Haus der Wissenschaft
The building Haus der Wissenschaft, meaning "House of Knowledge" in German, formerly the University of Education Braunschweig, Germany, situated at Pockelstr. 11 in Braunschweig, Germany, is an example of late expressionist Nazi architecture in Germany. It was proposed by architect Emil Herzig and was opened in 1937 as the "Bernhard-Rust University" for teacher education.
After World War II it was reopened as the "Kant University". Since 2007 it is owned by the Technical University of Braunschweig and houses the company that shares its name. [1]
History of the building
1937–1945
The cornerstone for the building was placed on the 19th of March 1935. At the time it was planned as an extension for the cultural department of the Technical University of Braunschweig, however during planning, it was repurposed as the home for the newly created "Bernhard-Rust University". It opened on the 23rd of May 1937. [2] It symbolized in two ways the political approach of the Nazi regime. It showed the commitment towards better education of teachers as a way to ensure the alignment of future generations with the NsDAP, as well as the strong exterior thanks to its monumentality. However, already shortly after its inauguration the duration for a teaching degree was reduced to 4 semesters, the reason for this was, the Nazis seeing academical preparation as unnecessary for teachers.[3] It used to house an observatory which was destroyed during the war, nowadays it houses a crystal dome.
After 1945
The building itself survived the war mostly intact, so much so that in November 1945 lectures were already being held. The local government and the government of the British occupation zone in Germany decided to rename the University as the "Kant University". This university was the first in Braunschweig offering free university level education after the war. Because of this, it developed into the center of education and culture in the city. Starting in 1945 the university hosted culturally relevant events and in 1946 the city theatre made the gym its newest venue. A series of lectures titled "questions of the present" was already undertaking the task of processing the past, doing this already in November 1945. The university was also the source of democratization in the region. It was the venue for the first and last sessions of the parliament of Braunschweig before its dissolution in 1946, when the city would become part of the state of Lower Saxony. Between 1953 and 1974 the students of the Technical University utilized the tower for a radio and television studio that exists, albeit somewhere else, until this day. In 1978 the building was formally annexed by the Technical University of Braunschweig. Since 2016 there is a showcase in the southern staircase presenting the usage of the building under the Nazis.
Architecture
Architect Emil Herzig proposed a complex of three buildings: the lecture room, the museum of natural history and a gym. Between all these buildings there would be a courtyard that would open to the north. The modern form of the complex was finished in the sixties. [4] The building complex is built in brick covering a modern framework of reinforced concrete, akin to the style of brick expressionism. The inner construction derived, in its original form, a lot of symbolisms from Nazi ideology. The lighting would imitate torches and the metalworks of the stairway and lecture hall would imitate swastika. The complex is dominated by the six-level main building. It contains lecture halls, seminary rooms and the Auditorium. The roof is done as a reference to the sacral building of the brick gothic style. [5] Between 2008 and 2009 the building complex was renovated. In the 6th floor a restaurant was opened, in the 5th floor two seminary rooms were built and the student service of the university was relocated to the ground floor. In 2011 the glass dome was built after a previous dome made out of wood and glass was destroyed in 2007 by Hurricane Kyrill.
Haus der Wissenschaft GmbH
As a consequence of Braunschweig being declared the city of knowledge a new non-profit organisation was founded using the same name as the building. The four shareholders are the university, the regional employer's association, "Forschungs Region Braunschweig" e.V. and the "Merchant Association Union of 1818 e.V." The objective of the NGO is to connect society to knowledge. This happens through different events and presentations with knowledge as its main focus. A new format, now popular nationwide, was pioneered by the NGO, the so-called Science Slam. It is a derivation from Poetry Slams where different topics of the Academia are presented in 10 minutes or less, then the audience decides which act was the winner. The prize for the winner is a golden brain. In cooperation with the Braunschweiger Zeitung and the Phaeno museum there is a weekly article called "Besserwisser", where experts explain in a few sentences, the latest science topics to children. Haus der Wissenschaft also utilizes modern communication channels such as Twitch, where they livestream different videogames during discussions with experts to facilitate the discourse between society and the aforementioned experts.
Literature
- Markus Mittmann: Nationalsozialistisches Bauen: Die „Bernhard-Rust-Hochschule" in Braunschweig. (= Kleine Schriften 25), Stadtarchiv und Stadtbibliothek Braunschweig, Braunschweig 1993.
- Holger Pump-Uhlmann: Der Gebäudekomplex für die ehemalige „Bernhard-Rust-Hochschule". In: Technische Universität Braunschweig. Vom Collegium Carolinum zur Technischen Universität (1745–1995). Olms-Georg AG, Braunschweig 1995.
Weblinks
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Coordinates: 52°16′29.2″N 10°31′46.1″E / 52.274778°N 10.529472°E
References
- ↑ City of Braunschweig: 'City of Science' [1]
- ↑ Markus Mittmann: Bauen im Nationalsozialismus. Braunschweig, die „Deutsche Siedlungsstadt" und die „Mustersiedlung der Deutschen Arbeitsfront" Braunschweig-Mascherode. Ursprung, Gestaltung, Analyse. Niemeyer, Hameln 2003, ISBN 3-8271-9050-9 (Zugleich: Hannover, Univ., Diss., 2003: Bauen im Nationalsozialismus: Siedlungen und Wohnungsbau in Braunschweig 1933–1945 und die „Mustersiedlung der Deutschen Arbeitsfront" Braunschweig-Mascherode.
- ↑ Uwe Sandfuchs: Die Reseminarisierung der Lehrerausbildung im Dritten Reich. In: Braunschweigisches Jahrbuch, Band 62, 1981, S. 137–156 nbn-resolving.de.
- ↑ Andreas Eberhard und Lars Strominski: Vom Kleinen Exer zum Haus der Wissenschaft. Der Ort, das Haus, seine Geschichte. Technische Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig 2017, ISBN 978-3-927115-78-1 (= Veröffentlichungen der Universitätsbibliothek und des Universitätsarchivs Braunschweig, Band 18. Katalog zu der am 8. September 2016 eröffneten Dauerausstellung im Haus der Wissenschaft Braunschweig). online
- ↑ Helmut Weihsmann: Bauen unterm Hakenkreuz. Architektur des Untergangs. Promedia Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., Wien 1998, ISBN 3-85371-113-8, S. 310–311.
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