Architect · Germany · 1893-1972
Hans Scharoun Biography, Buildings and Best Books
German architect (1893-1972) of organic modernism whose Schminke House and Berlin Philharmonie placed people and music at the centre of architecture.
Photo: unknown photographer, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, via Wikimedia Commons
Biography
Hans Scharoun (1893-1972) was a German architect and a leading figure of organic, or “organhaft”, modernism. Rejecting rigid grids, he shaped buildings around the movements and activities of the people who use them. His best-known works are the Schminke House in Löbau, the Romeo and Juliet apartment towers in Stuttgart and the Berlin Philharmonie, whose terraced “vineyard” seating surrounds the orchestra and has influenced concert halls worldwide.
Bremen, Berlin and the Glass Chain
Scharoun was born in Bremen in 1893 and grew up in Bremerhaven. He studied architecture at the Technical University of Berlin-Charlottenburg but left without a degree to serve in the First World War. In the years after the war he joined the Glass Chain, Bruno Taut’s circle of expressionist architects, and drew visionary buildings in watercolour.
Weissenhof, Siemensstadt and the Schminke House
Scharoun designed a house for the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart (1927) and the masterplan and buildings for the Siemensstadt housing estate in Berlin (1930). The Schminke House in Löbau (1933), built for the pasta manufacturer Fritz Schminke, with its ship-like terraces and angled garden wing, is one of the masterpieces of interwar modernism. During the Nazi period he remained in Germany and built mainly private houses.
Planning postwar Berlin
In 1945 Scharoun became head of building and housing for Greater Berlin and led the Kollektivplan for the destroyed city. He taught at the Technical University of Berlin and was president of the Academy of Arts from 1955 to 1968. His buildings of the 1950s and 1960s include the Romeo and Juliet apartment towers in Stuttgart (1959) and the Geschwister Scholl School in Lünen (1962).
The Philharmonie and the Kulturforum
The Berlin Philharmonie (1963), with its tent-like roof and terraces of seats around the orchestra, became the centrepiece of the Kulturforum, near the Berlin Wall. Scharoun also designed the State Library opposite, completed in 1978 after his death, and the German Embassy in Brasília. He died in Berlin in 1972.
Hans Scharoun: Buildings and Projects
Carsten Krohn presents Scharoun’s complete work, from the expressionist drawings to the Philharmonie, with new plans and photographs in 208 pages.
View on Amazon
Timeline
- 1893Born on 20 September in Bremen.
- 1919Joins the Glass Chain circle of expressionist architects.
- 1927Designs a house for the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart.
- 1930Completes buildings for the Siemensstadt housing estate in Berlin.
- 1933Completes the Schminke House in Löbau.
- 1945Becomes head of building and housing for Greater Berlin.
- 1955Becomes president of the Academy of Arts in Berlin.
- 1959Completes the Romeo and Juliet apartments in Stuttgart.
- 1962Completes the Geschwister Scholl School in Lünen.
- 1963The Berlin Philharmonie opens.
- 1972Dies on 25 November in Berlin.
- 1978The Berlin State Library, to his design, is completed.
Best Books on Hans Scharoun
As an Amazon Associate, ArchEyes earns from qualifying purchases. Book links open on Amazon.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hans Scharoun known for?
Hans Scharoun is known for organic modernism and above all for the Berlin Philharmonie, whose vineyard-style seating around the orchestra transformed concert hall design, as well as for the Schminke House in Löbau.
What are Hans Scharoun’s most famous buildings?
His best-known buildings include the Schminke House, the Siemensstadt housing, the Romeo and Juliet apartments in Stuttgart, the Geschwister Scholl School in Lünen, the Berlin Philharmonie and the Berlin State Library.
What is the best book on Hans Scharoun?
Carsten Krohn’s Hans Scharoun: Buildings and Projects (Birkhäuser) is the most complete and up-to-date overview. Peter Blundell Jones’s Hans Scharoun (Phaidon) is the classic English-language study.
What is Hans Scharoun’s architectural style?
Scharoun is associated with organic architecture and expressionism. His buildings avoid right angles and symmetry, using free plans, angled walls and terraces shaped by the activities and movement of their users.
Where can I see Hans Scharoun’s architecture?
You can attend a concert at the Berlin Philharmonie, visit the Berlin State Library at the Kulturforum, tour the Schminke House in Löbau and see the Romeo and Juliet towers in Stuttgart.
