Theodor Fischer e Monaco/Fritz Schumacher e Amburgo. Il blocco edilizio e la corte, corpi murari e spazi collettivi

The main topic of this essay is a comparison between two important “stadtbaumeister”, whose similar experiences are linked with stories of two different cities. The focus on T. Fischer and F. Schumacher allows on one hand the clarification of techniques and tools for the orderly growth of Munich and Hamburg, on the other hand the understanding of their contributions on the modern living.
Fischer and Schumacher looks to the old city as a moment in the history of the bigger city. The archetype of the pre-existing city inspires the transfer and renewal of the public space principles and laws of elements aggregation. According to Fischer and Schumacher, the city’s past is also a reference point for modern architecture. Its elements – boundaries, monuments, fabrics, houses, garden and water canals – spill into the modern urban plan. The “building block” and the courtyard are fundamental things in the several residential parts within the big city. So, the big city is developed by an idea of construction of a “big house” or an organic plant, strongly related to the “massive” building character: the houses are wall structures that protect the collective spaces, where each part is considered as a whole located next to the other. The city is also built on only few rules that are rely on simple tools committed to the “human” scale. These rules determine a specific language and affirm a common style through a known construction technique. Therefore, the clay soil of Hamburg causes the widespread use of bricks, the rocky soil of Munich induces the use of stones and tuff. This indicates a hidden constructive expressivity that appears in a tectonic code: a norm that used to represent and connect the elements of the buildings, their structures and configurations, their urban character. Everything is gathered around the research for identity, which has a precise aesthetic purpose. The Hamburg made of bricks of Schumacher connects itself with the memory of other cities in northern Europe (Lübeck, Amsterdam, Copenhagen). Fischer updates the historical ornamental technique of the façades of the plastered Munich, typical of central-southern Europe (Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Wien).

Keywords: Germany, Fischer, Schumacher, building, construction