BRUNO TAUT (1880-

1938)

‘Colour is the Joy of Life’

• Bruno Taut was a German architect, theorist,
painter, pioneer of colour in modern architecture,
urban planner and early fan of the Garden City
Movement
•   Taut was educated at the Baugewerkeschule trade school, his career
began in Berlin in 1903 working for Bruno Möhring an important art
nouveau (Jugendstil) architect,
• he moved to Stuttgart in 1904 to work for Theodore Fischer who had a
special interest in public housing and it was here that Taut studied urban
planning.
• In 1909 Bruno Taut returned to Berlin to form an architecture practice
with his brother Max and Franz Hoffman.
• Taut’s Falkenberg Gartenstadt (garden city) in Berlin was fondly described
by locals as ‘tuschkastensiedlungwhich’ the paintbox settlement, referring
to its use of colour, built between 1913-15 it received wide acclaim. The
Institute of Urban Dreaming has an excellent article about a recent visit.
• By 1921 Bruno Taut had become Magdeburg’s city architect a role he
managed from his Berlin office, he remained in the post for three years,
his role to create and implement the municipal planning programme of
the city, of special note is the Garden City Colony.
•GLASS PAVILION
•Built in 1914
•Constructed using concrete and glass
•Concrete structure has inlaid coloured glass plates on the facade that acted as
mirrors
•The purpose of building was to demonstrate the potential of different types of
glass for architecture.it also indicated how the material might be used to
orchestrate human emotions
•It had a 14 sided base constructed of thick glass bricks used for the exterior walls
devoid of rectangles .
•Each part of cupola was designed to recall the complex geometry of nature
•The pavillion structure was on concrete plinth, the entrance reached by 2 flights
of steps (one on either side of the building),which gave the pavilion a temple –
like quality
•First building made of importance made of glass bricks
• TAUTS IDEA OF GLASS
PAVILION
• Doesnt have real function
• It was more to provoke something in someone than a
practical building
• Created experiances ,where people would be able to
feel,touch and primarily see
• Similar to gothic cathedrals
HORSESHOE ESTATE
• The Hufeisensiedlung (Horseshoe Estate) is a modernist housing estate by
architect Bruno Taut built on the site of the former Britz Manor in Berlin.
• Built in 1925-1933
• In the late 1920s and early 1930s, architecture in Berlin reflected the political
struggle between the Socialists and the Nazis.
• Bruno Taut’s plans for the Hufeisensiedlung, drawn up in cooperation with
Berlin’s chief city planner Martin Wagner, were in stark contrast to the
traditional pitch-roofed houses preferred by the Nazis, that surrounded it.
• The Hufeisensiedlung was awarded Unesco World Heritage site status in
2008 as one of the six Berlin Modernism Housing Estates along with:
Gartenstadt Falkenberg, otherwise known as the Tuschkastensiedlung
(Paintbox Estate); Siedlung Schillerpark; Wohnstadt Carl Legien; Weiße Stadt
(White City) and Großsiedlung Siemensstadt, or the Ringsiedlung (Ring
Estate).
• Typical of Taut’s style, the Hufeisensiedlung and surrounding streets boast
colourful balconies and doorways, crisp design elements and plenty of green
space. It represents a calmer, prettier side of Neukölln, often described in
articles about gentrification as Berlin’s gritty nightlife district.
• The horseshoe of flats is arranged around a central garden, complete with
pond, and a gravelled path that allows visitors to admire the views from
every angle
 .
• The heritage protected part of the Hufeisensiedlung, which
was built between 1925 and 1930, extends over a total of six
building sections and an area of around 29 hectares.
• The facades of the terraced houses are painted in dark red,
yellow ochre and - especially at the end of a terraced row – in
deep blue or gleaming white.
• Doors and windows and individual building elements of the
blocks of flats like loggias, stairwells or low-ceilinged attic
floors are painted to contrast clearly with the facades.
• The front and rear sections are often designed in separate
colour combinations.
• Further contrasts in material and colour are created by the
use of bright red and yellow clinker bricks in the area of the
chimneys, the entrances and the base of the walls.
• the most striking design feature is the construction and
colour of the entrance doors