Manfred Lehmbruck

Manfred Lehmbruck (13 June 1913 – 26 November 1992) was a German architect and professor known for a small but influential group of museum and cultural buildings created during the post-war period. His work achieved international visibility when two of his museums, the Reuchlinhaus in Pforzheim and the Lehmbruck-Museum in Duisburg, were included in the Museum of Modern Art’s 1968 exhibition Architecture of Museums, a survey of exemplary museum buildings worldwide. He is regarded as a specialist in museum design, and many of his buildings are now listed monuments.

Lehmbruck was born in Paris as a son of the sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck. During the First World War the family lived in Berlin and Zürich, later settling in Munich in 1919. His father’s suicide that same year is often noted in biographical accounts.

He completed his secondary education at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich in 1932. In the early 1930s he briefly attended the Bauhaus in Berlin as a guest, encountering figures such as Wassily Kandinsky, Josef Albers, Ludwig Hilberseimer and Lilly Reich.

He studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule Berlin with Heinrich Tessenow and Hans Poelzig, and at the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart with Paul Bonatz, graduating in 1938. He worked for Werner March on the Reichssportfeld for the 1936 Olympics and for Auguste Perret in Paris (1938–1939). During the Second World War he was briefly interned in France.

In 1942 he earned the degree of Dr.-Ing. from the Technische Hochschule Hannover under Gerhard Graubner, writing a dissertation on museum architecture. After the war he worked in Munich and Switzerland before settling in Stuttgart.

He died in Stuttgart in 1992.

In 1967 Lehmbruck was appointed Professor of Building Theory and Architectural Design (Lehrstuhl D) at the Technische Hochschule Braunschweig (now TU Braunschweig). He held the position until his retirement in 1979. His archive is preserved by the university’s Sammlung für Architektur und Ingenieurbau. A drawing room on campus is named “Lehmbruck” in his memory.^[1]

Lehmbruck’s most personal commission was the design of the Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum (1959–1964) in Duisburg, created to house the work of his father. The building juxtaposes a low, earthbound concrete wing with a large glass hall opening onto the Kantpark. This combination has been interpreted as a spatial dialogue between remembrance, introspection and the open optimism of post-war modernism.^[2][3]

Lehmbruck’s museum architecture is noted for:^[4]

• clear structural grids and restrained modernist detailing
• strong integration of landscape, especially in park settings
• spatial sequences shaped by stairs, bridges and changes in level
• interplay of transparency and enclosure
• controlled natural light through glazed ceilings and façades^[5]

His work reflects influences from the International Style, Miesian modernism, Tessenow’s proportional discipline and Perret’s concrete rationalism. Critics describe his buildings as “considered”, “quiet” and “subtle”; despite a small oeuvre, nearly all of his major works are protected as monuments.^[6]

Lehmbruck achieved significant international visibility through his inclusion in MoMA’s exhibition Architecture of Museums (25 September – 11 November 1968), curated by Ludwig Glaeser.^[7] The official checklist included:

• Reuchlinhaus, Pforzheim (1961)
• Lehmbruck-Museum, Duisburg (1964)

The exhibition placed him alongside architects such as Louis I. Kahn, Carlo Scarpa, Franco Albini, Sverre Fehn, Kenzo Tange and Affonso Eduardo Reidy. The catalogue discussed his Duisburg museum as an innovative example of sculptural display and museum planning.

A multi-purpose cultural complex in the Stadtgarten, housing the Pforzheim Jewellery Museum. Known for its pavilion-like volumes, fully glazed foyer, free-standing circular staircase, cast-aluminium façade panels and close relationship with the surrounding park.

The Lehmbruck Museum is dedicated to the work of Wilhelm Lehmbruck. Consists of an earth-hugging concrete wing with sunken galleries and a large transparent glass hall. Regarded as a key example of German post-war museum architecture.

Archaeological museum interpreting prehistoric lake dwellings. Features multi-level, semi-subterranean exhibition spaces and strong exterior–interior transitions.

• Industrial buildings for Pausa AG, Mössingen
• Kaufmännische Berufsschule and Stadtbad Stuttgart-Feuerbach (1959–1964)
• Museum consulting work, including the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum, Ludwigshafen

Although he built relatively few buildings, Lehmbruck’s work is noted for its consistent quality and architectural subtlety. Most of his major works are protected as cultural monuments. His contributions to museum architecture are the focus of several academic studies, and his designs continue to be referenced in discussions of German post-war modernism and museum typologies.^[8]

• Ludwig Glaeser (ed.): Architecture of Museums. Museum of Modern Art, New York 1968.
• Günter K. Schanné: Das Reuchlinhaus Pforzheim – Architektur der Nachkriegsmoderne. Stuttgart, 1995.
• Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: Manfred Lehmbruck – Ein Architekt der Moderne (doctoral monograph).
• Kunstmuseum Duisburg (ed.): Das Wilhelm-Lehmbruck-Museum. Duisburg, various editions.
• Lehmbruck, Manfred. In: Walter Habel (Hrsg.): Wer ist wer? Das deutsche Who’s who. 24. Ausgabe. Schmidt-Römhild, Lübeck 1985, ISBN 3-7950-2005-0, S. 749.