expressionist movment

The expressionist movement was concerned with forms and massing used to express the social and political situations in the community. Founded in Germany and prominent across Europe, architects such as Hans Scharoun aimed to protect modern (German) architecture and express the cultural and sociopolitical values and concerns. This notion of architecture as an expression of the times is most notable in Scharoun's works, specifically that of the Berlin Philharmonic and the German Marine Time Museum. Highlighting the spacial arrangements and form commonly used by Scharoun differentiates his architectural style from others of the expressionist movement.

After the Second World War, the Allies placed Scharoun as the director of the department of Building and Municipal Housing in which he endeavoured to replace the destroyed philharmonic concert hall in Berlin. Although the concert hall was designed and built towards the decline of the expressionist movement, Scharoun's simplistic yet futuristic design epitomises that of expressionist architecture that intends to create "a complete compression of the character and the causality of [the] creations 1" as it both metaphorically and literally aimed to express music at its centre to allow for the sound waves to bounce throughout the entirety of the auditorium. This is exemplified by the floor plan diagram, highlighting the parallel walls in which the sound can bounce, even though the design itself is asymmetrical."Scharoun especially stressed the important creative role of the unconscious 2" where he intended to establish a relationship between the music, the people and the space through his design, where the building allowed for a visual representation of the music itself and for the people to be intertwined and experience the full effect of the music being played at any given time and no matter where they are seated. Scharoun's spacial arrangements and formal qualities are most evident when compared with expressionist architect Giovanni Michelucci's Church of San Giovanni Battista (Church of the Sun Highway) in Florence Italy, which was designed during the same period as both the Berlin Philharmonic and the German Marine Time Museum. While Scharoun and Michielucci have similarities akin to that of sweeping roof lines that are aimed to express each of their programs, "Scharoun is often characterised by curvilinear, functionally 'expressive' forms which reject the rectilinearity typical of the movement as a whole, 3" as typified by the Philharmonic's gradual wave like peaks and valleys where Scharoun's roof follow that of music, hinting at the crescendo and the drama in the melodic orchestra within. Scharoun "prefer[s] to search for shapes rather then impose them [and] to discover forms rather then construct them. 4" Whereas Michielucci, follows the rectilinearity prevalent in the movement illustrated by the the Church's dramatic and sharp incline, accompanied with a linear ladder like structure to evoke a transcendent nature. The spacial differences are soo too evident between the two different architects and their programs as the tight and confronting dark corridors and hall of the Church are in direct contrast to the open and expansive layout that Scharoun adopts. His non centred, stage centric design allows for an airy and unobstructed view of the stage that "is the result of the organisation of many individual entities in space in order that life can unfold and action take place, 5" whereby all can experience the music.

The German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven, solidifies Scharoun's "curvilinear, functionally 'expressive' forms, 6" while unilaterally staying true to the main ideal of the expressionist movement, that being to evoke and express the cultural and sociopolitical dilemmas and messages through architecture. The museum in its form expresses that of marine time through its port hole style windows and cruse ship bridge style look out that extrudes out of the middle of the main two bisecting forms. This allows for a "fluid transition between the individual sections 7" which is further enhanced by the spacial plan intending to allow for a freedom of movement in a controlled manner. Scharoun's focus on centrality is prevalent in the museum as the main exhibition hall centres around a paddle steamer where a "focused stairwell flooded with light, 8" visually guides and holds focus to the hall itself. Further, the specific placement of windows add to this "visual relation[ship to both the centrality of the main hall and to] the maritime surroundings. 9"

While the expressionist movement consisted of many architects who all aimed to respond and express the cultural and sociopolitical trials and tribulations of the time it is Scharoun's spacial properties and formal qualities that differentiate his work from his peers. Scharoun champions the "articulation of the building[s] in response to the fluidity of life, 10" responding "to both internal and external pressures, 11" that allow for discovery of form and spacial orientation that adds to the overall expression in his architecture.