Architecture in Archives

The Akademie der Kunste (Academy of Arts) in Berlin has carried out the task of promoting the German Arts, since its foundation in 1696. From the outset, master builders have been eligible to become members. The architect Hans Scharoun laid the groundwork for establishing the architectural archive. As the first post-war president of the academy in West Berlin, he was eager to document twentieth-century architecture in the Archive. Besides the story lying behind the collection, this publication presents all seventy-one archives and eighty collections, including short biographies of the originators, and the nature and scope of inventories. The Preu?ische Akademie (Prussian Academy) is represented amongst others, by drawings by Friedrich Gilly from the end of the eighteenth century. The Expressionist designs by Bruno Taut, Alfons Anker, Paul Goesch, and Adolf Behne are found in rich abundance. In common with the archives of Richard Ermisch, Paul Baumgarten, and Thilo Schoder, these offer a chronicle of the 1920s