Building with Concrete and Haste. Industrial Building in the First World War

During the First World War civilian building activity came to a standstill, but the same was not true of industrial building, and in 1915, vigorous building activity began. Various industrial exhibitions of the war years from the southwest demonstrate how imperialist aspirations to ‘industrial architecture’ continued between 1914 and 1918 in the German Reich and this was utilised in the hybrid armaments policy and so-called ‘home front’ propaganda. The years of war do not represent a break, but an important epoch in the development of industrial construction. Concrete was to play a significant role in this, as it was becoming a key material in terms of material management and construction site economics.

Kerstin Renz studied art history, history of natural sciences and technology as well as German studies at the University of Stuttgart. After her studies, she worked as a research assistant at the State Office for Monument Preservation of Baden-Württemberg. In 2003 she was awarded her doctorate from the University of Stuttgart with the work ‘Philipp Jakob Manz – Industrial architect and entrepreneur’. From 2003 to 2013 she was an academic assistant at the Institute of Architectural History at the University of Stuttgart. During this time she received a fellowship from the state of Baden-Württemberg. In 2014 she qualified as a lecturer at the University of Stuttgart with the work ‘A Test Case of Modernity – Transfer and discourse in school building of the 1950s’. Since 1995, she has also been working as a freelance journalist and exhibition curator.