* a partial and non-chronological investigation of the pre-digital past


Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bruno Taut's Glass Pavilion




This Prismatic glass dome was created for the Cologne Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition of 1914. I guess the building was destroyed soon after the exhibition because it had no practical use (besides being a crowning modernist architectural and artistic achievement).

Wikipedia:

"There were glass-treaded metal staircases inside that led to the upper projection room that showed a kaleidoscope of colors. Between the staircases was a seven-tiered cascading waterfall with underwater lighting. The interior had prisms producing colored rays from the outside sunlight. The floor-to-ceiling colored glass walls were mosaic. All this had the effect of a large crystal producing a large variety of colors."

Paul Scheerbart described both as a "German fabulist" and "anarcho-socialist" contributed a number of aphorisms to the frieze on the interior of the structure. Scheerbart was recently the subject of an interesting exhibition by Josiah McElheny entitled "The Light Club of Batavia" named after a short story written by Scheebart in 1914 and described in the press release as:

"an ambitious woman's unlikely plans for an underground light spa--a refuge for a modern illness she calls 'Light Hunger.' Her plan is realized by a motley crew of architects, artists, and foreign patrons after many long-winded speeches and romantic pledges; 'Das Lichtklub von Batavia' (The Light Club of Batavia) is a melodramatic tale that on its surface is a 'Ladies Novelette' but at its heart is a critique of the conditions of the modern age."

Josiah McElheny at Donald Young

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