The Fagus Factory in Alfeld - At the Start of Modernity, Germany (400/418)

The Fagus Factory in Alfeld - At the Start of Modernity, Germany (400/418)

Those who only know the Fagus Factory from the monumental black-and-white photographs of the 1920s and 30s could feel disappointed by a visit to Alfeld: they will see a small factory building, made of bricks in line with local tradition, where shoe lasts are still manufactured today.

But at second glance the building reveals its true significance as the 'original building of modernism': the large rows of windows and the free-standing staircase behind a glass corner. It is the first time a building had made do without massive corner pillars that promise stability to the beholder. Instead, modern lightness replaces the pomp of the late nineteenth century. It is the first independently designed building by Walter Gropius, the future founder of the Bauhaus. He believed he had built the first glass curtain wall in the world here. Experts argue about whether it really is a curtain wall. But it definitely isn't the first. Maybe there is no one 'original building' and maybe the Fagus Factory is not alone at the start of modernism.