Test your Design IQ
MANILA, Philippines - Who is the German Jewish architect known for his expressionist architecture in the 1920s, as well as for developing a dynamic functionalism in his projects for department stores and cinemas?
He was born in East Prussia on March 21, 1887, and began studying architecture in the Technical University of Berlin, and later the Technical University of Munich, where he graduated cum laude in 1912.
He worked as an independent architect in Munich from 1912 to 1914, where he was influenced by Theodor Fischer, an architect whose own work fell between Neo-classical and Jugenstil, as well as expressionist artists.
Through his brother-in-law Herbert Freundlich, he had the opportunity to design and build the Einstein Tower, as well as hat factories in Luckenwalde. From then until 1918, what is known of him is a multiplicity of sketches and factories and other large buildings.
His practice grew after he arrived from World War I in 1918 and it encapsulated the consumerism of the Weimar Republic, most notably in his shops, most famously the Schocken Department Stores. His Mossehaus newspaper offices and Universum cinemas were also highly influential on art deco and streamline Moderne.
Also interested in the socialist experiments being made in the USSR, he designed the Red Flag Textile Factory in 1926 together with Hyppolit Petreaus.
As a Jew, he saw the rising of anti-Semetic tendencies in Germany, and emigrated to England where he began a partnership with Serge Chermayeff. A long-time friend of Chaim Weizmann, who later became the president of Israel, he started a series of projects in what was then under British rule.
He opened a bureau in Jerusalem in 1935, where he greatly influenced the local Jerusalem International Style, all facades fashioned in limestone.
From 1941 until his death in 1953, he lived in the United States and taught at the University of California in Berkeley. He also served as an advisor to the US government, collaborating with the US Army and Standard Oil in order to build German villages, a set of replica working class housing estates, which would be of key importance in acquiring the know-how and experience necessary to carry out the fire bombings in Berlin. In 1945, he established himself in San Francisco, where he stayed until his death in 1953 and undertook various projects mostly for Jewish communities.
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Last week’s question: Who is the American celebrity chef who received an Emmy nomination for an episode of the show No Reservations, which was filmed in Beirut just when the Isarel-Lebanon conflict broke out in 2006?
Answer: Anthony Bourdain
Winner: Maria Leonora V. del Pilar of Makati City
Text your answer to 0926-3508061 with your name and address. One winner will be chosen through a raffle of texts with the correct answer. The winner will receive P2,000 worth of SM gift certificates for use at Our Home, SM Department Store, or SM Supermarket. They can claim their prize at Our Home in SM Megamall. Bring photocopies of two valid IDs and a clipping of the Design Quiz issue in which you appear as winner.
