Adolf Behne and the construction of the Modern Movement – Part 2

Abstract

Der moderne Zweckbau, book written by Adolf Behne in 1923, presents fundamental discussions for the conduction and understanding of Modern Architecture in the 1920s. In the volume, the author identifies different lines of thoughts, which are explored in three steps that determine three different chapters of the book. Through the second chapter, object of this paper and translation, the author presents some principles of expressionist architecture in German, whose specific design mirrors function. Each internal need results in a particular conformation, to which organic and dynamic analogies were added as formal principles. The author places the high point of this strand in Erich Mendelsohn's work, and points out the negative aspects of the radicalization of that approach: by meeting primarily the internal demands, the unique buildings that were created compromise the urban complex as a hole.