Peter Behrens Born: 14-Apr-1868 Birthplace: Hamburg, Germany Died: 27-Feb-1940 Location of death: Berlin, Germany Cause of death: unspecified Gender: Male Race or Ethnicity: White Occupation: Architect, Designer Nationality: Germany Executive summary: Invented corporate identity

# In early days a "bohemian" and part of the Munich Secession, Behrens dabbled in various artistic design enterprises particularly in applied arts, including constructing typefaces, ceramics, and magazine covers.

# A house he designed for the Darmstadt 1901 Exhibition received universal acclaim, and he designed the entrance for the German pavilion at the 1902 Turin Exhibition.

# In 1907, Allgemeine Elektricitts-Gessellschaft (AEG) hired Behrens as a consultant. For them, he re-formed the company's image and create a corporate identity, a first for the time -- designing its trademark, stationery and catalogues, and key products of the company.

# The great architect Walter Gropius later wrote, "It was Behrens who first introduced me to logical and systematical coordination in the handling of architectural problems."

# Behren's forms served as an intermediary between Jugendstil and Industrial Classicism. Admired by Albert Speer, he was essentially left alone during the Nazi period, in which time he as he held the position of Professor of Architecture at the Prussian Academy of Arts.

A. E. G. High Tension Factory

# "The turbine hall for the AEG in Berlin-Moabit on the corner of Hutten Street of 1909 ...represented the culmination of his efforts to give architectural dignity to a workplace, similar to the achievement of [Frank Lloyd Wright] with the Larkin Building in Buffalo.

# Glass and iron took over a workshop of an industrial plant, with an enormous span (28.16 yd.; 25.6 m). Behrens achieved a plastic effect and a dynamic form of construction of the trusses, which were pulled towards the outside, as well as through the tapering iron trusses and the glass areas which were drawn towards the inside.

# In particular, the monumental shape of the faade with corner pylons, which could not be considered a necessity for construction, and which were built with a thin ferro-concrete shell, caused criticism among younger architects.

# Le Corbusier, admired the structure as being a charged center, 'which represents the integral architectonic creations of our timerooms with admirable moderation and cleanness, with magnificent machines, which set solemn and impressive accents, as the center of attraction."

AEG Turbinenhalle 1909 by Peter Behrens

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AEG 1910 Peter Behrens

AEG 1910 Peter Behrens

AEG 1911 by Peter Behrens

Behrens House"In retrospect, much of this work now has the appearance of being derivative: the dining room furniture in particular is obviously close to the style of Henry van de Velde. The house is organized about a dining and music room on the raised ground floor, with a kitchen and ancilliary services in the basement, and the main bedrooms and studio space above. While this format was quite typical for a small burgeois house, its internal and external expression was unusual, particularly for its combination of features drawn from the English Arts and Crafts movement...with elements such as the high-pitched roof drawn from the German vernacular."

Behrens House

I. G. Farben Offices

"Built in 1920-25 the paint factory of the I.G. Farben Company features, in its administration building, a large hall around which offices are arranged, on the model of the Larkin Building by Frank Lloyd Wright. Peter Behrens' version is strongly marked by Dutch expressionism, turning the well of light into a very dynamic space both by the theatrical play of light and by the systematic useof slanting rafters which serve to disrupt the overall rectilinearity."

Wasserturm, Hochbehlter Gaswerk Ost 1911 Peter Behrens

Verwaltungsgebude, Hoechster Farbwerke 1920/4 Peter Behrens

Turm und Brcke

Industrial Architecture: AEG and Fagus Factories

# The problems of turning industrial buildings into architecture are illustrated in two German factories built by two different architects just before the First World War.

# At first the gigantic monumentalism of Behrens' AEG turbine factory seems very different from the delicate glass envelope of Gropius's Fagus shoe-last factory; but we find that Gropius was in fact indebted to Behrens in many ways, although his handling of glass in the faades was all his own, and revolutionary.

# Both men were interested in the ideas of KF Schinkel, an early nineteenth-century Neo-classical architect, and we can trace a continuity of classical architectural ideas through the still recognizable columns and pediments of Behrens to the less recognizable but still essentially classical forms of the Fagus factory.

# These two Neue Sachlichkeit buildings -the Alexanderhaus and the Berolinahaus-designed by the architect Peter Behrens and erected from 1930-32, are the only structures actually built as part of a 1929 competition to remodel the Alexanderplatz.

# In each of the two eight-storey buildings is a ground floor designed for shops and passages, a second floor featuring a glass-covered gallery for restaurants and exhibitions, as well as six further floors designed for office space. # The peculiar curved shape of the Alexanderhaus is a result of the original horseshoe design planned for the entire Alexanderplatz.

Alexanderhaus/Berolinahaus

# The "Bankgesellschaft Berlin" banking company renovated the building from 1993-95 and relocated its headquarters there soon thereafter.

# The second structure got its name from the "Berolina" sculpture, a Berlin landmark that stood in the centre of the Alexanderplatz from 1895 to 1944.

# The Berolinahaus is a protected monument that has been empty since 1998. It will be remodelled and renovated by the end of 2006 when the clothing company C&A will take up residence on four floors.

Alexanderhaus/Berolinahaus

1995 Frankfurt, GermanyFourth Meeting, 9-10 June 1995meeting was held at the Peter Behrens Verwaltungsgebude Hoechst AG and was hosted and sponsored by Hoechst AG

Ceiling of the Peter Behrens Verwaltungsgebude central hall where the poster session was held

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DesignerPeter Behrens DescriptionA ceramic flagon with pewter lid. The flagon is decorated with typical secessionist Art Nouveau designsCountry of ManufactureAustrianDatec.1905MarksSee photoConditionSlight restoration to spoutSize35cms high, 15cms wide

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Peter Behrens. (German, 1868-1940). Fan (model GB1). c. 1908. Painted cast iron and brass, 11 1/4 x 10 3/4 x 6" (28.6 x 27.3 x 15.3 cm). Manufactured by Allgemeine Elektricitts Gesellschaft (A.E.G.), Germany. Melva Bucksbaum Purchase Fund

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