THE FAGUS FACTORY HISTORY The Fagus

THE FAGUS FACTORY

HISTORY • The Fagus Factory is a shoe last factory in Alfeld in Germany. It was commissioned by owner Carl Benscheidt. • The factory was designed by Edward Werner. However later on the owner’s request, Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer designed the outer facades of the building. • It was constructed between 1911 and 1913, and extra add-ons and interiors finished in 1925. • The AEG’s Turbine factory designed by Peter Behrens had a great influence on the design of the building.

THE AEG’s TURBINE FACTORY

DESIGN • The architects use common elements in the design, thereby giving the buildings on-site a unified look. • For example the floor-to-ceiling glass windows on steel frames. • The use of black bricks as base and yellow bricks on top, give the lightness feeling Walter called “etherealization”. Optical enhancements like greater horizontal elements than vertical ones on the windows enhanced this feeling. • A great emphasis is placed on the façade on the side of the railroad, because of the many people passing by there. • The site contains The Fagus Building, the production hall, the warehouse and other small buildings.

CHALLENGES • The architects were under pressure of maintaining the rhythm of the work because it was to be finished in the same year. • Breakout of World War I in 1913 reduced the rate of progress of construction. • Financial hindrances on the owner due to the high cost of construction.

WALTER GROPIUS • German architect(18831969) • Projects: Bauhaus, Walter Gropius’ Monument to the March dead, Alan I W Frank House, Aluminium city terrace etc.

REFERENCES • Götz, Jürgen. "Maintaining Fagus", in Jaeggi (2000) pages 133 -141 • Jaeggi, Annemarie (2000). Fagus: Industrial Culture from Werkbund to Bauhaus, New York, Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1 -56898 -175 -9 • Pevsner, Nikolaus (1949) Pioneers of Modern Design ISBN 0 -300 -10571 -1 • Schwartz, Frederic J. (1996). The Werkbund: Design Theory and Mass Culture before the First World War, New Haven and London, Yale University Press. ISBN 0300 -06898 -0

Presented by • Nyabuti Victor Ombui • B 02/0884/2013