EXPRESSIONISM ARCHITECTURE

HANINA 058

ADLY 075

DWIPUTRA 095
Can buildings express inner ideas or feelings?
HISTORY
Expressionism was an early 20th-century movement
in art and architecture. It developed between 1910
and 1924 among a group of architects from European
countries including Germany, Austria, and Denmark.
It was a time of great turmoil and upheaval in Europe
and many of the architects had fought on the
battlefields of World War I. Their experiences greatly
impacted their work and what they created looked
like nothing that had come before it.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

Expressionist architecture was designed to evoke
inner feelings and extreme emotions. Buildings
created in this style made a statement and stood out
from the structures around them. Architects often
used distorted unusual forms and incorporated
innovative building techniques using materials like
brick, steel, and glass.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

VALUES
• Respect the freedom of shapes and lines • produce
buildings that are not monotonous • express the
language of emotion in form and color • exploring
the soul and describing emotions to others
REASONS FOR MOVEMENT
• Reasearch from Sigmund Freud and Karl Jung start
the Expressionist movement. There was more focus
on the psychological effects of form and space when
designing • Socialist government was repressing
toward art, it was a way to act for the artist/architects
CHARACTERISTICS
 EXPRESSIVE FORMS
Free-flowing, organic forms

Curves, odd angles

Irregularly shaped windows and doors

Multi-layered façades

Fritz Höger, Chilehaus

 MODERN BUILDING TYPES
From structures for industrial and scientific
uses, to department stores and housing
developments

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

 NATURALISM
Relationship to natural, especially geological,
forms

Rudolf Steiner, Goetheanum

 DYNAMISM
Fusing organic form with modern materials

Erich Mendelsohn, Einstein Tower

 FUNCTIONALISM
The free-flowing forms were not simply all the
architect’s imagination but were also
determined by functional requirements

Erich Mendelsohn, Hat Factory and Dye Works

 MONOLITHIC MATERIALS
Often the buildings made aesthetic use of just
one material

Michel de Klerk, Het Schip

 Bruno Taut

IMPORTANT
PEOPLE
INVOLVED

Walter Gropius

Adolf Behne

Erich Mendelsohn
EXAMPLES
Eisntein Tower
Designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn, was built
between 1919 and 1921. Located in Potsdam,
Germany in a science park, it's surrounded by grassy
lawn and trees.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

The building, a solar observatory, is made of brick
covered with cement. It's all curving edges and
undulating forms and seems almost to emerge from
the ground below it like some kind of organic or
scientific organism.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

It was made to reflect Einstein's Theory of Relativity,
which changed the way people thought about time
and space. The Einstein Tower looks strikingly modern
for a building that's almost one hundred years old.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

Chilehaus
The Chilehaus is an office building and landmark
structure in Hamburg, Germany. Designed by architect
Fritz Höger, it was built between 1922 and 1924 and
constructed of reinforced concrete and brick.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

The towering structure thrusts violently skyward and
seems to resemble the elongated bow of a tall ship.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

Comparing these two structures gives you a good idea
of what is so striking about Expressionist architecture.
Each is a singular statement. The Einstein Tower looks
nothing like the Chilehaus, yet they are both
Expressionist structures. Neither takes a standard boxy
form and both are unique statements by their creators.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

LEGACY
Expressionism changed the way people thought about
architecture because its practitioners demonstrated
that buildings did not always have to echo past styles
or be chained to certain design standards and
expectations. In fact, beginning in the 1950s, a
movement called Neo-Expressionism developed that
revived the rejection of box shapes and traditional
lines.

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works

Thank You

Peter Behrens, Hoechst Dye Works