The Berliner Philharmonie features terraces rising in irregular configurations around a central music podium, a signature design element that solidified Hans Scharoun's reputation as a leader in organic and expressionist architecture. His professional life spanned the early twentieth century through the post-war reconstruction of West Berlin, marking a career defined by spatial innovation and humanistic building principles.
Early Career and Training
Born in 1893 in Bremen, Scharoun passed his Abitur in 1912 and began architectural studies at the Technische Universität Berlin. He did not complete his formal degree, though he drafted designs as early as age sixteen. Following service in the First World War, he relocated to Breslau in 1919 to work as a freelance architect. During this period, he joined the expressionist collective known as the Glass Chain and participated in the architects' association Der Ring.
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Scharoun held a professorship at the Staatliche Akademie für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe Breslau until its 1932 closure. His early urban planning work included the Großsiedlung Siemensstadt in Berlin, a major housing estate project. While he remained in Germany during the Nazi era, his output shifted primarily to private residential commissions. Notable works from this time include the Schminke House in Löbau, which demonstrated his focus on complex internal spatial sequences.
Post-War Reconstruction and Legacy
Following the Second World War, the Allies appointed Scharoun to oversee municipal building departments in Berlin. In 1946, he resumed his academic career as a professor at the Technische Universität Berlin. His later work emphasized differentiated organization of space, reflected in the Romeo and Julia apartment towers, the Geschwister-Scholl-Gesamtschule in Lünen, and the Berliner Philharmonie. He died in 1972 in West Berlin and is buried at the Zehlendorf Forest Cemetery.
Fast facts
- Born: 1893, Bremen, Germany
- Died: 1972, West Berlin, Germany
- Education: Technische Universität Berlin
- Notable Works: Berliner Philharmonie, Villa Schminke, Berlin State Library
- Awards: Auguste Perret Prize (1965), Erasmus Prize (1970)
- Professional Roles: Architect, urban planner, designer, university teacher
- Burial Site: Zehlendorf Forest Cemetery
Questions readers ask
Which major projects were completed after Scharoun's death?
The Berlin State Library, the theatre in Wolfsburg, and the German Maritime Museum were finished posthumously.
Did Scharoun work on projects outside of Germany?
The German Embassy in Brasília, constructed between 1963 and 1969, is the only building he realized outside of Germany.
Achievements
- Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
- Notable work: Berliner Philharmonie
- Notable work: Ledigenheim in Wrocław
- Notable work: Berlin State Library
- Notable work: Kammermusiksaal
- Affiliated with Technische Universität Berlin and Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts
- Educated at Technische Universität Berlin
- Worked as architect, university teacher and designer
