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CONTEMPORARY
ARCHITECTS
Editor

Muriel Emanuel

Architectural Consultant

Dennis Sharp

Assistant Editors

Colin Naylor
Craig Lerner

M
© by The Macmillan Press Ltd., 1980

Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1 st edition 1980 978-0-333-25289-5

All rights reserved. No part of this publication

may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, without permission.

First published 1980 by

THE MACMILLAN PRESS LIMITED
London and Basingstoke
Associated companies in New York, Dublin,
Melbourne, Johannesburg and Madras

ISBN 978-1-349-04186-2 ISBN 978-1-349-04184-8 (eBook)

DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-04184-8
HARDY

tents for the occupants and for the components of In their new American statement, HHPA seems to
inclusion of fixed enclosed elements, a process called
which they are built-for the found objects of our omit one large segment-the formally elegant, the
Residual Space Planning.
culture, the known fragments with which HHPA classical, refined, and serene, the world of interna­
8) Activities need not match space enclosures.
composes, like signs on a building. Essentially this is tional diplomacy and protocol, of high society and
Some activities are best housed both in and between
a pop direction that involves two routes. The most tact. Only Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis appears to
places.
prominent route throughout the nearly 20 year de­ accommodate traditional elegance in a consistent
9) Standard parts can be combined to make a
velopment of the firm's work is the industrial image, way, and consistency seems almost mutually exclu­
non-standard enclosure.
with its catalogue of prefabricated industrialized sive from the HHPA collage technique. Instead the
10) Architecture must now be built to imagine the
components. These the firm uses freely for their HHPA view of our environment is of a more popula­
future--not to memorialize the past.
functional and economic values as well as leaving rized America-a youthful, democratic, domestic,
1 1) Architecture is a language through which soci­
them exposed for their aesthetic contributions­ and middle class common man.This is a sure reality
ety both expresses and confronts itself. It is made for
structural elements such as steel decking and preas­ of much of America, perhaps even the majority. But
people, not architects.
sembled stairways; mechanical elements such as it seems to accept the myth of the classless society,
12) Metal and plastic technology offer new ways
ducts and anemostats; and lighting systems with of the one-class democracy, and that is less than total
to enclose space.
their wiring conduits. Superficially this could be seen realism. Still, in their ever youthful outlook, HHPA
13) Architects have a responsibility to consider
as a development into a full-scale aesthetic of have given us an architecture of fun and vitality, of
their clients' intent in relation to overall social well­
Charles Eames's house at Venice, California of joy and chaos, of additive collage and recycled treas­
being, especially in a time of potential environmental
1947-49. Certainly it is a rococo cadenza of the in­ ures that is among the realest architecture of our
disaster.
dustrial revolution and of man's fascination with the time. Theirs is certainly one valid and illuminating
14) Architecture is composed of five kinds of con­
sciousness: social purpose; technology; geometry; machine. And as certainly it is a romantic revival in view of American architecture.
time; and money.
representational terms of the classical period of -C. Ray Smith
Modern architecture, which used the machine and
-Hugh Hardy
industry as its pre-eminent abstraction.
The second route in the search for pop compo­
Of all the flamboyant, young, revolutionary ar­
nents by HHPA is vernacular building and the road­
chitects of the I 960's Hugh Hardy and his partners
way culture. Vernacular via Shingle Style is the main
Malcolm Holzman and Norman Pfeiffer have sur­
source. Objects from the roadway, including the air­
vived the maturing process most successfully and
port runway, are standard building components for
have progressed from houses and other small com­
missions to generally approved major civic monu­
these architects-signs, neon, lights of all kinds, and HARING, Hugo.
whatever can be used decoratively out of the road­ German. Born in Biberach, Wiirttemberg, 22 May
ments. It has been an unlikely transformation, but
way context. As a sub category of this pop direction, 1882. Educated at the Technische Hochschule,
not entirely surprising. For additive growth and
kitsch and camp objects are also in the expanded Stuttgart, underThcodor Fischer, 1899-1902;Tech­
transformation, or recycling, have been fundamental
HHPA vocabulary-stuffed animal heads, "hid­ nische Hochschule, Dresden, under Gurlitt, Schu­
interests and explorations of the three partners from
eous" theatre and hotel carpeting, and a riot of "or­ macher and Wallot, 1901--02; studied privately in
the beginning in the early 1960's.
dinary" colors. From what began, seemingly, as Stuttgart, 1903. Served in the German Army, 1914-
Even before the firm of Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer
pranks and games, inconsequential manipulations 15, 1917-18; Architect for the rebuilding of East
Associates (HHPA) was formed, Hugh Hardy had
and inversions, HHPA have developed a serious and Prussia, 1915-16. In private practice, Ulm, 1903--04,
defined his interest in the concept of the "additive
significant architecture. Hamburg, 1904- 14, Berlin, 1918-43, and Biberach,
assemblage" in the Ingersoll house (designed withT.
Also the partners have always been open to the old 1943 until his death, 1958. Director, Reimann
Merrill Prentice Jr.). And from the first works of the
as well as the new, to historical artifacts as building School (Kunst und Werk School), Berlin, 1935-43.
three partners this collage idea was apparent: it was
components-such as the train kiosk from the Member of the Novembergruppc, Berlin, from 1918;
a collage of many pans, with "inclusion"-the early
Queensborough Bridge that is used as the entry to Founder Member, Zehner Ring, Berlin, 1924 until it
equivalent of today's "pluralism"-as the catch­
the Brooklyn Children's Museum-as well as to the expanded to form Der Ring, 1926: served as Secre­
word. HHPA has always posited that architects
preservation of complete old buildings and the adap­ tary of Der Ring, 1926--33; Founder Member,
should include more of the world than the limited
tation of them to new uses. They were forerunners CIAM (Congres Internationaux d' Architecture Mo­
range of natural and elegant materials that their pre­
in the recycling movement, and that activity as well derne), 1929, and served as the Vice-Chairman of the
decessors had accepted for the International Style.
HHPA expand that architectural vocabulary to in­
as the early interest of Hugh Hardy in theatre design German Section. Exhibitions: Berlin Architectural
clude low art as well as high, the old as well as the
has led HHPA into the restoration and recycling of Exhibition, 1924; Werkbund Exhibition, Vienna,
cultural facilities-theatres and museums of large 1932. Honorary doctorate: Technische Hochschule,
new, applied decoration as well as integral, tinsel as
well as bronze.
scale, such as Cincinnati's Playhouse in the Park Stuttgart, 1950. Died (in Gottingen, Germany) I 7
Therein lies their growth pattern to maturity and
(1965), the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (1976), and the May 1958.
St. Louis Museum ( 1977). New symphony halls are
their lifeline to large-scale projects. It is not the witty
also a part of their practice-Orchestra Hall in Min­
or scandalizing use of unexpected materials, with Works:
neapolis (1974) and Boettcher Concert Hall in Den­
which pranksterism they began, that gives them sig­
ver (1978). 1907 Main Railway Station, Leipzig (competition
nificance, but rather their larger view that sees more
of the world, that looks to see the whole environment All of this new vocabulary is assembled or col­ project)
laged into collisions of form (Hadley House, 1967) or 1912 Royal Opera House, Berlin (competition pro­
as it is. With that overview they came to portray a
superimpositions of one plan idea on another, as in ject; with Gustav Blohm)
picture of contemporary America that is both true
the parallel banks of stairs rising up both legs of an 1916/
and harsh, witty and painful, sophisticated and com­
A-shaped plan (von Bernuth house 1974) or rising 18 Manor House, Gr'Plauen, East Prussia, Ger-
mon, sleek and kitsch. For America, like life, is all
up across a crescent shaped plan (Schaefer house many
of those things-accommodating, aspiring, acquisi­
project 1972). Other collages are shifted grids, some­ 1916/
tive, additive, and more. This is an overview that is
times carried to their ultimate completion even if 19 Hans Romer House, Neu Ulm, Germany
real, and therefore more accessible to the lay public,
outside the building envelope (Mt. Healthy School, 1917 Reimann Shop and Living Quarters, Allen­
because it accepts and includes more known objects.
1972). These superimpositions-an essentially addi­ burg, East Prussia, Germany
Still, the first thing noticeable about each of the
buildings by HHPA is that as a totality each is a tive process like the firm's early collisions with 1921 Reception Building, Main Railway Station,
supergraphics-reflect the use of the diagonal to Leipzig (project)
work of non-architecture. That is, their buildings are
"break out of the box" of International Style archi­ 1922 Gaffre Guinle Hospital, Rio de Janeiro
either literally underground, bermed structures, and
tecture to produce something more free, informal, Skyscraper, Friedrichstrasse, Berlin (compe­
therefore ostensibly invisible, like the Brooklyn Chil­
and humanistic. tition project)
dren's Museum (1977), or they are virtually form­
The questions that the work of HHPA raises, 1923 Garkau Complex, near Lubeck
less, non-geometrical, and free-form faceted en­
then, are twofold: What is an architecture that is so Germania Club rebuilding, Rio de Janeiro
velopes like the Toledo Performing Arts Project
generally self-effacing on the exterior and primarily Revenue Office rebuilding, Schoneberg, Ber­
( 1966-67) that seem to reject any appearance of
concerned with the interior? And how can collage or lin
unified exterior composition.This derived in the be­
assemblage be considered a higher achievement than 1924 Auction Rooms, Lubeck
ginning from a rejection of architecture as their pre­
architectural decorating? Furthermore, can any one Prince Albert Garden alterations, Berlin
decessors made it and from a rejection of monumen­
architecture be representative of all America? Is a 1925 Tobacco Goods Factory, Neustadt, Holstein,
tality as an inaccurate expression of the tradition,
synthesis of America with all its regions and diversi­ Germany
context, and fact of American building. Yet this con­
ties ever really possible? And, finally, by including so 1925/
textual awareness seems at times antithetical to the
wide a range of human experience as possible vocab­ 26 Berlin Sezession Building (competition pro­
individual building in relation to its specific physical
context. A kind of Palladian siting is evident in some ulary for architecture, HHPA includes the possibil­ ject)
ity of the bad as well as the good. How can that do 1926 Terrace housing, Zehlendorf, Berlin
HHPA buildings that are not actually underground.
other than leave critics nonplussed for several years? 1927 Max Voythaler Building, Lankwitz, Berlin
Instead, their self-effacing exterior envelopes are

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 HARRIS

modernist movement were impeccable. He joined the

Novembergruppe in 1918; he exhibited at the Berlin
Architectural Exhibition of 1924, and that same year
(with Hilberseimer, Mendelsohn, Mies van der Rohe
and Bruno Taut, among others) he helped to found
the Zehner-Ring, the aim of which was to counteract
all anti-modem interpretations of architecture. In
1926 Zehner Ring expanded to form the famous
Ring, and Hiiring was named as its first secretary: in
this capacity he took part, in 1929, in the founding
of CIAM, which he served as Vice-Chairman of the
German Section.
But, from about 1926, Haring's interest began to
change; he no longer projected or carried out in his
buildings the curved demarcations of space. He
began to see form not as "premeditated" fixed
masses but, rather, as the result of individual design
processes. In the following years his main interest
became "basic existence" houses and housing devel­
opment. He built a terraced housing estate in Zchlen­
dorf, multi-family apartment buildings in Wedding,
and the Siemensstadt Housing Development in
Charlottenburg-all in Berlin. At the same time, he
became interested in the problems of creating ratio­
nal high-rise buildings and in the requirements of the
growing family within a single-family house. With
these works, and others, of the late I 920's and early
1930's, and with these interests, Hiiring had come
some way from a simple concern with form. Also, in
contrast to the then current purist interpretations of
Hugo Hllring: Garkau C omplex, near Lubeck, 1923
white, abstract structure, Haring worked with warm,
Tiergarten rebuilding, Berlin (competition wiirfe, Bouten by H. Lauterbach and Jilrgen Jo­ natural materials-for example, he used bricks for
project) edicke, Stuttgart 1965; (includes writings); mono­ visible masonry, slates for exterior wall cladding. He
Reichstag rebuilding, Berlin (competition graphs- Vom Neuen Bauen, Berlin 1952; Vom was also the first avant-garde architect to employ the
project) Geheimnis der Gestalt, Berlin 1954; articles-"Prob­ concrete shell as an architectonic clement.
1928 Art Exhibition Hall, Tattersalle, Berlin leme des Bauens" in Der Neubau (Berlin), Septem­ Hiiring's last designs, prior 10 the National Social­
Adler Week-end House, Wannsec Country ber 1924, February 1925; "Wege zur Form" in Die ist period, were the 1933 projects for the Trade
Club, Berlin Form (Berlin), October 1925; "Geometric und Or­ Union Housing Development in Vienna and the Ko­
Apartment buildings, Stockholmstrasse and ganik" in Baukunst und Werkform (Nuremberg), chenhof Housing Development in Stuttgart. After
Christianistrasse, Wedding, Berlin no. 9, 1951; "Beispeil einer Wohnung" in Deutsche the Nazi seizure of power, he was labelled a "degen­
1928/ Architektur (East Berlin), July 1967. erate architect," and from then until the end of the
29 Frentzd House, Elbing, East Prussia, Ger­ war he was able to build very little. In 1935 he be­
many came Director of the Reimann School, a private de­
On HARING: book-Hugo Haring: Schriften, Ent­
1929 Plan for Zagreb, Yugoslavia (competition sign school in Berlin, and in 1943 he returned to his
wiirfe, Bouten by H. Lauterbach and Jiirgen Jo­
project) birthplace, Biberach, where he practiced until bis
edicke, Stuttgart 1965 (includes bibliography); arti­
Bin-Copemick Vocational School, Germany death. Even after 1945, Hiiring, who had used the
clcs--"Hiiring at Garkau" by Jiirgen Joedicke in
(competition project) enforced idleness of the previous years to clarify and
Architectural Review (London), May 1960; "Hugo
Siemensstadt (North) Housing Development, define his architectural theories, was commissioned
Haring: Zur Theorie des Organheften Bauen" by
Charlottenburg, Berlin to build very little.
Jiirgen Joedicke in Bauen und Wohnen (Zurich),
1930 Behrendt House, Berlin More than twenty years after his death Hugo Har­
November 1960; "Hugo Hiiring" by Jiirgen Joedicke
Karlshorst Housing Development, Tre­ ing is honored, much too one-sidedly, as a protago­
in Arts and Architecture (Los Angeles), February/­
skowallee, Berlin nist of a formalist, organic architecture. In reality, he
March 1966.
Roderstrassc Housing Development, Lich­ was a man to whom form alone signified little. Har­
tenberg, Berlin ing felt a great obligation to the social demands of his
1930/ Hugo Hiiring is an important representative of the profession. His criterion was, first and foremost, the
31 Beck/Segmehl House, Biberach, Germany "New Building" in Germany. Although be adopted human being with his material needs, his wishes, his
1932 Eichkamp Housing Development, Berlin the posture of an outsider, he was one of the few movements. Form, as an exterior covering, took sec­
Hugo Haring House, Berlin German avant-garde architects who brought a quite ond place. Haring's merit lies less in his alleged func­
1933 Design of the Werkbund Exhibition, Stutt­ unmistakable personal touch to the International tion as spokesman for organic building than in his
gart Style. search, during the flowering of the International
Kochenhof Housing Development, Stuttgart After studying architecture with Theodor Fischer Style, for consciously more human, wanncr variants
(project) in Stuttgart and Fritz Schumacher in Dresden, Har­ of architecture.
Trade Union Housing Development, Vienna ing set up in private practice in Ulm and then in -Frank Werner
(project) Hamburg. One of his most important works from
1937/ this period is undoubtedly his design for the Main
41 von Prittwitz Building, Tutzing, Germany Railway Station in Leipzig: Haring broke away from
1938 Open-air school, Torbole sul Garda, Italy the traditional ground plan and worked his way to
1942 Kunst and Werk School, Berlin flowing, function-related solutions that precipitated
1947/ a plastic transformation of structure.
48 Housing development, Birkendorf, Germany During the years following his military service in
1949/ World War I, after he had settled in Berlin, Haring
50 Outer harbour, Friedrichshafen, Germany produced a series of buildings and projects that HARRIS, Harwell Hamilton.
1949/ brought him world renown. In the Prince Albert American. Born in Redlands, California, 2 July
52 Outer harbour, Biberach, Germany Garden in Berlin, the Neustadl Tobacco Goods Fac­ 1903 Educated at San Bernardino High School, Cal­
. :
Werner Schmitz House, Biberach, Germany tory, the Garkau Complex, and his design for the ifornia, 1917-21; Pomona College, California, 1921-
1950 Outer harbour, Aulendorf, Germany Berlin Sezession Building, Haring used curves to 23; Otis Art Institute, Los A11gelcs, 1923-26; Frank
Gert Schmitz House, Biberach, Germany mark out space, and, while maintaining traditional Wiggins Trade School, Los Angeles, 1928-29. Mar:
1951/ spatial sub-divisions, defined its flowing continuity. ried the historian Jean Murray Bangs in 1937.
54 Outer harbour, Krefeld, Gennany Unlike Erich Mendelsohn, for whom architecture Worked as a sculptor, Los Angeles, 1926-28; col­
was the expression of stasis in movement, Haring laborated with Richard J. Neutra, Los Angeles,
tried to show outwardly the function-related move­ 1928-32; in private practice, Los Angeles, 1933-51,
Publications:
ments taking place inside the building. Austin, Texas, 1955-56, Fort Worth, Texas, 1956-
By HARING: book-HuRo Haring: Schriften, Ent- During this period Haring's credentials in the 58, and Dallas, 1958-62. In private practice, Ra-

345