A House for Bruno Taut

A HOUSE FOR BRUNO TAUT

It is hard to believe that a modern (even “avant-garde”) architect ever mentioned the word “transcendental,” let alone saying that we must be subordinate to it (i.e. to the “transcendental”) ... But this is exactly what the great German architect Bruno Taut did.

He was also the one who had the courage, at Weissenhof, in Stuttgart, to build a house that refused to be white, as opposed to most of the other architects, including Le Corbusier, who was otherwise quite colorful in his paintings, but not really in his architecture.

Indeed, the obsession with whiteness is a fundamental one in modern architecture. The “savage” color is reserved for “artworks,” but not really for buildings… very rarely it was and is different. No doubt, Adolf Loos was right: people love home and hate art. Simplifying, we might almost say that people love their white homes and hate their colored art (even if they do buy it, either as an ‘investment” or as an “accessory” - both a terrible insult to art).

But Taut was different. He refused the red painting to hang placidly on the white wall. Instead, he made the wall, red.

We ask you to design A House for Bruno Taut.

For that very complex architect who, again, had the courage to use a word that was, and still is, taboo: TRANSCENDENTAL. And he asked us to submit to it (i.e. to the transcendental).

Should we add anything more…? Perhaps that the book he published, called “Alpine Architecture” (which can be acquired inexpensively through Amazon.com) still needs serious investigation. It is an “Utopian” book, yes, if by “Utopian” one understands a leaning towards one’s longings, as opposed to one’s more measurable projections.

But we need these longings badly, since they make us dream of a better world!

Is there any need to advocate their deeply seated raison d’etre…?

Please send us ANY work, ANY size and ANY format that responds to the theme to: [email protected]. We will publish all the works received on our website, www.icarch.net. There is an entry fee of 30E (15E for students) payable by Paypal through the Registration section of our website. This entry fee entitles one to participate in another competition that we launch, without paying another fee. The works that receive a merit award will be invited to participate in two other competitions without paying an entry fee, while the first prize winners will be able to do this three times. This is our way of promoting architectural creativity, which is the true aim of our activities. The deadline for registration for this competition is April 15th, 2010. The deadline for submitting your work is May 4th, 2010 (Bruno Taut’s 130th birthday).

Thank you,

ICARCH Gallery