#ferdinand kramer

In 2015 the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt/Main dedicated a comprehensive retrospective to a major architect of German modernism: Ferdinand Kramer (1898-1985). Kramer’s life and work are inextricably connected with his hometown Frankfurt/Main whose architecture he shaped both before and after WWII: first as one of the many collaborators of Ernst May in the design of the „Neues Frankfurt“ in the 1920s and after 1945 as building director of Frankfurt University. In the latter position Kramer designed a considerable number of faculty buildings and other university facilities, all characterized by a slender yet distinctive modernism. Besides being a successful architect Kramer also designed numerous pieces of furniture and home appliances, a talent that helped him economically survive during his forced exile in the US between 1938 and 1952.

Alongside the exhibition Wasmuth published the present catalogue, edited by Wolfgang Voigt et. al., that provides a concise overview of Kramer‘s professional career from his early days at TH München to his late years in Frankfurt. Beyond this insightful historiography by Claudia Quiring, Wolfgang Voigt, Philipp Sturm and Lore Kramer, Ferdinand Kramer’s late wife, two particularly interesting interviews with film director, philosopher and author Alexander Kluge and writer Martin Mosebach stand out. Both are biographically connected to Kramer’s university buildings and both have very different opinions of them.