Bruno Taut, Ortaköy, Istanbul, Turkey, 1938
OfHouses guest curated by Benedict Clouette & Marlisa Wise (Interval-Projects): “Taut, as an anarcho-socialist, was compelled to leave Germany in
1933, initially settling in Japan after traveling through Switzerland,
France, Turkey, Greece and Russia. In 1936, he arrived in Istanbul to
assume a professorship at the State Academy of Fine Arts. In Istanbul,
he joined a group of about 800 German emigres, including several
prominent architects, planners, and designers, among them Martin Wagner,
Wilhelm Schutte, and Grete Schutte-Lihotzky (best known as designer of
the Frankfurt Kitchen). Taut designed this house for himself in
Istanbul’s Ortaköy neighborhood, incorporating quasi-vernacular
Orientalist motifs like the pagoda-style roofs. He completed several
more buildings in Turkey, including the catafalque for Ataturk’s
funeral. Taut died and is buried in Istanbul.“ (Photos: © Winfried Brenne Architekten, Mesut Ilgim, Esra Akcan, Kasim Oktay. Source: W. Nerdinger, M. Speidel, “Bruno Taut 1880-1938″ (Milano: Electa, 2002); Bulent Ozer, “A Home of the Soul”, Domus 611 (1980), 28-29.)
