10 women architects of the first half of the 20th century that you should know
04/10/2021.
The vanguard at the beginning of the S.XX
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
And to balance the previous article with the one we celebrate World Architecture Day, in this article, we make a selection of 10 women architects from the first half of the 20th century who have been key pieces in the development of these new innovative ideas, although not all of them are well known enough.
These are the 10 architects of the first half of the century that you should know.- Lina Bo Bardi. Eileen Gray. Florence Knoll Bassett. Marianne Brandt. Ray Eames. Wera Meyer-Waldeck. Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. Friedl Dicker. Lotte Stam-Beese. Gunta Stölzl.
These are the 10 architects of the first half of the century that you should know.- Lina Bo Bardi. Eileen Gray. Florence Knoll Bassett. Marianne Brandt. Ray Eames. Wera Meyer-Waldeck. Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. Friedl Dicker. Lotte Stam-Beese. Gunta Stölzl.
Pavilhão de Verão (Summer Pavilion) at Casa de Vidro by Raddar Architecture. Photograph by Simon Plestenjak
Glass displays.In 1968, Lina Bo Bardi, 54, at the MASP construction site with Van Gogh’s “The Postman’s Son,” 1888, on her signature Arte Povera easel. Photograph © MASP.
Inside view. House of Glass by Lina Bo Bardi, São Paulo 1949-1951. Photograph ©Instituto Lina Bo e P.M. Bardi, by Chico Albuquerque.
Teatro Oficina by Lina Bo Bardi and Edson Elito. Photograph by Nelson Kon
The house was based on Gray’s studies of wind and sun, and on its position on a steep slope descending to the sea. Photograph © Manuel Bougot.
A view of the living room with furniture and rugs designed by Gray, and, on the far wall, a mural by Le Corbusier. Photograph @ Manuel Bougot.
The main bedroom. Photograph © Tim Benton.
Between 1951 and 1961, Florence Knoll designed showrooms around the world—from Dallas to Paris, San Francisco to Milan. Image courtesy of Knoll.
The Florence Knoll table desk, designed in 1961, the year Ms. Knoll became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal for Industrial Design from the American Institute of Architects. Her designs are still common in offices, homes and public spaces. Image via the Knoll Archive
A design pioneer and the guiding light of Knoll, Florence set the standard for Modern workplace interiors and the approach of “total design” with the Knoll Planning Unit. She founded KnollTextiles in 1947 in addition to developing her own iconic furniture designs. Image courtesy of Knoll.
Tea Infuser (MT 49), by Marianne Brandt. Photograph by Lucia Moholy, 1924.
Table Clock by Marianne Brandt, 1930. Courtesy by MoMA.
Ceiling Lamp by Marianne Brandt, 1925. Courtesy by MoMA.
Ray and Charles in the living room, 1958. During their years in the house, they filled the room with objects, textiles, and artwork. These artifacts need to be conserved and managed through the development of a Collections Management Plan. Photo: Julius Shulman, © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).
An Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman in the living room, 2016. The original lounge chair was in deteriorating condition following years of use and environmental exposure. It was replaced with this later version. Photo: Leslie Schwartz, © Eames Office.
View of the Eames House, 1950. The layout of the house on the site integrates indoor and outdoor spaces. It respects and retains the site's natural qualities and, through careful design, integrates the natural with the human-made. Photo: Julius Shulman, © J. Paul Getty Trust. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles (2004.R.10).
Design and extension for the upholstery shop Teppich-Schlüter (1950), by Wera Meyer-Waldeck.
International exhibition of Brussels in which Wera Meyer-Waldeck participates, section IV, 1958.
Integrated kitchen in the living room. Pilot housing for the exhibition "Die Stadt von morgen" by Wera Meyer-Waldeck.
Frankfurter Küche – Overall view, 1927. Courtesy by Universität für angewandte Kunst, Wien, © Kunstsammlung und Archiv
Zwofa model apartment on exhibit at "Die neue Wohnung und ihre Innenausbau", Siedlung Praunheim, 1928, by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky
Fröbel Kindergarten by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky. Photograph by Lucca Chmel. Angewandte Wien Archive.
Left: House of Fashion "Lore Kriser", 1929. Right: Confitería "Garido & Jahne", 1930. Design by Singer-Dicker.
Atelier Singer-Dicker: Hall and staircase. Design for the Reconstruction of the August and Hilda Heriot House, with sculpture "Anna Selbdritt" - Axonometric Plan,Pencil, color pencil, tempera on cardboard 50,5 x 47,5. Vienna, 1932
Atelier Singer-Dicker: Inside the Montessori Kindergarten at the Goethehof Public Housing Project - Playroom (detail of the folding table), Vienna, c. 1930. Phtograph by Pfitzner-Haus, 1932.
Urban Design Pendrecht (1949- 1953) by Lotte Stam-Beese.
Urban Design Pendrecht (1949- 1953) by Lotte Stam-Beese.
The districts of Ommoord (1962-1977) by Lotte Stam-Beese.
Knotted Floor Carpet by Gunta Stölzl. 1923. Courtesy of the Gunta Stölzl Foundation.
Weavingby by Gunta Stölzl. 1928. © 2019 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn.
Wall hanging "Aufstrebend" by Gunta Stölzl, 1968. Courtesy of the Gunta Stölzl Foundation.
From the beginning of the 20th century to the Second World War, a series of female architects with a new vision of architecture stand out. Many of them were students and teachers at the Bauhaus school, following the ideas of the modern movement, prioritizing use and technology in design.
The opposition to modernist ornament and the new trend towards simplicity and standardization, lead the architects to try to obtain the maximum architectural resource with the minimum element.
1. Lina Bo Bardi
The opposition to modernist ornament and the new trend towards simplicity and standardization, lead the architects to try to obtain the maximum architectural resource with the minimum element.
1. Lina Bo Bardi
Achillina di Enrico Bo, better known as Lina Bo Bardi, was one of the most recognized architect, designer, set designer, artist, and critic of the first and second half of the century.
This article reviews her professional career after receiving, almost thirty years after her death, the Prize for her professional career in memoriam at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale.
Born in Rome in 1914, she moved to Milan after obtaining her degree in architecture. Following the destruction of her office during World War II, Bo Bardi, together with Bruno Zevi, founded the publication A Cultura della Vita. As a member of the Italian Communist Party, she met the critic and art historian Pietro María Bardi, with whom she would definitely move to Brazil, given the sad panorama that the war left in Italy.
In Brazil he was able to develop his career, leaving an incredible legacy of projects among which stands out, the Crystal House, the Sao Paulo Art Museum (MASP) or the Sesc Pompéia, proposals that mixed architecture with nature, to which the desire to create spaces for people was united.
This article reviews her professional career after receiving, almost thirty years after her death, the Prize for her professional career in memoriam at the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale.
Born in Rome in 1914, she moved to Milan after obtaining her degree in architecture. Following the destruction of her office during World War II, Bo Bardi, together with Bruno Zevi, founded the publication A Cultura della Vita. As a member of the Italian Communist Party, she met the critic and art historian Pietro María Bardi, with whom she would definitely move to Brazil, given the sad panorama that the war left in Italy.
In Brazil he was able to develop his career, leaving an incredible legacy of projects among which stands out, the Crystal House, the Sao Paulo Art Museum (MASP) or the Sesc Pompéia, proposals that mixed architecture with nature, to which the desire to create spaces for people was united.
2. Eileen Gray
Eileen Gray was an Irish-born architect and designer, considered one of the most influential women in the architecture of the 1920s, bringing her challenging new vision of her modernism in decoration, design, and architecture.
This article is about the premiere of the documentary where Eileen Gray's long professional career is reviewed, which she began by focusing on furniture design until in 1923 she opted for architecture.
Gray's legacy spans eight decades of creative output, her accomplishments in drawing, design, architecture, furniture making, and more represent a real feat. Even so, sadly, she Gray lived many years of her life in isolation, while she was shamefully forgotten and excluded by the world of architecture and design.
It was not until 1968, when her career came to light through an article published in Domus magazine by the renowned architectural historian and critic Joseph Rykwert, that Eileen Gray became, once again, an important figure.
Florence Knoll Bassett, is considered one of the most influential figures in 20th-century design, founder of the legendary Knoll furniture company and pioneer designer of the modern concept of an open-plan office, and whose influential furniture helped change the landscape of the modern house.
This article reviews her professional career after her death at 101 years of age.
Known in family circles as "Shu", Florence Schust grew up in Saginaw, Michigan. She began her professional career with such relevant figures of modernity as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Eliel Saarinen, father of Eero Saarinen, and later working with Bauhaus architects such as Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer.
In 1941, Florence met her future husband and partner, Hans Knoll, in New York, with whom she founded her furniture company. Following the ideas of the modern movement, they designed iconic furniture that became classics in all American offices, as well as designing furniture for the homes of Mies van der Rohe and other well-known modern designers.
Florence is one of the key pieces of the company, directing the Planning Unit, and she is responsible for the design. After the death of her husband, she takes the reins of the company, resigning from this position a few years later to focus on design and development.
Her contributions to Knoll and the rise of modernity in America are immeasurable, making her one of the most influential figures of the 20th century.
Marianne Brandt was a Bauhaus-trained designer and artist, where she worked with László Moholy-Nagy in the metal workshop, of which she eventually became director in 1928. This workshop was led by Johannes Itten, Lászlo Moholy-Nagy, Wilhelm Wagenfeld and our Marianne Brandt.
This article is about the Bauhaus metal workshop, in which she Brandt was the director during the last stage of the workshop, in 1928. She made 28 lamps and conducted technical experiments on lighting. Also, she focused her development on non-ferrous metals and smooth surfaces.
She developed the famous model MT 49 teapot, as well as lamps, clocks, plates, tea, and coffee sets, until 1930, the year in which the new director, Mies van der Rohe, unifies all the workshops into one.
5. Ray Eames
Charles and Ray Eames were an unstoppable design force in America's middle century, and their impact is still visible today through everyday objects like chairs. They were highly influential globally, leaving a widespread legacy in the fields of architecture, film, furniture, graphics, display, and industrial design.
This article stars the Eames House, a house built by the couple, considered a National Historic Landmark in the United States that has been rehabilitated by the Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan.
Located on a coastal hill in Los Angeles' Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the Eames House stands as a glass and steel icon of modern architecture. The Eames designed the house for themselves and incorporated many novel ideas about materials, construction, and industrial design.
Wera Meyer-Waldeck, an architect trained at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany, between 1927 and 1932. She was a high-achieving student who began her studies at the Carpentry Workshop to finally graduate in Architecture. During her professional work, she made designs for children's playful furniture, interior design, and homes.
In this article, she refers to the professional career of the architect after obtaining her title at the Bauhaus. She was working in different studios in different countries, without fully exercising her profession.
Among the works of Meyer-Waldeck stand out the "pilot houses". They are homes in which different spaces coexist: children's bedrooms, parents' bedrooms, and common areas. She defended that the relationship between the different spaces in each house varies according to the type of family that is going to live in it.
She integrates the kitchen with the living room creating the same space for both uses, and thus whoever is in the kitchen is not isolated. Another issue will be the idea of separating the baby from the family of her parents: "she should not sleep with the parents but in the immediate vicinity." Because of that, she proposes two interconnected but independent rooms. The third point would be the loneliness that older people have in their home, giving a different way of living as a solution.
Although history is recognized primarily by the innovation of the Frankfurt kitchen, Margarete Lihotzky makes other important contributions such as the development of social housing in the postwar period, functional and dignified public centers, the configuration of cities, and pedagogical infrastructure.
This article reviews her contributions to architecture, leaving aside the Frankfurt kitchen, for which she fundamentally knows herself.
She studies at the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, becoming the first Austrian architect. She was concerned with social architecture, reflecting on how to analyze and understand an environment before projecting and on the importance of approaching users' needs before designing.
Her long and prominent professional and political career throughout the 20th century make her not only a pioneer of rational and humanized architecture, but she is also an icon of female empowerment.
Friedl Dicker-Brandeis is a well-known Jewish artist, architect, and educator, assassinated in World War II. She was one of the most outstanding women of the Bauhaus for her artistic quality in photography, textile works, architecture, etc ...
We review in this article the work of this multidisciplinary architect and artist.
Ella Friedl Dicker she was one of the first Bauhaus students in Weimar, after starting at the Johannes Itten school in 1916. During these years she carried out works of textile design, bookbinding and participated in typography workshops. She designed costumes and scenery for major plays such as "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare.
Her works related to architecture were carried out in the studio formed with Franz Singer under the unofficial name of Atelier Singer-Dicker. They carried out a large number of projects, generally interior design of houses and premises.
Friedl Dicker is extremely versatile throughout her life and in various collaborations in the fields of painting, graphics, crafts, set design, furniture construction, and architecture.
Lotte Stam-Beese, architect and urban planner trained at the Bauhaus in Dessau (Germany) between 1926 and 1929. She was the first woman to study architecture at this school, at the hands of Hannes Meyer and later with Hans Wittwer. After her abrupt exit from the Bauhaus, she would obtain an architect degree from the Amsterdam School of Architecture.
We make in this text the urban interventions in which Lotte Stam-Beese worked, carrying out the reconstruction of Rotterdam after the Second World War. Among her urban projects in this city are the reconstructions of Pendrecht and the districts of Ommoord.
One of the most outstanding projects of Lotte Stam-Beese was the project of the Ommoord districts and it is his intervention in Pendrecht, one of the districts of Rotterdam, where, in the latter, he had to organize 6,300 homes using a series of categories spatial, which in ascending order according to their capacity were: house, group, neighborhood, district, and city.
The Ommoord districts project has great urban importance thanks to the combination of different heights and their relationship between landscape and architecture. Also, it is one of the districts where we can still observe the modern ideals of metropolitan housing in green spaces.
Gunta Stölzl is one of the most important figures of the Bauhaus, both for having been an excellent student and for having been a teacher and director of the Textile Workshops in Dessau. She was one of the outstanding women of the school thanks to her creativity, perseverance, and organizational skills.
In this article, we take a tour of the outstanding career, which begins at the Bauhaus. Gunta Stölzl began her career at the German school when she took the preliminary course at the Bauhaus in Weimar in 1919 under Johannes Itten. The following year she entered school as a student in the textile workshop, where she studied for six years.
Gunta eventually becomes the director of the textile workshop, where she put into practice the ideas of modern art that she acquired in the classes of Johannes Itten (color theory), Paul Klee (visual thinking), and Wassily Kandinsky (abstract art) in a new practice. of tissue.
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Lina BO BARDI
Achillina Bo was born on December 5, 1914 in Rome, Italy. Lina was the oldest child of Enrico and Giovana Bo, who later had another daughter named Graziella. In 1939, she graduated from the Rome College of Architecture at the age of 25 with her final piece, "The Maternity and Infancy Care Centre". She then moved to Milan to begin working with architect Carlo Pagani in the Studio Bo e Pagani, No 12, Via Gesù. Bo Bardi collaborated (until 1943) with architect and designer Giò Ponti on the magazine Lo Stile – nella casa e nell’arredamento. In 1942, at the age of 28, she opened her own architectural studio on Via Gesù, but the lack of work during wartime soon led Bardi to take up illustration for newspapers and magazines such as Stile, Grazia, Belleza, Tempo, Vetrina and Illustrazione Italiana. Her office was destroyed by an aerial bombing in 1943. From 1944-5 Bardi was the Deputy Director of Domus magazine.
The event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945, Domus commissioned Bo Bardi to travel around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document and evaluate the situation of the destroyed country. Bo Bardi, Pagani and Bruno Zevi established the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan (A Cultura della Vita).[4] She also collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera, directed by Elio Vittorini. Bo Bardi took part in the First National Meeting for Reconstruction in Milan, alerting people to the indifference of public opinion on the subject, which for her covered both the physical and moral reconstruction of the country.
In 1946, Bo Bardi moved to Rome and married the art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi.
In Brazil, Bo Bardi expanded his ideas influenced by a recent and overflowing culture different from the European situation. Along with her husband, they decided to live in Rio de Janeiro, delighted with the nature of the city and its modernist buildings, like the current Gustavo Capanema Palace, known as the Ministry of Education and Culture, designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx and a group of young Brazilian architects. Pietro Bardi was commissioned by a museum from Sao Paulo city where they established their permanent residence.
There they began a collection of Brazilian popular art (its main influence) and his work took on the dimension of the dialogue between the modern and the Popular. Bo Bardi spoke of a space to be built by living people, an unfinished space that would be completed by the popular and everyday use.
The event prompted her deeper involvement in the Italian Communist Party. In 1945, Domus commissioned Bo Bardi to travel around Italy with Carlo Pagani and photographer Federico Patellani to document and evaluate the situation of the destroyed country. Bo Bardi, Pagani and Bruno Zevi established the weekly magazine A – Attualità, Architettura, Abitazione, Arte in Milan (A Cultura della Vita).[4] She also collaborated on the daily newspaper Milano Sera, directed by Elio Vittorini. Bo Bardi took part in the First National Meeting for Reconstruction in Milan, alerting people to the indifference of public opinion on the subject, which for her covered both the physical and moral reconstruction of the country.
In 1946, Bo Bardi moved to Rome and married the art critic and journalist Pietro Maria Bardi.
In Brazil, Bo Bardi expanded his ideas influenced by a recent and overflowing culture different from the European situation. Along with her husband, they decided to live in Rio de Janeiro, delighted with the nature of the city and its modernist buildings, like the current Gustavo Capanema Palace, known as the Ministry of Education and Culture, designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, Roberto Burle Marx and a group of young Brazilian architects. Pietro Bardi was commissioned by a museum from Sao Paulo city where they established their permanent residence.
There they began a collection of Brazilian popular art (its main influence) and his work took on the dimension of the dialogue between the modern and the Popular. Bo Bardi spoke of a space to be built by living people, an unfinished space that would be completed by the popular and everyday use.
Eileen Gray
Eileen Gray (1878-1976) is an architect and furniture designer born in Ireland. She is considered one of the most influential women of the 20s in those fields.
In 1901 she enrolled in drawing at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, and during his visits to the Victoria and Alberto Museum he developed her admiration for the Asian works of lacquer and in 1902 she settled temporarily in Paris to continue her studies in drawing at the École Colarossi. Gray settled permanently in Paris in 1906. She practiced little as an architect due to the restrictions that women had at that time in the architecture profession. Among his scarce projects are Villa E-1027 and Villa Tempe á Pailla, on the Costa Azul.
She obtained more fame as an interior designer and furniture designer. Although after the Second World War was losing this reputation little by little. Only in her last years of life did she return to that fame when the designer Zeev Aram took control of the rights of her work and rediscovered it to the world.
In 1901 she enrolled in drawing at the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, and during his visits to the Victoria and Alberto Museum he developed her admiration for the Asian works of lacquer and in 1902 she settled temporarily in Paris to continue her studies in drawing at the École Colarossi. Gray settled permanently in Paris in 1906. She practiced little as an architect due to the restrictions that women had at that time in the architecture profession. Among his scarce projects are Villa E-1027 and Villa Tempe á Pailla, on the Costa Azul.
She obtained more fame as an interior designer and furniture designer. Although after the Second World War was losing this reputation little by little. Only in her last years of life did she return to that fame when the designer Zeev Aram took control of the rights of her work and rediscovered it to the world.
Florence Knoll Basset
Florence Knoll Basset b. Michigan, USA, 1917-2019. Born to a baker, and orphaned at age twelve, Florence Schust grew up Saginaw, Michigan. Schust demonstrated an early interest in architecture and was enrolled at the Kingswood School for Girls, adjacent to the Cranbrook Academy of Art.
While at Kingswood, Florence befriended Eilel Saarinen, whom she would later study under at Cranbrook. Warmly embraced by the Saarinen family, Florence vacationed with them in Finland, enjoyed the company of their accomplished friends, and formed a very close relationship with Eliel’s son, Eero. The connections she made and the skills she developed while at Cranbrook were the foundations of Florence Schust’s incredible design education and pioneering career. With recommendations from Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto, Florence went on to study under some of the greatest 20th century architects, including Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In 1941 Florence moved to New York where she met Hans Knoll who was establishing his furniture company. With Florence’s design skills and Hans’ business acumen and salesmanship, the pair, who married in 1946, grew the nascent company into an international arbiter of style and design. Florence also seeded contributions with her friends Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Mies van der Rohe.
In creating the revolutionary Knoll Planning Unit, Florence Knoll defined the standard for the modern corporate interiors of post-war America. Drawing on her background in architecture, she introduced modern notions of efficiency, space planning, and comprehensive design to office planning. Florence ardently maintained that she did not merely decorate space. She created it. The Planning Unit rigorously researched and surveyed each client — assessing their needs, defining patterns of use and understanding company hierarchies — before presenting a comprehensive design, informed by the principles of modernism and beautifully executed in signature Knoll style. Florence and the Planning Unit were responsible for the interiors of some of America’s largest corporations, including IBM, GM and CBS.
As part of her work with the Planning Unit, Florence frequently contributed furniture designs to the Knoll catalog. She humbly referred to her furniture designs as the “meat and potatoes,” filler among the standout pieces of Bertoia, Mies, and Saarinen. However, with her attention to detail, eye for proportion, and command of the modern aesthetic, many of her designs have become as revered and celebrated as those of her colleagues.
After the tragic death of Hans Knoll in 1955, Florence Knoll led the company as president through uncertain times. In 1960 she resigned the presidency to focus on directing design and development and, in 1965 after pioneering an industry and defining the landscape and aesthetic of the corporate office, Florence Knoll Bassett (she remarried in 1957) retired from the company. Her contributions to Knoll, and to the rise of modernism in America, are immeasurable.
While at Kingswood, Florence befriended Eilel Saarinen, whom she would later study under at Cranbrook. Warmly embraced by the Saarinen family, Florence vacationed with them in Finland, enjoyed the company of their accomplished friends, and formed a very close relationship with Eliel’s son, Eero. The connections she made and the skills she developed while at Cranbrook were the foundations of Florence Schust’s incredible design education and pioneering career. With recommendations from Eliel Saarinen and Alvar Aalto, Florence went on to study under some of the greatest 20th century architects, including Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer in Cambridge, Massachusetts and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
In 1941 Florence moved to New York where she met Hans Knoll who was establishing his furniture company. With Florence’s design skills and Hans’ business acumen and salesmanship, the pair, who married in 1946, grew the nascent company into an international arbiter of style and design. Florence also seeded contributions with her friends Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, and Mies van der Rohe.
In creating the revolutionary Knoll Planning Unit, Florence Knoll defined the standard for the modern corporate interiors of post-war America. Drawing on her background in architecture, she introduced modern notions of efficiency, space planning, and comprehensive design to office planning. Florence ardently maintained that she did not merely decorate space. She created it. The Planning Unit rigorously researched and surveyed each client — assessing their needs, defining patterns of use and understanding company hierarchies — before presenting a comprehensive design, informed by the principles of modernism and beautifully executed in signature Knoll style. Florence and the Planning Unit were responsible for the interiors of some of America’s largest corporations, including IBM, GM and CBS.
As part of her work with the Planning Unit, Florence frequently contributed furniture designs to the Knoll catalog. She humbly referred to her furniture designs as the “meat and potatoes,” filler among the standout pieces of Bertoia, Mies, and Saarinen. However, with her attention to detail, eye for proportion, and command of the modern aesthetic, many of her designs have become as revered and celebrated as those of her colleagues.
After the tragic death of Hans Knoll in 1955, Florence Knoll led the company as president through uncertain times. In 1960 she resigned the presidency to focus on directing design and development and, in 1965 after pioneering an industry and defining the landscape and aesthetic of the corporate office, Florence Knoll Bassett (she remarried in 1957) retired from the company. Her contributions to Knoll, and to the rise of modernism in America, are immeasurable.
Marianne Brandt
Marianne Brandt. (1893-1983), born in Chemnitz in Germany, was a Bauhaus trained designer and artist. She studied painting and sculpture at the Hochschule für Bildende Kunst Weimar (now the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar). In 1924 she attended the preliminary course at the Staatliches Bauhaus in Weimar. There, she worked with László Moholy-Nagy in the metal workshop, which she eventually became director of in 1928. By this point, she had already designed the first lighting fixtures for the Bauhaus Building in Dessau. Brandt left the Bauhaus at the end of 1929, having worked at the architecture office of Walter Gropius, collaborated with Hin Bredendieck, as well the companies Kandem in Leipzig and Schwintzer & Gräff in Berlin. She lectured at the HfBK Dresden and worked at the University of Applied Art in Berlin until 1954.
Charles-Ray Kaiser EAMES
The Eameses are best known for their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, industrial design and manufacturing, and the photographic arts.
Charles Eames was born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended school there and developed an interest in engineering and architecture. After attending Washington University in St. Louis on scholarship for two years and being thrown out for his advocacy of Frank Lloyd Wright, he began working in an architectural office. In 1929, he married his first wife, Catherine Woermann (they divorced in 1941), and a year later Charles’s only child, Lucia was born. In 1930, Charles started his own architectural office. He began extending his design ideas beyond architecture and received a fellowship to Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he eventually became head of the design department.
Ray Kaiser Eames was born in 1912 in Sacramento, California. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy where she met and assisted Charles and Eero Saarinen in preparing designs for the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Furniture Competition. Charles and Eero’s designs, created by molding plywood into complex curves, won them the two first prizes.
Charles and Ray married in 1941 and moved to California where they continued their furniture design work with molding plywood. During World War II they were commissioned by the United States Navy to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers, and experimental glider shells. In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eameses’ molded plywood furniture. Their molded plywood chair was called “the chair of the century” by the influential architectural critic Esther McCoy. Soon production was taken over by Herman Miller, Inc., who continues to produce the furniture in the United States today. Another partner, Vitra International, manufactures the furniture in Europe.
In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, California, as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. Their design and innovative use of materials made the House a mecca for architects and designers from both near and far. Today, it is considered one of the most important post-war residences anywhere in the world.
Charles Eames was born in 1907 in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended school there and developed an interest in engineering and architecture. After attending Washington University in St. Louis on scholarship for two years and being thrown out for his advocacy of Frank Lloyd Wright, he began working in an architectural office. In 1929, he married his first wife, Catherine Woermann (they divorced in 1941), and a year later Charles’s only child, Lucia was born. In 1930, Charles started his own architectural office. He began extending his design ideas beyond architecture and received a fellowship to Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, where he eventually became head of the design department.
Ray Kaiser Eames was born in 1912 in Sacramento, California. She studied painting with Hans Hofmann in New York before moving on to Cranbrook Academy where she met and assisted Charles and Eero Saarinen in preparing designs for the Museum of Modern Art’s Organic Furniture Competition. Charles and Eero’s designs, created by molding plywood into complex curves, won them the two first prizes.
Charles and Ray married in 1941 and moved to California where they continued their furniture design work with molding plywood. During World War II they were commissioned by the United States Navy to produce molded plywood splints, stretchers, and experimental glider shells. In 1946, Evans Products began producing the Eameses’ molded plywood furniture. Their molded plywood chair was called “the chair of the century” by the influential architectural critic Esther McCoy. Soon production was taken over by Herman Miller, Inc., who continues to produce the furniture in the United States today. Another partner, Vitra International, manufactures the furniture in Europe.
In 1949, Charles and Ray designed and built their own home in Pacific Palisades, California, as part of the Case Study House Program sponsored by Arts & Architecture magazine. Their design and innovative use of materials made the House a mecca for architects and designers from both near and far. Today, it is considered one of the most important post-war residences anywhere in the world.
Wera Meyer-Waldeck
Wera Meyer-Waldeck (Dresden, Germany, May 1906 - Bonn, Germany, April 1964). She began her studies in 1921 as an educator at the Dresden Women's School, graduating in 1924. Between 1924 and 1927 she studied at the Academy of Applied Arts in Dresden. In 1927 she entered the Bauhaus in Dessau. In her beginnings she studied with Marcel Breuer in the carpentry workshop making stools, sunbeds, folding tables... In 1928 she studied in the construction department with Hannes Meyer. In 1929, Wera worked on the design of furniture for the ADGB school in Bernau, near Berlin. In 1930 she interrupted her studies at the Bauhaus due to the death of her father. In 1931, she resumed her studies at school with Ludwig Hilberseimer and Mies van der Rohe. The following year, she finished her studies at the Bauhaus with a thesis on "elementary school and kindergarten of eight grades".
In 1934 she began working in Dessau as a draftsman for the construction of aircraft in the Junkers. From 1937 she will work in places such as the Supreme Construction Management of the Reichsautobahn, the Reichsbahn Construction Management in Berlin and the mining and metallurgical company Darwin-Thzynietz.
In 1939 she began her professional career as an architect, working for the National Railway Construction Authority. Between 1946-1948, she began working as a professor of interior design at the State University of Applied Arts in Dresden.
In 1948 she presented herself as an independent architect in Walldorf (Germany). The following year, she worked for Hans Schwippert in projects such as the interior design of the German Parliament office in Bonn, the interior design of two ministries, the Viktorshöhe guest house of the Federal Government and the Federal Chancellery. Notable Meyer-Waldeck projects include: the reconstruction of a hotel in Koblenz, several secondary schools, four collective housing units (Laubenganghäuser) for refugees from the East, the Catholic Foreign Relations Mission and a student residence in Bonn. In addition, Wera was a member of the Association of German Architects, of the Women's Federation of Germany and was the author of numerous articles in journals. Her last project is a dormitory of students in Bonn, in 1962.
Wera Meyer-Waldeck died of diabetes on April 25, 1964 in Bonn.
Margarete Lihotzky
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897-2000) was the first female Austrian architect, known primarily for the design of the Frankfurt' Kitchen in 1927.
She was born on January 23, 1897 in Vienna. From 1915 to 1919, she studied as the first woman at the School of Applied Arts Architecture in Vienna with Oskar Strnad and Heinrich Tessenow. This was followed by several assignments for the construction of houses, gardens and kindergartens. In 1926 she was transferred by Ernst May to Frankfurt, where she displayed her famous Frankfurt kitchen in 1927. From 1930 to 1937, she was part of the May group as a specialist in buildings for children in Russia, after which she went into exile in Istanbul. When she entered Austria in 1940 as a member of a resistance movement, she was arrested and imprisoned until the end of the war. In 1945/46, he directed the Department of Institutions for Children of the Sofia Baudirektion. In the following years she received several commissionings in Austria, Cuba and Berlin.
She was born on January 23, 1897 in Vienna. From 1915 to 1919, she studied as the first woman at the School of Applied Arts Architecture in Vienna with Oskar Strnad and Heinrich Tessenow. This was followed by several assignments for the construction of houses, gardens and kindergartens. In 1926 she was transferred by Ernst May to Frankfurt, where she displayed her famous Frankfurt kitchen in 1927. From 1930 to 1937, she was part of the May group as a specialist in buildings for children in Russia, after which she went into exile in Istanbul. When she entered Austria in 1940 as a member of a resistance movement, she was arrested and imprisoned until the end of the war. In 1945/46, he directed the Department of Institutions for Children of the Sofia Baudirektion. In the following years she received several commissionings in Austria, Cuba and Berlin.
'Every thinking woman must be aware of the delay that domestic methods still have, and she must recognize that they hinder her own development, and, therefore, also that of her family'. (Die Frankfurter Küche, page 16).
With these words, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky presents her Frankfurt kitchen in 1927. Guided by the question of how to improve a woman's work by making suitable housing, she presents the model for our modern and equipped kitchen. Her kitchen would be installed in more than 10,000 apartments. A year earlier, Ernst May invited her to Frankfurt to work in the Construction Department, as a typist. In 1930, she followed a call to Moscow, again together with Ernst May and many other German architects, to plan the construction of new Russian industrial cities. Among other things, the German team was commissioned to build the city of Magnitogorsk. Schütte-Lihotzky herself was employed as an expert in buildings for children. In addition, she is represented in the Werkbundsiedlung in Vienna since 1932 with two houses.
In 1937 she left Russia and spent the next three years in Istanbul, where she became a member of an anti-fascist resistance movement and continued to design buildings for children.
In 1940 she was arrested in Austria and imprisoned until the end of the war. In 1947 she participated in the first CIAM conference in Zurich. Subsequently, she develops other facilities for children, including the famous but never executed modular system, a prefabricated system that can be combined in any configuration, for the city of Vienna. In 1956 she made study trips to China and in 1961 to Cuba.
She published "One million cities in China" in 1958, "Study area in life" in 1970 and her "Memories of the resistance 1938-45" in 1981/82. In 1989 she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Graz and received the first prize at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam for her contribution to "allowing the majority of the population to have a better daily life" (Die Frankfurter Küche, page 58). In 1993, the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna dedicated a large exhibition to her.
In 1977 she was awarded the Joliot Curie Medal for her achievements in the World Peace Movement, and in 1980 she received the Architecture Prize of the City of Vienna. In 1988 she was offered the Austrian Medal for Science and Art, but she rejected it, as it would have been presented by the then Austrian president, Kurt Waldheim, who had been accused of hiding his Nazi past. Years later, she accepted it.
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky died on January 18, 2000 in Vienna.
Friedl Dicker-Brandeis
Friedl Dicker (Vienna, July 30, 1898-Auschwitz, October 9, 1944). She began her studies, 1914, in photography and printing techniques at the Graphic Arts Research Institute. The following year, she became interested in the textile world entering the Faculty of fabrics of the Royal School of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 1916 she entered the private art school of Johannes Itten, who will be one of the protagonists of the future Bauhaus.
Three years later (1919), she entered the Bauhaus school in Weimar where she continued his apprenticeship. There she carried out works of textile design, and binding and participated in typography workshops. She designed the costumes and sets for important plays like "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare.
After finishing his studies in 1923, she founded the Werkstätten Bildender Kunst or "Workshops of Visual Arts" in Berlin together with Franz Singer, former partner of the Bauhaus.
In 1926 she returned to her hometown, Vienna, and there she founded a new studio, the Singer & Dicker, together with Franz Singer. Despite not having obtained any degree in architecture, in the new studio, they developed building projects, interior design and furniture, with which they won several awards.
In 1931, the Singer & Dicker studio fell apart and they began their solo careers. Friedl Dicker began to practice as an educator in Vienna and joined the anti-fascist movement. In 1934, she was arrested for developing activities related to communism.
After being released, she moved to Prague where Nazism was at its peak, something that would change the course of Friedl's life. She started with her textile works at the Spiegler & Sons factory and she, as a designer, received the award at the Vystava 38 Nachod exhibition.
In 1942, she received an order of deportation and in that same year she was transferred to Terezín, a town in the Czech Republic known for the concentration camp installed during her term during the Second World War, and in 1944 she was deported. Finally, Frield died at the age of 46, in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Three years later (1919), she entered the Bauhaus school in Weimar where she continued his apprenticeship. There she carried out works of textile design, and binding and participated in typography workshops. She designed the costumes and sets for important plays like "The Merchant of Venice" by William Shakespeare.
After finishing his studies in 1923, she founded the Werkstätten Bildender Kunst or "Workshops of Visual Arts" in Berlin together with Franz Singer, former partner of the Bauhaus.
In 1926 she returned to her hometown, Vienna, and there she founded a new studio, the Singer & Dicker, together with Franz Singer. Despite not having obtained any degree in architecture, in the new studio, they developed building projects, interior design and furniture, with which they won several awards.
In 1931, the Singer & Dicker studio fell apart and they began their solo careers. Friedl Dicker began to practice as an educator in Vienna and joined the anti-fascist movement. In 1934, she was arrested for developing activities related to communism.
After being released, she moved to Prague where Nazism was at its peak, something that would change the course of Friedl's life. She started with her textile works at the Spiegler & Sons factory and she, as a designer, received the award at the Vystava 38 Nachod exhibition.
In 1942, she received an order of deportation and in that same year she was transferred to Terezín, a town in the Czech Republic known for the concentration camp installed during her term during the Second World War, and in 1944 she was deported. Finally, Frield died at the age of 46, in the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Lotte Stam-Beese
Lotte Stam-Beese (Reisicht, Poland, January 28, 1903 - Krimpen, The Netherlands, November 18, 1988). Architect and urban planner born in the city of Reisicht, which before World War II belonged to Germany and is currently part of Poland. Between 1926 and 1929 she studied at the Bauhaus in Dessau (Germany). She was the first woman to study architecture in this school, with Hannes Meyer and later with Hans Wittwer. Meanwhile, between 1926 and 1928 she devoted himself to photography. The works made in those years can be found in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum at Harvard and the Getty Museum in California. In early 1929 Beese had to leave school because of his relationship with the then-married, Hannes Meyer.
After finishing at the Bauhaus, she moved to Berlin. There she began working in the architecture studio of Hugo Häring, to finally finish working in the office of Hannes Meyer in Berlin. She will also work with different architects, such as: Bohuslav Fuchs in Brno, Mart Stam in Siberia, etc.
Between 1929 and 1933 Lotte Stam-Beese will live in different cities: Dessau, Vienna, Berlin, Brno, Prague, Moscow and finally in Kharkiv (Ukraine). In this last city, Lotte starts working with her former Bauhaus partner, Ernst May, in the May Brigades studio designing the new cities of the Soviet Union.
In 1934 she moved to Holland and a year later he began to be part of the avant-garde circles in Amsterdam. She wrote several articles in the journals 8 and Opbouw, talking about subjects such as Dutch art, the Bauhaus work culture or the construction of schools in Russia.
In 1940 she began her studies at the School of Architecture in Amsterdam. Five years later she finished his studies and moved to Rotterdam. There she will begin his activity in the Department of Urbanism, being director between 1946 and 1968. In 1948, begins the project of Pendrecht (Rotterman) in which she defends the neighborhood as an extension of the city and not as an isolated suburb. In 1947 he built the first street without cars in the Netherlands. In addition, she was a professor at the Academy of Architecture and Urban Design in Amsterdam.
Lotte Stam-Beese finally died on November 18, 1988 in Krimpen (The Netherlands).
After finishing at the Bauhaus, she moved to Berlin. There she began working in the architecture studio of Hugo Häring, to finally finish working in the office of Hannes Meyer in Berlin. She will also work with different architects, such as: Bohuslav Fuchs in Brno, Mart Stam in Siberia, etc.
Between 1929 and 1933 Lotte Stam-Beese will live in different cities: Dessau, Vienna, Berlin, Brno, Prague, Moscow and finally in Kharkiv (Ukraine). In this last city, Lotte starts working with her former Bauhaus partner, Ernst May, in the May Brigades studio designing the new cities of the Soviet Union.
In 1934 she moved to Holland and a year later he began to be part of the avant-garde circles in Amsterdam. She wrote several articles in the journals 8 and Opbouw, talking about subjects such as Dutch art, the Bauhaus work culture or the construction of schools in Russia.
In 1940 she began her studies at the School of Architecture in Amsterdam. Five years later she finished his studies and moved to Rotterdam. There she will begin his activity in the Department of Urbanism, being director between 1946 and 1968. In 1948, begins the project of Pendrecht (Rotterman) in which she defends the neighborhood as an extension of the city and not as an isolated suburb. In 1947 he built the first street without cars in the Netherlands. In addition, she was a professor at the Academy of Architecture and Urban Design in Amsterdam.
Lotte Stam-Beese finally died on November 18, 1988 in Krimpen (The Netherlands).
Gunta Stölzl
Gunta Stölzl (Munich, 1897 - Switzerland, 1983). Gunta began her studies at the School of Decorative Arts in Munich between 1914 and 1916, studying decorative painting, glass painting, ceramics, art history and style. At 17, she interrupted her studies and started working at the Red Cross as a volunteer nurse of the First World War. Upon her return, she joined the Student Reform Commission, where she had the opportunity to read the "Manifesto of the Bauhaus" written by Walter Gropius. This manifesto was the reason for Gunta to visit Weimar and would like to finally join the Bauhaus as a student. In 1919 she made the preliminary course of the Weimar Bauhaus by Johannes Itten and in 1920 she entered the German school, where she studied for six years. Stölzl trained in the weaving workshop with Georg Muche and attended classes taught by Johannes Itten and Paul Klee.
In 1924, Johannes Itten took Gunta to Zurich to reorganize the structure of the Ontos textile workshops. In 1925, the Bauhaus in Weimar moved to Dessau, and it was at that time that Stölzl became a teacher of the textile workshop thanks to the fact that some groups of students caused her to rise by acclaiming her as a leader. In 1927 she assumed the direction of the section of fabrics without having any teaching experience, with the help of Kart Wanke enhancing only the practical side.
In the new Bauhaus of Dessau, architecture was the most important discipline of the school, so the fabrics had to adapt to the contemporary constuctive style and were used as decoration for the architectural space. For this reason, in this period, the artisan pieces were scarce.
Gunta Stölzl lost her job at the Bauhaus in a similar way as she won it. A group of dissatisfied students with Gunta Stölzl after the separation of the marriage with the Jewish architect Arieh Sharon, supported by teachers sympathetic to the right, launched a campaign against her. Finally, the then director of the school, Mies Van der Rohe, requested his resignation.
In 1931, she moved to Switzerland. In Zurich she teamed up with two former students of the Bauhaus school, Gertrud Preiswerk and Heinrich-Otto Hürlimann, and opened a small craft workshop, S-P-H-Stoffe, which was soon abandoned due to financial problems. Despite the economic and political situation that was at that time so hard, Stölzl managed to carry out a small workshop, S-H-Stoffe until 1937. In that same year, she was awarded the Diplôme Commémoratif of the World Exhibition in Paris. In addition, she participated in several exhibitions and trade fairs, making fabrics for furniture and carpets for different companies and worked for Germanische National Museum in Nuremberg and some architects like Hans Fishli, for whose buildings he made tapestries. During the seventies, she devoted himself solely to the production of Gobelins, which led to an internal fame. Her works are shown in several major museums such as the MoMA in New York or the Victoria and Albert in London.
Gunta Stölzl died in Küsnacht, Zurich, in 1983 with 86 years.
In 1924, Johannes Itten took Gunta to Zurich to reorganize the structure of the Ontos textile workshops. In 1925, the Bauhaus in Weimar moved to Dessau, and it was at that time that Stölzl became a teacher of the textile workshop thanks to the fact that some groups of students caused her to rise by acclaiming her as a leader. In 1927 she assumed the direction of the section of fabrics without having any teaching experience, with the help of Kart Wanke enhancing only the practical side.
In the new Bauhaus of Dessau, architecture was the most important discipline of the school, so the fabrics had to adapt to the contemporary constuctive style and were used as decoration for the architectural space. For this reason, in this period, the artisan pieces were scarce.
Gunta Stölzl lost her job at the Bauhaus in a similar way as she won it. A group of dissatisfied students with Gunta Stölzl after the separation of the marriage with the Jewish architect Arieh Sharon, supported by teachers sympathetic to the right, launched a campaign against her. Finally, the then director of the school, Mies Van der Rohe, requested his resignation.
In 1931, she moved to Switzerland. In Zurich she teamed up with two former students of the Bauhaus school, Gertrud Preiswerk and Heinrich-Otto Hürlimann, and opened a small craft workshop, S-P-H-Stoffe, which was soon abandoned due to financial problems. Despite the economic and political situation that was at that time so hard, Stölzl managed to carry out a small workshop, S-H-Stoffe until 1937. In that same year, she was awarded the Diplôme Commémoratif of the World Exhibition in Paris. In addition, she participated in several exhibitions and trade fairs, making fabrics for furniture and carpets for different companies and worked for Germanische National Museum in Nuremberg and some architects like Hans Fishli, for whose buildings he made tapestries. During the seventies, she devoted himself solely to the production of Gobelins, which led to an internal fame. Her works are shown in several major museums such as the MoMA in New York or the Victoria and Albert in London.
Gunta Stölzl died in Küsnacht, Zurich, in 1983 with 86 years.
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