Singapore Design Festival 2007

Synopsis:

The lecture will provide an introduction to the Werkbund exhibition, Die Wohnung (Habitation), in Stuttgart, 1927, as well as its accompanying exhibition, International Plan and Model Exhibition of New Architecture, as these form the basis for the Neues Bauen International exhibition and also help to place the modern architectural movement in international context. But what was new in the architecture known as ‘International Style’, ‘New Building’ or ‘Neues Bauen’? Professor Kirsch will highlight the ‘new principles’ of Neues Bauen, which have been taken for granted today. The importance accrued to medicine and the demand for housing in the 1920s have led to the emergence of high-rise cities and encouraged radical ideas that are reflected in the new architecture. For decades, scholars have been involved in the architectural debate on the various aspects of this modern movement. The modern architectural movement is clearly, not over yet.

Following this lecture is a short presentation by Dr. Viray. He will present on how forms and ideas from the Neues Bauen can be seen in Singapore Housing and Lifestyle.

About the speakers
Professor Karin Kirsch was formerly an assistant lecturer at the Stuttgart University of Applied Sciences from 1978 to 2001. Trained in furniture and interior design, she was the first woman to be conferred the title of ‘Honorary Professor’ at this university. Her publications include a monograph on the Weissenhof Estate in Stuttgart (1987) and Die Neue Wohnung und das Alte Japan Architekten planen für sich selbst (1996). Besides curating the exhibition Neues Bauen International 1927 I 2002, Professor Kirsch also conceptualised an exhibition on the Weissenhof Estate, which travelled to 22 cities between 1992 and 2002.

Dr. Erwin Viray is a co-editor of Tokyo-based architectural journal a+u (Architecture and Urbanism), currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture of the National University of Singapore and a Design Critic in Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. He is also the author of Beauty of Materials: When Surfaces Start to Move, curator for the Exotic More or Less exhibition at AEDES Berlin, and one of the ten critics for the publication, 10x10-2, from Phaidon Press.