and glass, which were relatively new at the time, as well as early iron concrete, are to be examined as artistic materials of the architect for their iconological content. Although in many respects the famous architects of ‘Neues Bauen’ are sufficiently studied, interesting findings can be expected when regarding their views of the engineers of the time and the influence these views had on their work.

Researcher: Ralf Dorn