Architect Drawings : A Selection of Sketches by World Famous Architects Through History
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Mendelsohn, Erich (1887–1953)<br />
Columbushaus exploratory sketches, 1931–1932, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin,<br />
Hdz EM 192, 31.5 25.4cm, Ink on paper<br />
Erich Mendelsohn was born in 1887 in Allenstein, East Prussia, now Poland. He studied architecture<br />
at the Technische Hochschule <strong>of</strong> Berlin, and upon finishing his education he was introduced to<br />
expressionism and became associated with the Blaue Reiter group. After the Einstein Research<br />
Laboratory, his first commission, Mendelsohn obtained such urban architectural projects as the<br />
Schocken Department stores in Nuremberg and Chemnitz, and Columbushaus in Berlin. In 1933, he<br />
emigrated to England, keeping studios in both London and Jerusalem. He moved to the United States<br />
in 1941, taught at the University <strong>of</strong> California, Berkeley, and completed various projects, including<br />
synagogues, community centers and a hospital, until his death in 1953.<br />
<strong>Through</strong>out his career, Mendelsohn talked about his work in terms <strong>of</strong> ‘dynamic functionalism,’<br />
which referred to feeling, imagination, and ‘ … expression in movement <strong>of</strong> the forces inherent in<br />
building materials’ (Pehnt, 1973, p. 125). He used these fluid qualities <strong>of</strong> the expressionist movement<br />
in his design for the Einstein Research Laboratory. It was intended to be built in the plastic material <strong>of</strong><br />
concrete, but was eventually made <strong>of</strong> brick with a sculptural layer <strong>of</strong> concrete on top. Mendelsohn’s<br />
architecture has been tied to expressionism and futurism and is <strong>of</strong>ten considered a precursor to modernism.<br />
His buildings, such as the Schocken Department stores, convey his concern for the strong<br />
horizontals <strong>of</strong> motion and the layering <strong>of</strong> transparency and solidity. His use <strong>of</strong> concrete, steel, and glass<br />
speaks <strong>of</strong> the human-made world <strong>of</strong> the machine. Mendelsohn had great interest in sketching<br />
throughout his lifetime; he would send sketches home from his post at the Russian front, writing that<br />
they were representative <strong>of</strong> a type <strong>of</strong> architecture he wanted to create. Some <strong>of</strong> these wartime sketches<br />
resemble flowing sand dunes and may have inspired his early architecture.<br />
This is a page (Figure 6.6) <strong>of</strong> possibilities for the façade and volumetric massing <strong>of</strong> the<br />
Columbushaus project. All <strong>of</strong> the sketches contain strong horizontal lines, precursors for the repetitive<br />
ribbon windows. The lines, each representing one floor <strong>of</strong> the building, reveal Mendelsohn’s concern<br />
for scale in these early attempts. The façade, with its curvature or straightness yet to be determined,<br />
considers its relationship to the urban edge <strong>of</strong> the street: some sketches include first floor shops.<br />
Although located on a busy street in Berlin, the building is sketched so as to ignore the context. The<br />
sketches that are circled or have an arced horizon may be acting as background or simply denoting the<br />
more promising proposals. The articulation and emphasis on the corner is seen in the finished building<br />
which is curved at one end. The final work <strong>of</strong> construction for the Columbushaus was to lift the<br />
top story, like a cap. In these sketches, the many alternatives for this accented upper floor can be seen.<br />
Mendelsohn’s technique is characterized <strong>by</strong> quickly drawn, confident, bold lines, which are straight<br />
and double back on themselves in their swiftness. He used ink to create these dark and definitive lines;<br />
this fluid media best represented his ideas for a fluid architecture. He wanted to analyze the entire<br />
building quickly and did not rework or erase a specific image, but continued to redraw the images<br />
until they matched the concept in his mind’s eye. Two variations on a curved iteration and six variations<br />
on the straight proposal might explain a discrepancy in the techniques <strong>of</strong> the sketch.<br />
The fact that Mendelsohn was not taking time to erase or cross out his sketches may indicate how<br />
he was thinking. Once an image reached a certain level <strong>of</strong> completion, he evaluated it and then<br />
moved on to the next. The wholeness <strong>of</strong> each sketch was necessary for its evaluation and critique.<br />
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