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 INTRODUCTION
o PETER BEHRENS IS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 20TH CENTURY GERMAN DESIGNERS.
o AT THE BEGINNING OF THE CENTURY HE BROUGHT FORTH OUTSTANDING WORKS IN PAINTING,
ARCHITECTURE, GRAPHIC DESIGN AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN WHICH EXERTED A HUGE INFLUENCE IN ALL
THESE VARIOUS FIELDS FOR THE GENERATIONS TO COME.
o HE IS VIEWED AS THE FOUNDER OF MODERN OBJECTIVE INDUSTRIAL ARCHITECTURE AND MODERN
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
EARLY LIFE
o BORN : 14TH APRIL 1868 IN HAMBURG
o DIED : 27TH FEBRUARY 1940 IN BERLIN
o EDUCATION : STUDIED PAINTING AT THE SCHOOL OF ART IN KARLSRUHE
(1886 1889)
o HE FREQUENTED THE BOHEMAIN CIRCLES (THE PRACTICE OF AN
UNCONVANTIONAL LIFESTYLE); THE ARTISTIC CIRCLES OF MUNICH (JUGENDSTIL:
A PHILOSOPHY OF DESIGN OF FURNITURE, WHICH WAS DESIGNED ACCORDING
TO THE WHOLE BUILDING AND MADE PART OF ORDINARY LIFE) AND WAS
INTERESTED IN SUBJECTS RELATED TO THE REFORM OF LIFE STYLES.
 STYLE :
o EARLY GRAPHIC WORK WAS HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY ART NOUVEAU
o FROM 1907 HIS WORK BECAME MORE NEO-CLASSICAL
o LATER HE DESIGNED BUILDINGS WITH MODERNIST CHARECTERISTICS

PRINCIPLES OF PETER :
o FORMES COURBEES
o OMBRE ET LUMIERE
o FORM SUIT FUNCTION o REFUT LORNEMENT
o SIMPLISITE o INSPIRATION
o SYMBOLIQUE o FORM SIMPLE
o GEOMETRIE o HARMONIE
o TRANCEPARENCY
LATER LIFE : TEACHING CAREER o FAADE STRUCTURELY

o IN 1901 1902 BEHRENS TAUGHT AT THE SCHOOL OF ART

o IN 1903 HE LEFT MATHILDENHOHE, SURVING UNTIL 1907 AS THE DIRECTOR
o PETER ALSO CONTINUED TO TEACH, HEADING THE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT OF
THE VIENNA ACADMY
o FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE HE WAS HEAD OF THE ARCHITECTURE DEPARTMENT AT
THE BERLIN.
 TIME LINE:
o FROM 1890 WORKED AS A PAINTER AND GRAPHIC ARTIST IN MUNICH
o 1890 HAUS BEHRENS, DARMSTADT
o 1893 WAS THE FOUNDING MEMBER OF THE MUNICH SECESSION
o 1899 JOINED ARTISTS COLONY ON THE MATHILDENHOHE IN DARMSTADT
o 1903 BECAME DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF APPLIED ARTS IN DUSSELDORF
o 1907 BECAME ARCHITECT AND DESIGNER FOR GERMAN ELECTRICAL COMPANY AEG IN BERLINE
o 1908 TO 1909 AEG TERBINE HALL, BERLINE
o 1911 TO 1912 GERMAN EMBASSY IN ST.PETERSBERG
o 1920 TO 1925 IG FARBEN HOCHST HEADQUARTERS IN FRNKFURT
o 1922 BECOME DIRECTOR OF SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE IN VIENNA ACADEMY OF ARTS
o 1926 NEW WAYS, PRIVATE DWELLING IN NORTHAMPTON
o 1936 BECAME THE HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AT THE PRUSSIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS, BERLIN.
HAUS BEHRENS, DARMSTADT
 AEG TURBINE HALL BERLIN
o DESIGNED IN COLLABORATION WITH ENGINEER KARL BERNHARD
o WAS STATEGICALLY PLACED ON SOUTHERN EDGE OF FACTORY
COMPLEX, FACING BERLIN AND THE WORLD AS A SHOW FRONT
OF THE PROSPEROUS INDUSTRIAL MAGNATE
o MAGNIFICENT IRON AND GLASS HYBRID OF TWO EMINENTLY
CLASSICAL TEMPLE TRADITIONS THE GREAK AND THE EGYPTIAN
o BEHRENS BELIEVED THAT UNDER THE ARTISTIC WILL OF THE
DESIGNER, THE FACTORY COULD BE TRANSFORMED INTO AN
ENTITY OF HIGH CULTURE
o CONFLICT BETWEEN TECTONIC CHARACTER OF FERRO-VITREOUS
WIDE SPAN OFFERED BY ENGINEERING AND BEHRENS ADHERENCE
TO THE CONCEPT OF STERIOTOMIE
o STRUCTURAL MAKE UP OF FACTOR CONSISTED OF AN
ASYMMETRICAL THREE HINGED ARCH REINFORCED BY A TIE BEAM
o THE LONGER HALF OF THE ARCH SPRINGS VERTICALLY UP TO THE
SECOND HINGE AND THEN BRICKS IN THREE FACETS BEFORE
REACHING THE THIRD HINGE AT THE APEX OF THE ARCH
o WILL FULL INTERFERENCE BY BEHRENS INTO THE ENGINEERS WORK
INWARDLY INCLINED GLAZING
BETWEEN THE STRUCTURAL
MEMBERS OF THE SIDE ELEVATION
ENFORCE THE IDEA OF A
STEREOTOMIC VOLUME
 NEW WAYS PRIVATE DWELLING
GERMAN EMBASSY AT ST.PETERSBERG
NORTHEMPTON

ART NOUVEAU
G FARBEN HOCHST HEADQUARTERS FRANKFRUT
 CONSTRUCTIONS IN MODERN ARCHITECTURE
o HE WAS IMPORTANT FOR THE MODERNIST MOVEMENT AND SEVERAL OF
THE MOVEMENTS LEADING NAMES IN EARLIER STAGES OF THEIR CARRERS.
o 1907 , BEHRENS FOUNDING A LARGE ARCHITECTURAL AND DESIGN
PRACTICE IN BERLIN. WALTER GROUPIUS, LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE AND
LE CORBUSIER ALSO WORKED THERE.
o THIS JOINT STUDIO WAS VERY PRODUCTIVE AND NUMEROUS ARCHITECTURAL
COMMISSIONS WERE REALIZED INCLUDING GERMAN EMBASSY IN ST.PETERBURG
AND IG FARBEN HOCHST HEADQUARTER
WHICH SHOWS THE INFLUENCE OF EXPRESSIONISM.
o IN 1926 HE DESIGNED NEW WAYS A PRIVATE DWELLING IN NORTHAMPTON . WHICH IS REGARDED AS AN EARLY EXAMPLE
OF THE INTERNATIONAL MODERN STYLE.

BEHRENS AS INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER

BOOKS WRITERNS BY PETER BEHRENS:
o PETER BEHRENS's first novel The Law of Dreams won
the Governor-General's Award, Travelling Light
Astoria (May 4 2013)
Carry Me
House of Anansi, February 2016 (Canada)
Pantheon, February 2016 (United States)

The Law of Dreams

Steerforth Press 2006 (US hardcover)
House of Anansi 2006 (Canada)
Random House (US paperback)

Night Driving
Macmillan Canada, Toronto, 1987 The O'Briens
House of Anansi Press, July 2011 (Canada)
Pantheon Books, March 2012 (United States
Editions Philippe-Rey (Paris, 2013)