Author Description

Josef Paul Kleihues (1933-2004) was one of the most prolific architects of postwar Germany, famous both as the Director of the International Building Exhibition Berlin in 1987 and for his design for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He was also known for his sensitive interventions into older buildings, an instance of which is the former Hamburger Bahnhof--now the Museum für Gegenwart--in Berlin, where Kleihues intermixed glass walls and light installations by the American Minimalist Dan Flavin with the building's original nineteenth-century Neoclassical design. (His reconstruction was widely deemed to rival or even surpass Gae Aulenti's overhaul of the interior of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris.) This first volume of a three-part monograph presents projects up to 1980, including the highly acclaimed Berlin Sanitation Department and the Neukölln Hospital. Even in these early works, Kleihues' practical, problem-solving approach is already evident, indicating his readiness to reflect on the traditional approaches of Modern architecture and his capacity to expand them in interesting ways. This very generously illustrated volume was designed by Kleihues himself, just before his death in 2004.