Sigfried Giedion

{{Short description|Swiss architectural historian (1888–1968)}}

{{Short description|Swiss architectural historian (1888–1968)}}

{{No footnotes|date=May 2010}}

{{No footnotes|date=May 2010}}

{{ Infobox person

'''Sigfried Giedion''' (also spelled '''Siegfried Giedion'''; 14 April 1888, [[Prague]] &ndash; 10 April 1968, [[Zürich]]) was a [[Bohemia]]n-born [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[historian]] and [[critic]] of [[architecture]]. His ideas and books, ''[[Space, Time and Architecture]]'', and ''Mechanization Takes Command'', had an important conceptual influence on the members of the [[Independent Group (art movement)|Independent Group]] at the [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]] in the 1950s.<ref name="Massey1995">{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Anne|title=The Independent Group: Modernism and Mass Culture in Britain, 1945-1959|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qEa9AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA4-PA1947-IA1|date=January 1995|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-4245-4|page=44}}</ref> Giedion was a pupil of [[Heinrich Wölfflin]]. He was the first secretary-general of the [[Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne]], and taught at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], [[Harvard University]], and the ETH-Zurich.

| name =

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| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1888|04|14}}

| birth_place = [[Prague]], Czech Republic

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1968|04|10|1888|04|14}}

| death_place = [[Zurich]], Switzerland

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Architectural historian

| spouse = {{married|[[Carola Giedion-Welcker]]|1919}}

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'''Sigfried Giedion''' (also spelled '''Siegfried Giedion'''; 14 April 1888, [[Prague]] &ndash; 10 April 1968, [[Zürich]]) was a [[Bohemia]]n-born [[Swiss people|Swiss]] [[historian]] and [[critic]] of [[architecture]]. His ideas and books, ''[[Space, Time and Architecture]]'', and ''Mechanization Takes Command'', had an important conceptual influence on the members of the [[Independent Group (art movement)|Independent Group]] at the [[Institute of Contemporary Arts]] in the 1950s.<ref name="Massey1995">{{cite book|last=Massey|first=Anne|title=The Independent Group: Modernism and Mass Culture in Britain, 1945-1959|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qEa9AAAAIAAJ&pg=RA4-PA1947-IA1|date=January 1995|publisher=Manchester University Press|isbn=978-0-7190-4245-4|page=44}}</ref> Giedion was a pupil of [[Heinrich Wölfflin]]. He was the first secretary-general of the [[Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne]] (CIAM), and taught at the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], [[Harvard University]], and the ETH-Zurich.

In ''Space, Time & Architecture'' (1941), Giedion wrote an influential standard history of modern architecture, while ''Mechanization Takes Command'' established a new kind of [[historiography]].

In ''Space, Time & Architecture'' (1941), Giedion wrote an influential standard history of modern architecture, while ''Mechanization Takes Command'' established a new kind of [[historiography]].

==Biography==

==Biography==

Sigfried Giedion was born in Prague to Swiss-Jewish parents. His father was a textile manufacturer from [[Zugersee]]. He graduated from the [[University of Vienna]] in 1913 with a degree in engineering. Not wanting to enter the family business, he wrote poems and plays, one of which was staged by [[Max Reinhardt]]. He then studied art history in [[Munich]] with Heinrich Wölfflin, graduating in 1922 with a thesis on Romanesque and late Baroque Classicism. This work aroused the interest of [[A.E. Brinckmann]], a well-known art historian, who invited him to [[Cologne]], an offer that Giedion refused because he was not interested in an academic career. Instead, in 1923 he attended the [[Bauhaus]], where he met [[Walter Gropius]]. From that meeting he got closer and closer to the Bauhaus and its protagonists, becoming himself a precursor of the modern movement.

Sigfried Giedion was born in Prague to Swiss-Jewish parents. His father was a textile manufacturer from [[Zugersee]]. He graduated from the [[University of Vienna]] in 1913 with a degree in engineering. Not wanting to enter the family business, he wrote poems and plays, one of which was staged by [[Max Reinhardt]]. He then studied art history in [[Munich]] with Heinrich Wölfflin, graduating in 1922 with a thesis on Romanesque and late Baroque Classicism. This work aroused the interest of [[A. E. Brinckmann]], a well-known art historian, who invited him to [[Cologne]], an offer that Giedion refused because he was not interested in an academic career. Instead, in 1923 he attended the [[Bauhaus]], where he met [[Walter Gropius]]. From that meeting he got closer and closer to the Bauhaus and its protagonists, becoming himself a precursor of the modern movement.

In 1928, he founded, together with [[Le Corbusier]] and Helène de Mandrot, the [[Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne|CIAM]], of which he was also general secretary. In the same year, he took part in the collective initiative Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl, one of the first residential centers in the style of the modern movement, remaining on the steering committee until 1939. He was also the builder of the [[Doldertal Apartment Houses |Doldertalhäuser]] in Switzerland, which he saw as a manifesto of the new architectural movement, as well as the founder of Wohnbedarf AG, a construction company close to the modern movement. Through countless interventions in international trade journals, he expressed his support for Le Corbusier's [[League of Nations]] project in [[Geneva]], won in 1927 but disqualified because the submission was in the wrong medium.

In 1928, he founded, together with [[Le Corbusier]] and Helène de Mandrot, the [[Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne|CIAM]], of which he was also general secretary. In the same year, he took part in the collective initiative Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl, one of the first residential centers in the style of the modern movement, remaining on the steering committee until 1939. He was also the builder of the [[Doldertal Apartment Houses |Doldertalhäuser]] in Switzerland, which he saw as a manifesto of the new architectural movement, as well as the founder of Wohnbedarf AG, a construction company close to the modern movement. Through countless interventions in international trade journals, he expressed his support for Le Corbusier's [[League of Nations]] project in [[Geneva]], won in 1927 but disqualified because the submission was in the wrong medium.

In 1938–39, he taught at Harvard University at the instigation of Gropius, where he gave the Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectures. These helped form the basis for his work, ''Space, Time and Architecture'', the history of the modern movement published in 1941. In 1946 he became a professor at the [[ETH-Zürich]] (Federal Polytechnic School), a post he held until the 1960s, and which he alternated with another at MIT in the United States of America. During this time he wrote busily, both as a CIAM editor and as an independent author, about his research on modernity, most notably ''Mechanization Takes Command'', a critical history of mechanization seen in its historical and sociological aspects.

In 1938–39, he taught at Harvard University at the instigation of Gropius, where he gave the Charles Eliot Norton Memorial Lectures. These helped form the basis for his work, ''Space, Time and Architecture'', the history of the modern movement published in 1941. In 1946, he became a professor at the [[ETH-Zürich]] (Federal Polytechnic School), a post he held until the 1960s, and which he alternated with another at MIT in the United States of America. During this time he wrote busily, both as a CIAM editor and as an independent author, about his research on modernity, most notably ''Mechanization Takes Command'', a critical history of mechanization seen in its historical and sociological aspects.

==Personal life and family==

==Personal life and family==