Breuer, Marcel

Breuer, Marcel

▪ Hungarian architect
in full  Marcel Lajos Breuer 
born May 21, 1902, Pécs, Hung.
died July 1, 1981, New York City

      architect and designer, one of the most influential exponents of the International Style; he was concerned with applying new forms and uses to newly developed technology and materials in order to create an art expressive of an industrial age.

      From 1920 to 1928 Breuer studied and then taught at the Bauhaus school of design, where modern principles were applied to the industrial as well as to the fine arts. There he followed the lead of Walter Gropius in espousing unit construction; i.e., the combination of standardized units to form a technologically simple but functionally complex whole. In 1925, inspired by the design of bicycle handlebars, he invented the tubular metal chair; his original version is known as the Wassily chair.

      In 1928 Breuer began the private practice of architecture in Berlin. For the Swiss architectural historian Sigfried Giedion, he designed the Dolderthal Apartments, Zürich (built 1934–36). During his two years of architectural practice in London, in partnership with F.R.S. Yorke, he designed for the Isokon firm some laminated plywood furniture that became widely imitated. In 1937 he went to Harvard University to teach architecture, and from 1938 to 1941 he practiced with Gropius in Cambridge, Mass. Their synthesis of Bauhaus internationalism with New England regional aspects of wood-frame building greatly influenced domestic architecture throughout the United States. Examples of this style of building were Breuer's own house at Lincoln, Mass. (1939), and the Chamberlain cottage at Wayland, Mass. (1940).

      Breuer moved to New York City in 1946 and thereafter attracted numerous major commissions: the Sarah Lawrence College Theatre, Bronxville, N.Y. (1952); the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Headquarters, Paris (1953–58; with Pier Luigi Nervi and Bernard Zehrfuss); St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minn. (1953–61); De Bijenkorf department store, Rotterdam (1955–57); the International Business Machines (IBM) research centre, La Gaude, Fr. (1960–62); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City (completed 1966); and the headquarters for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Washington, D.C. (1963–68). He retired from practice in 1976.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • BREUER, MARCEL — (1902–1981), architecture and furniture designer. Breuer was born in Pécs, a city in southwest Hungary. In 1920, after high school, he won a scholarship to the Vienna Academy of Fine Art. Disliking the Academy, he went to work for an architect… …   Encyclopedia of Judaism

  • BREUER, Marcel — (1902 1981)    Born in Hungary, Marcel Breuer first trained at the famous Bauhaus School of Design in Germany and worked with the German modernist architect Walter Gropius. Known as one of the founders of modernism in both architecture and… …   Historical Dictionary of Architecture

  • Breuer, Marcel — (1902 1981)    furniture designer; best known for his Breuer Chair. A native of Pecs, Hungary, he came to Weimar in 1920 to study design at the Bauhaus.* When the school moved to Dessau in 1925, he went along as the master in charge of the… …   Historical dictionary of Weimar Republik

  • Breuer, Marcel — pseud. di Breuer, Lajos …   Sinonimi e Contrari. Terza edizione

  • Breuer, Marcel (Lajos) — (21 may. 1902, Pécs, Hungría–1 jul. 1981, Nueva York, N.Y., EE.UU.). Arquitecto y diseñador de muebles estadounidense de origen húngaro. Estudió y posteriormente enseñó en la Bauhaus (1920–28), donde en 1925 inventó la famosa silla de acero… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Breuer,Marcel Lajos — Breu·er (broiʹər), Marcel Lajos. 1902 1981. Hungarian born American architect and furniture designer who was associated with the Bauhaus in the 1920s. He is known for his chairs with tubular steel frames. * * * …   Universalium

  • Breuer, Marcel — ► (1902 81) Arquitecto húngaro, alumno y profesor de la Bauhaus. Ideó la casa binuclear (zona de noche, zona de día, separadas por el vestíbulo de entrada), y realizó el edificio de la UNESCO (París) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Breuer, Marcel —  (1902–1981) Hungarian born American architect and designer …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • Breuer, Marcel (Lajos) — born May 21, 1902, Pécs, Hung. died July 1, 1981, New York, N.Y., U.S. Hungarian U.S. architect and furniture designer. He studied and then taught at the Bauhaus (1920–28), where in 1925 he invented the famous tubular steel chair. He moved to… …   Universalium

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