Experiments with Megastuctures and Building Systems. University Building in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1960s and 1970s

Sonja Hnilica

doi:10.16995/ah.8309

Abstract

This article outlines the phenomenon of West Germany’s new universities for the masses. Seldom have so many universities of such size been built so quickly as in the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. Nearly 40 new universities were established across the country.It is a known fact that, from a political point of view, the priority was to provide as much space as possible quickly and cheaply. Following the concept of the functional city and the logic of increased efficiency by concentration, the vast majority of the new university complexes were constructed as large-scale structures outside of historic city centers. Architects seized the opportunity and designed the publicly financed large-scale complexes as urban utopias on a small scale, as I am going to show drawing mainly on examples in Bochum, Marburg, Berlin, Bielefeld and Constance. A key consideration – beyond efficiency – was the issue of flexibility. Inspired by systems theory, architects developed megastructures and building systems that would allow the academic communities to modify its buildings according to their needs in the future. However, the expectations that these New Universities might, due to their size and complexity, develop the same dynamism as historic towns, that were perceived to have ‘grown organically’, were fulfilled to a very limited extent only. Nonetheless, the mass universities are impressive testimony to the political, technical and urban planning spirit of the 1960s.

Highlights

At a conference of the Association of German Architects (BDA) in 1971, Klaus von Dohnanyi, the German federal minister for education and science, set out his expectations for the ongoing university building programme: ‘Here will be constructed, with huge tax contributions, the buildings in which our children are to develop into free and well-informed citizens’
Despite the more general aesthetic reservations concerning the architecture of the 1960s and 70s, which are still widespread, the university buildings in Bochum, Konstanz and Marburg have been listed as monuments in recent years, while the monument authorities in Bielefeld and Berlin have decided against similar listings (Hnilica 2017)
While drawing connections to additional examples, I concentrate on the universities in Bochum, Marburg, Berlin, Bielefeld and Konstanz where those new ideas become clear

Summary

Introduction

At a conference of the Association of German Architects (BDA) in 1971, Klaus von Dohnanyi, the German federal minister for education and science, set out his expectations for the ongoing university building programme: ‘Here will be constructed, with huge tax contributions, the buildings in which our children are to develop into free and well-informed citizens’. Been listed as monuments in recent years, while the monument authorities in Bielefeld and Berlin have decided against similar listings (Hnilica 2017) If it is not (or at least not primarily) their aesthetic qualities, what else is it that makes the architecture of these new universities worth studying?. While drawing connections to additional examples, I concentrate on the universities in Bochum, Marburg, Berlin, Bielefeld and Konstanz where those new ideas become clear. The particular complexes discussed here have already been the subject of extensive research: several recent and comprehensive studies on the universities in Bochum (Jöchner, Hoppe-Sailer and Schmitz 2015), Marburg (Langenberg 2013), Bielefeld (Weisner 1994; Braungart 2009) and Konstanz (Kieser 2010; Schmedding and Marlin 2016) and the Freie Universität Berlin (Kiem 2008) provide excellent information on their individual building histories. I argue that the campus designs provide another key to the urban utopias that were formulated around the same time: the architects of the universities searched for a new kind of complexity in architecture, one that would accommodate large numbers of people while reacting to individual needs

Major Investments in the Future and Building on a Large Scale

An Industrial Megaform and Its Realisation in Bochum

The Theory of Complex Systems and the Marburg Building System

Megastructure at the Freie Universität Berlin

Critical Appraisal and Future Prospects