Artist Research 1 : BRUNO TAUT

German architect, urban planner, and novelist Bruno Taut was active throughout the Weimar Republic. Theoretical works, speculative essays, and a few exhibition structures are what Taut is most known for. The prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion at the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition (1914) is Taut's most well-known single structure. 

He is alternatively categorised as a Modernist and an Expressionist, although his designs for "Alpine Architecture" (1917) are the work of an openly Utopian dreamer. He was one of the important modernist Weissenhof Estate exhibition's fifteen contributing architects in 1927. This reputation does not fairly represent Taut's wide range of constructed houses as well as his contributions to society and practicality. Taut's German works are largely yet untranslated into English.

Alpine Architecture, 1917

The first major jobs Taut undertook were around 1913. His plan for the Falkenberg Estate demonstrates how he developed into a devoted supporter of the Garden City concept. When building the prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion for the association of the German glass industry for the Werkbund Exhibition in 1914 in Cologne, Taut utilised the futuristic ideas and methods of the avant-garde. He designed mosaic glass-colored walls, a waterfall with underlighting, and metal staircases with glass treads.

Pabellon de Cristal, 1914

I believe there are few visible connections between the buildings Taut created in the late 1920s and the expressionistic city and building designs he drew during and soon after the First World War. As a result, his works are frequently divided into various aesthetic eras. He made an honest attempt to reflect his socialist and architectural beliefs via expressionism. 

References:

Bruno Taut (2023) Architectuul. Available at: https://architectuul.com/architect/bruno-taut (Accessed: April 23, 2023).

Hidden Architecture (2019) Alpine architecture, Hidden Architecture. Available at: http://hiddenarchitecture.net/alpine-architecture/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023).

porilabasmati, P. (2021) Expresionism and modernity, Bruno Taut, El blog de Ila Basmati. Available at: https://elblodgeilabasmati.com/2021/12/26/expresionism-and-modernity-bruno-taut/ (Accessed: April 23, 2023).

Pruden, S. (1969) “‘absolutely palpable utopias’: the expressionist ideas behind Bruno Taut’s GEHAG housing estates,” Mount Royal Undergraduate Humanities Review (MRUHR), 5. Available at: https://doi.org/10.29173/mruhr457.