Nazi & Post-WW2 German Architecture

Status
Not open for further replies.
Prince_James said:
However, you are quite right that Nazi Germany was heavily pagan in a Wagernian sense, so that the Romanesque characteristics fit heavily into this. Yet it would seem the Romanesque type of paganism is not the type he was going for. The German spirit is less classical, more Romantic.
Click to expand...
Interesting thing about Roman architecture is that it embodies both the masculine and feminine, unlike the later baroque styles derived from it.

Beauty, love, femininity...these baroque qualities wouldnt fit the nazi vision. They wanted something masculine, militaristic, domineering, angular, modern...and Albert Speer gave it to them.
 
The sterility of modern architecture after 1940 is largely derived from the introduction of new building materials, which didnt have to be shaped by human hands and allowed the use of large uniform surfaces.

Modern glass for example was being made much stronger, so you could have a larger cheaper panes without facets and mullions.

Instead of bricks, individually set by a mason, it was now possible to simply pour massive concrete walls in place and just leave it unfinished.

Of course, a new aesthetic philosophy was neccessary to sell this new building technology to the public

Sterility was 'reinterpreted' as refined simplicity...elegant minimalism.

You can accomplish anything with the right buzzwords.:)
 
Genji:

I agree with you: We've placed profit over any semblance of aesthetics. This is destructive to our cultural life.
 
Carcano:

Whereas you are correct that the Roman style is suitable to many "hard" structures, a mix of Gothic and Baroque does not strike me as feminine. The fearsome majesty of Gothic, especially, seems especially apt to represent the religiosity of the Nazi movement, as well as its emphasis on soaring heights and massively ornated exteriors gives a semblance of conquering. Wed this to a replacement of religious imagery with militaristic, and one could have quite the structure devoted to that task.
 
A mix of both. He was rejected from art school and told to pursue architecture. He failed to do either and got involved in WWI then politics.
 
Hitler pulled most of his imagery from imperial Rome, which is far more powerful than conjuring up images of barbarians, heathens, and ignorant clergy.

Gothic- for barbarians, by barbarians (with a healthy dose of the superstition)
 
Roman:

You fail to remember his obsession with Wagner, which was all about heathenry. Hitler was strongly Romantic. He even had pseudo-pagan ritual imagery sanctioned and supported.
 
Prince_James said:
Roman:

You fail to remember his obsession with Wagner, which was all about heathenry. Hitler was strongly Romantic. He even had pseudo-pagan ritual imagery sanctioned and supported.
Click to expand...

Imperial buildings ought to appeal to the left hemisphere, while rhetoric to the right.
 
I think one of the best things to come from Albrecht Speer's time as Nazi architect is the Berlin Olympic Stadium.

aerial.jpg

berlin.jpg

DSCN2518.jpg


It's recently been through a major renovation that included the adding of a roof to prepare for hosting the 2006 world cup. The original design gave a very heavy and monumental feel, like most of nazi architecture. I don't feel like the roof really took that away much. The stadium has a feel of a modern day colliseum, including a place for the oppressed (the may-field, on which german youth were required to gather while Hitler spoke from the tower opposite the stadium) as well as a place for the 'emporer'. The thick columns surrounding the stadium give it the roman type look that Speer used so often.
 
London has a rather fine Nazi building! (I used to live almost opposite it.) It has been described as "London's Number One example of Nazi architecture." It is said that Hitler had plans to make it his HQ after the invasion.
Google "Senate House London" for pictures and further information.
 
River Ape said:
London has a rather fine Nazi building! (I used to live almost opposite it.) It has been described as "London's Number One example of Nazi architecture." It is said that Hitler had plans to make it his HQ after the invasion.
Google "Senate House London" for pictures and further information.
Click to expand...

Art Deco is "Nazi architecture"?
 
marie_elisabeth_luders_building_lge.jpg


Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus, Berlin

Architect: Stephan Braunfels

OOps...these are German architecture...could not find anything between 1906 and 1956
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top