Speer's approach to architecture
During Speer's architectural studies he came under the influence of Professor Heinrich Tessenow, whose ideas on architecture had an important influence on Speer, particularly his opinion that good architecture was simple architecture. "He used to talk to
us, on just about architecture, but about life, about love for nature, for the
land and also for one's country,' Speer recalled.
Professor Tessenow urged his students to consider an architectural
style based on nature. 'Simple is not always best, he told his students, 'but
the best is always simple.'[1]
Speer was fond of the classic simplicity of the Doric style from ancient Greece with massive stone columns and cornices being a major feature. Speer's work was intended to lead and provide an image which would assist in gaining popularity for the Nazi regime. The buildings were therefore practical forms of propaganda. Speer's use of concrete objects, such as the Nuremberg reviewing stand symbolised great power and development, particularly after the great depression. In conjunction with the parading men it expressed an image of great power, order and solidity. Similarly, Speer's pavilion for the Paris World Fair of 1937 was designed to make a political statement about the power of Germany, the fact that it stood opposite the Soviet Unions pavilion shows world dominance.
However, Speer's approach to architecture changed when he was appointed "first architect of the Reich" because he would now have to follow the designs and ideas of Hitler himself. Hitler's view of architecture was essentially political it would express the power and permanence of his regime and pass down its legacy to history. Hitler preferred the more monumental style from ancient Greece and Rome called neo-classical architecture. Neo-classical architecture was first developed in the 18th Century. It has a few defining characteristics, in that its; clean, elegant lines, massive buildings and free standing columns made it contrast and conflict with the Rococo and Baroque architectural styles in the same era. When Speer was designing and pondering over the idea's and beliefs of Hitler. Speer made sure he included drawings of how his building would look after a thousand years.
[1] Quoted in W. Hamsher, Albert Speer, A Victim of Nuremberg, London, 1970, p. 523.
Speer was fond of the classic simplicity of the Doric style from ancient Greece with massive stone columns and cornices being a major feature. Speer's work was intended to lead and provide an image which would assist in gaining popularity for the Nazi regime. The buildings were therefore practical forms of propaganda. Speer's use of concrete objects, such as the Nuremberg reviewing stand symbolised great power and development, particularly after the great depression. In conjunction with the parading men it expressed an image of great power, order and solidity. Similarly, Speer's pavilion for the Paris World Fair of 1937 was designed to make a political statement about the power of Germany, the fact that it stood opposite the Soviet Unions pavilion shows world dominance.
However, Speer's approach to architecture changed when he was appointed "first architect of the Reich" because he would now have to follow the designs and ideas of Hitler himself. Hitler's view of architecture was essentially political it would express the power and permanence of his regime and pass down its legacy to history. Hitler preferred the more monumental style from ancient Greece and Rome called neo-classical architecture. Neo-classical architecture was first developed in the 18th Century. It has a few defining characteristics, in that its; clean, elegant lines, massive buildings and free standing columns made it contrast and conflict with the Rococo and Baroque architectural styles in the same era. When Speer was designing and pondering over the idea's and beliefs of Hitler. Speer made sure he included drawings of how his building would look after a thousand years.
[1] Quoted in W. Hamsher, Albert Speer, A Victim of Nuremberg, London, 1970, p. 523.
Appointment as "First Architect of the Reich"
In 1934, on the death of Hitler's longstanding architect Paul Ludwig Troost, Goebbel's State Secretary, Walthur Funk, told Speer, 'Congratulations, now you are the first.' Hitler later on in 1937 named Albert Speer Generalbauinspektor (often shortened to GBI, Inspector General of Buildings for Construction), an appointment that made Speer a State Secretary with a place at all high-level meetings.