DAS ERSTE HAUS Das Kings-Road-House Von Rudolph Schindler

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DAS ERSTE HAUS Das Kings-Road-House Von Rudolph Schindler TRAVERSIN 2004 Erhältlich online bei www.traversin.de DAS ERSTE HAUS Das Kings-Road-House von Rudolph Schindler Reinhard KÖNIG und Christian BAURIEDEL Dipl. Ing. Reinhard König, Lehrstuhl für Stadtquartiersplanung und Entwerfen, TU Karlsruhe, [email protected], www.entwurfsforschung.de Dipl. Ing. Christian Bauriedel, Fakultät für Architektur, Professur Informatik in der Architektur, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, [email protected] Das Kings-Road-House von Rudolph Schindler "Eine kooperative Behausung für zwei junge Paare" in West Hollywood, Californien Für die Mitwirkung an diesem Beitrag sind wir Frau Beate Brosig für ihre hilfreichen Kommentare und wertvollen Anregungen verpfl ichtet. Inhalt Vorbemerkung 3 Der Architekt R. M. Schindler Europa und Amerika 4 Architektonische Ansätze Rudolph Schindlers 6 Analyse des Kings-Road-House Die Idee 8 Struktur 10 Systemschnitte 12 Proportionsstudie 13 Raum 14 Einrichtung 17 Konstruktion 18 Interpretation Schindlers Wirkung 19 Resümee 20 Literaturangaben 21 R. M. und Mark Schindler im Kings R. M. und Pauline Gibling Pauline und Mark Schindler, Schindler vor seinem Zelt im Schindler bei einem Ausfl ug Road House, Sommer 1923 Schindler, Sophie und Edmund Sommer 1923 Yosemite National Park, 1921 des Palette and Chisel Club, Gibling, Dorothy Gibling und Chicago, 1915 Mark Schindler, Sommer 1923 Vorbemerkung R.M. Schindler nimmt als Neuerer in der Architektur des 20. Jahrhunderts einen besonderen Platz ein, und auch heute noch beeinfl usst der energische Experimentalismus Schindlers viele Architekten, besonders der jüngeren Generation, deren Ent- wurfsstrategien eine nahe Verwandtschaft zu Schindler zeigen. Schindler entwarf und baute einige der provokativsten Gebäude des 20. Jahrhunderts, darunter das für seine eigene Familie und die Chasefamilie erbautes Kings Road House oder das Philip Lovell Beach House, die zu den herausragenden Beispielen der Moderne gezählt werden und als ebenso innovativ wie die Entwürfe seiner europäischen Zeitgenossen, wie beispielsweise Le Corbusier gelten. Was mich zu der Beschäftigung mit Rudolph Schindler veran- lasst hat, ist die Tatsache, dass er sich trotz aller Modernität einen Abstand zum International Style seiner Zeitgenossen und deren kubischer Verherrlichung des neuen Maschinenzeitalters bewahrte. Im Gegensatz zu Le Corbusier oder Marcel Breuer, die bestrebt waren, jedes Projekt auf die Ebene einer allge- meinen Aussage zu heben, ging es Schindler darum, für jeden Entwurf eine spezifi sche, das heißt immer neue und individuelle Lösung zu fi nden. Für ihn bedeutete die Verwendung von Stahls- keletten und Betonrahmen lediglich die Befreiung von statischen Zwängen sowie eine Möglichkeit, seine Entwürfe bautechnisch effi zient realisieren zu können. Seine Entwürfe zeichnen sich Ich bin [...] dir dankbar, r.m.s. [...] für [...] dieses Haus, das mir durch große räumliche Komplexität aus und wirken wie losgelöst so lieb und teuer ist, dass es in gewisser Weise mein Leben von allen Rückbezügen auf früheres Bauen. Ungewöhnlich ist bestimmt hat. auch das betonte Ausgreifen von Schindlers Bauten auf die Pauline Gibling Schindler an R. M. Schindler, 9 Juli 1953 umliegende Landschaft, den umgebenden Raum. Der Architekt R. M. Schindler Europa und Amerika Das Werk Rudolph Schindlers und dessen architektonische Aus- sage lassen sich auf verschiedene Einfl üsse zurückführen. Seine Ausbildung in Wien absolvierte Schindler bei Otto Wag- ner und seit 1912 in der Bauschule von Adolf Loos. Mit dem „Raumplan" und der Suche nach kultureller und traditioneller Identität wird Loos zum Mentor Schindlers. Schon damals übte das Werk Frank Lloyd Wrights einen gro- ßen Einfl uss auf den jungen Architekten aus. Im Jahre 1910/11 erschien Wrights Portofolio „Bauten und Entwürfe" im Berliner Wasmuth-Verlag und wurde mit großem Interesse in Europa aufgenommen. Auch der Amerikaaufenthalt von Loos 1893-96 stärkte Schindler in seinem Entschluss, Wien zu verlassen und 1914 ins „Land der unbegrenzten Möglichkeiten" aufzubrechen. Nach Ausbruch des 1. Weltkrieges blieb ihm eine Rückkehr verwehrt. 1917 gelang es ihm, eine Ansstellung bei Fank Lloyd Wright zu erhalten. Während Wright die Bauarbeiten in Tokyo am Schindler (vordere Reihe, zweiter von links) an Bord der Kaiserin Auguste Viktoria auf dem Weg in die Imperial-Hotel betreute, wurde Schindler sein wichtigster Mitar- USA, März 1914 beiter in „Talisien". Die Erfahrung mit Wrights Arbeit hatte ent- scheidenden Einfl uss auf seine architektonische Entwicklung. Allerdings lässt sich Schindler nicht in die Gruppe der Wright Nachfolger einreihen. Übereinstimmende Punkte fanden kei- ne Nachahmung, sondern eine individuelle Weiterentwicklung. Besonders wichtig erscheint mir in diesem Zusammenhang die Suche nach einer naturverbundenen Lebensform, die Symbiose von Bau- und Umraum, Haus und Mobiliar, sowie die Distanz zur maschinellen Standartproduktion. 1920 betreut Schindler im Auftrag Wrights das Hollyhock-Haus in Los Angeles und macht sich kurz darauf selbstständig. Ka- lifornien wird von nun an Heimat und Ort des Schaffens. Hier erlebt Schindler den Aufbruch Amerikas in eine neue Zeit. „The californian way of life" interpretiert beispielhaft das neue Lebensgefühl. Die Einstellung zur Mobilität, zur Kommunikation und ein ungetrübter Optimismus führen zu einem veränderten Wohnen. Das Einfamilienhaus im Grünen wird en vogue, was zu einer rapiden Expansion der Städte führt. Dabei entsteht allerdings weniger das, was man im hergebrachten Sinne un- ter Stadt versteht, eher ein loses Arrangement verschiedener Städte, was für L.A. hieß, dass Hollywood, Pasadena und St. Frank Lloyd Wright in Taliesin, Spring Green, Wisconsin, 1924 Monica zusammenwuchsen. 4 Amerika, das unermesslich große Land mit seinen einzigarti- gen Landschaften wird für Schindler Ort der Befreiung von der Tradition der europäischen Architektur. Doch auch hier besteht die Möglichkeit einer neuen, historisch fundierten Architektur aufgrund einer autochthonen Tradition, was Schindler dazu veranlasst, nach einer modernen amerikanischen Architektur zu suchen. Er löst sich jedoch nicht vollkommen von Europa. Die Entwick- lungen dort sind ihm durchaus bekannt. Laut Kenneth Frampton verfolgte Schindler die niederländische Bewegung De Stijl als reinste Verkörperung einer elementaren, rationalen Formen- sprache mit großem Interesse. Der Zeichenraum in Taliesin, 1918. Auf den Tischen liegen Zeichnungen zum Imperial Hotel. Photografi e von R. M. Schindler Hier fi ndet sich auch ein verbindendes Element zwischen ihm und seinen europäischen Kollegen: die Abstraktion. Gleichzei- tig setzt das Paradoxon ein, womit Schindler uns konfrontiert. Der Bezug zum Ort bildet den Gegenpol zur Abstraktion. Die aufrüttelnde Kraft dieses Widerspruchs beschreibt Woods als „Kämpfe mit unentschiedenem Ausgang, die eine innere Spannung erzeugen, welche keine von beiden allein hätte erzeugen können". Diese Synthese fand jedoch nicht überall Zustimmung. Die Anhänger des International Style interpretierten dies als frag- würdige, inkonsequente Provokation, was dazu führte, dass ihm Anerkennung lange verwehrt blieb. Ein Beispiel für diesen offi ziellen Ausschluss stellt die Ausstellung „The International Wrights Mitarbeiter vor dem Eingang zu den Studios in Taliesin, 1918. Von links Style" von 1932 in New York dar. Dort war er nicht vertreten, was nach rechts, Wiliam E. Smith, Schindler, Arato Endo, Goichi Fujikura, und Julius Floto. Floto war der beratende Ingenieur beim Imperial Hotel, die anderen vier auf Johnsons Meinung zurückgeht, Schindler wäre ein Nach- waren Zeichner. folger Wrights. Obwohl sein bedeutendstes Werk, das Lovell Beach House, sehr wohl den Dogmen des International Style entsprechen könnte, wurde dies total ignoriert. Die 5 Punkte von Le Corbusier galten als Muss, um Teil dieser Bewegung zu sein. Rudolph Schindler lehnte es ab, sich dieser „Glaubens- richtung" anzuschließen, da sie allzu sehr vereinfachte und die unterschiedlichen Strömungen und Gruppen nicht einbezog. Er hatte Europa zu früh verlassen, um Anhänger der europäischen Moderne zu sein. Trotz seiner Isolation vom International Style teilte Schindler den gleichen Idealismus, die Aufbruchsstim- mung, von der die Modernen befl ügelt waren. Philip Lovell Beach House, Newport Beach, Kalifornien, 1922-1926 5 Architektonische Ansätze Rudolph Schindlers Zu welchen Hauptfragen lässt sich Schindlers Werk aufgrund der formalen, räumlichen und inhaltlichen Analyse einiger seiner wichtigsten Werke zusammenfassen? „1921, als der Eindruck von Kalifornien noch frisch in meinem Kopf war, baute ich mein eigenes Haus und versuchte dabei, dem Charakter des Ortes zu entsprechen […]. Ich verwendete Merkmale, die für das Leben in Kalifornien notwendig erschie- nen; einen ebenerdigen, offenen Grundriss, Wohnterrassen, Das Schindlersche Patio schließt übergangslos an Pauline Schindlers studio an. Glaswände, lichtdurchlässige Wände, breite Schiebetüren, hochliegende Fenster, Sheddächer mit breiten, Schatten spendenden Überständen. Diese Merkmale sind nun allge- mein akzeptiert und bilden die Basis des zeitgenössischen kalifornischen Hauses." R. M. Schindler, 1952 Raumarchitektur Noch in Europa, 1914 in Wien, schuf er ein Manifest, in welchem er auf die Architektur als Raumkunst hinweist. Er beschreibt das innere Wesen dieser Kunst, das „Er-räumen". Dabei defi nieren Licht, Oberfl äche, Textur und Farbe die Räumlichkeiten. Masse, Form und Bildhauerei sind der Architektur gegensätzlich. Weder R. M. Schindler Studio, mit 'children´s chair', Bank und
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