Adolf Behne

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Adolf Behne (13 July 1885 - 22 August 1948) was an architect, architectural writer, artistic activist and scientist. He was one of the leaders of the Avant Garde in the Weimar Republic.

Behne was born in Magdeburg. He first studied the history of art in Berlin, then architecture. He joined the Deutscher Werkbund and was a founding member of Arbeitsrat für Kunst in 1918. Behne welcomed the new architecture of expressionism. He was close to the members of the Magdeburg artist collective 'The ball' and demanded the creation of a new closeness between art and architecture.

He taught at the University of Berlin until 1933. Between 1945 and 1948 he was a professor at the National University for Fine Arts, (Staatlichen Hochschule für Bildende Kunst Berlin) and belonged to the architect group Der Ring.

As an architect he rarely had his projects executed. However between 1932 and 1936 he built the reception building of the main station in Duesseldorf.

He died in Berlin. His hometown of Magdeburg named a street after him (Behneweg).

[edit] Selected Literature

Adolf Behne: Der moderne Zweckbau. Drei Masken Publishing, Berlin 1926; Reprint: Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 1998
Adolf Behne: "Neues Wohnen - Neues Bauen" Hesse & Becker, Leipzig 1927
Adolf Behne: Eine Stunde Architektur. Stuttgart 1928; Neuausgabe Berlin 1984
Adolf Behne: Der moderne Zweckbau. Ullstein Bauwelt Fundamente, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin, 1964
Adolf Behne: Architekturkritik in der Zeit und über die Zeit hinaus: Texte 1913 - 1946. Herausgegeben von Haila Ochs. Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhäuser-Architektur-Bibliothek, 1994