German Postwar Modern

A backbone of the research into the life and work of Scottish architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928) is Thomas Howarth’s (1914-2000) „Mackintosh and the Modern Movement“, first published in 1952: although far from being the ultimate publication on Mackintosh it established a sound basis for later research and set out important markers for it. Howarth started work on his book when family members, clients, colleagues and contractors were still alive and thus drew on unique first-hand insights and information.

In 1977 the present second edition of Howarth’s biography was published by Routledge & Kegan Paul and just like the first edition discusses major aspects of Mackintosh’ life and career. Among them are his relationship with and position in Art Nouveau and the Celtic Revival, parallels between his and the work of e.g. Frank Lloyd Wright, Hendrik Petrus Berlage and the Vienna Secession or his crisis of the years 1907 through 1911.

As Howarth also precisely develops, the ten years Mackintosh’s Glasgow School of Art, built in two stages between 1896 and 1906, took to complete spans his years of major success: during this decade he e.g. designed the Queen’s Cross Church, the Windyhill and Hill Houses and the Willow Tea Rooms, all of which contributed to his, though short-lived, Europe-wide recognition. All of the above were built in and around Glasgow, a narrow scope that, as the author explains, is rooted in the city’s particular environment: although it was the city’s middle-class that commissioned him, their number (and possibly also their intellectual scope) was limited and possibly drove Mackintosh away from Glasgow.

Who wouldn’t love to be treated in a building that doesn’t look like illness but instead radiates friendliness and health? It’s a rhetorical question that from 1953 on guided architect Will Schwarz during the design process of the Gesundheitshaus in Dortmund, Germany, opened in 1959. Housing the local health authority, the building in many ways is a child of its time: spiral staircases, colorful mosaics, terrazzo floors and the extensive use of glass make it a prime example of the German economic miracle’s architecture. The era’s optimism and confidence electrified architects who, just like the German public, wanted to leave behind (i.e. suppress memory of) the grim past of the years 1933 to 1945. And Will Schwarz transformed visiting government offices into aha experiences that even during waiting times offered plenty of visual distraction. The seven story main building originally housed administrative and examination rooms, tuberculosis counseling, a school dental clinic and district medical office while the smaller five story wing was home to a chemical testing laboratory, the hygiene institute and a mothers' and sports counseling center. Today the Gesundheitshaus contains a hotel, a kindergarten and office spaces, a welcome reactivation of this outstanding example of 1950s architecture that after years of vacancy has undergone a careful restoration and repurposing.

The building’s original state has been comprehensively documented by Gerd Kittel whose photographs are the backbone of the present book: „Das neue Dortmund – das Dortmunder Gesundheitshaus von Will Schwarz“, edited by Thomas Schilp and Andrea Zupancic and published in 2014 by Wasmuth. Beyond Kittel’s photographs of the building and its details the book also includes five essays that further elaborate on the building and its context. In their lengthy contribution Sonja Hnilica, Markus Jaeger and Wolfgang Sonne illuminate Will Schwarz’s concept of the building as an artistic contribution to public healthcare that creates a positive surrounding for both visitors and employees. In keeping with his concept the architect involved a number of local artists to design glass mosaics, ceramic objects or reliefs.

On 20 February 2026 the Sagrada Família’s central tower reached its full height at 172.5 m and thus surpassed the Ulm Minster by over 10 m. After 144 years Antoni Gaudí’s masterwork is finally nearing completion and concludes a project that the architect only saw through to one fourth. It is somewhat ironic that Gaudí’s magnum opus is a church since he was very critical of the church when he was a young man and led a bohemian life. Gaudí even died in his way to the construction site when on 7 June 1926 he was hit by a tram. But due to his shabby clothing passersby mistook him for a beggar and didn’t help him right away. Three days later he died in the Santa Creu Hospital.

Today, seven of his buildings are UNESCO World Heritage sites and, of course, include the Sagrada Família but also Casa Vicens, his first house in Barcelona, the Park Güell and the famous Casa Battló. A great way to acquaint oneself with Gaudí’s work is Rainer Zerbst’s volume „Gaudí - The Complete Works“, since 1988 published in numerous editions and sizes by Taschen. The present one is from 2013 and contains a wealth of historic and current photographs, drawings and plans that comprehensively document Gaudí’s unique architectural language. Influenced by late 19th century Orientalism, the forms of nature and the possibilities of new materials like concrete, Gaudí developed a singular Modernista (the Catalan art nouveau) aesthetic. 

What Zerbst also highlights is Gaudí’s Gesamtkunstwerk approach to his buildings that inventively amalgamates exterior and interior, decor and furniture. The details of each project are further documented in a comprehensive appendix that supplements the visual overabundance of the volume.