Universalism and Its Discontents: Konrad Wachsmann's 20th Century Architecture

Abstract

In 1941, German architect Konrad Wachsmann (1901–1980) emigrated to the U.S. to escape the Second World War. Erstwhile a trained cabinetmaker, the chief architect of one of the largest prefabricated construction companies in Europe, and a private practitioner, Wachsmann brought a particular line of prefabricated timber construction knowledge to the U.S., which he utilized in the development of military technologies as well as for the development of an ambitious prefabricated kit-of-parts house known as the Packaged House (1941-47), developed in collaboration with Walter Gropius (1883–1969). Later, he transferred to academia and developed an algorithmic teaching system, which he employed in his teaching posts in the U.S. and his state-sponsored workshops around the world. With two novel architectural research institutes, which he supported with military and government commissions that became the subject of design inquiry at these programs, Wachsmann envisioned a transformation of architectural education within the university system and the larger order of society. Through Wachsmann's post-emigration oeuvre, covering his projects, collaborations, and pedagogy, this dissertation delves into the post-war transatlantic exchange of architectural and intellectual capital and the influence of production technologies and cybernetics on architectural imagination and theory.