Müther Archive

Since 2006 the Wismar University has taken care of the vocational legacy of Ulrich Müther, civil engineer and entrepreneur. The inventory consists of 156 running metres of records (construction records, personal documents, manuscripts, books), 32 models, almost ten thousand drawings and more than five thousand photographs as well as technical equipment and furnishings. The Müther Archive secures this inventory where it is then structured using scientific means. Partnering with the Architecture Archive of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin Müther’s works were gathered during a three-year project, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (look at Forschung-Innovation 2016-19, p. 42-45). In February of 2020 the project was finished on time and the data has since been available online as a digital resource for the public and for research purposes. In 2020, the first important parts of the archive holdings were digitised in an internal university funding project. The digitised material can be viewed and downloaded from the freely accessible database.

The Müther Archive is part of the "Föderation deutschsprachiger Architektursammlungen" (Federation of German-speaking Architectural Collections) and a participant in the "Netzwerk Baukultur Mecklenburg-Vorpommern". Through the acquisition of the estates of the architects Karl Burmeister, Prof. Dr. Matthias Schubert, the donation of architectural drawings by Sergei Tchoban and the acquisition of the professional estate of Helmuth Both, the designer and producer of the Raumerweiterungshallen (REH), further steps have been taken to safeguard the architectural heritage of Mecklenburg Hither-Pomerania.

[Translate to English:] Ulrich Müther (1934–2007)

Ulrich Müther (1934–2007)

Civil engineer Ulrich Müther was one of the formative influences of east german post-war architecture. During the sixties he specialized in the construction and implementation of concrete  shells unique in the DDR.

Müther was following an international trend: The elegant shell structures of engineers and architects like Félix Candela in Mexico, Pier Ligi Nervi in Italy, Eero Saarinen in the USA or Heinz Isler in Switzerland were  recognised worldwide. Müther realised more than 70 striking buildings usually in cooperation with architects. A majority of these buildings are in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, but Müther’s work can also be seen in other regions of east Germany and around the world.

Among his more prominent works are the exhibition hall “Bauwesen und Erdöl” in Rostock-Schutow (1966), large restaurants like “Teepott” in Rostock-Warnemünde (1967/1968), “Ostperle” in Glowe (1967/1968) and “Ahornblatt” in Berlin (1969-1973; torn down in 2000), the Café “Seerose” in Potsdam (1982/1983) and the lifeguard tower at the beach of Binz on Rügen (1979-1982).

Publication series of the Müther Archive

The archive publishes themed booklets on buildings and projects of Eastern Modernism in MV at irregular intervals. You can order the publications directly from the Müther Archive: muether-archiv@hs-wismar.de The proceeds benefit the operation and further development of the Müther Archive.

Ulrich Müther. Schalenbauten in Magdeburg. With contributions by Susanne Brorson and Matthias Ludwig.
Publications of the Müther Archive, issue 3. Wismar 2017. 96 pages, 2-colour, € 9.00, ISBN 978-3-942100-46-5.

Der Musikpavillon in Sassnitz auf Rügen. Ein Schalenbau Ulrich Müthers in Zusammenarbeit mit Dietmar Kuntzsch und Otto Patzelt. With contributions by Susanne Brorson and Matthias Ludwig.
Publications of the Müther Archive, issue 2. Wismar 2015. 46 pages, 2-colour, € 9.00, ISBN 978-3-942100-42-7.

Zwei Schalenbauten Ulrich Müthers in Binz auf Rügen. Die Rettungstürme 1 und 2.
Publications of the Müther Archive, issue 1. Wismar 2014. 46 pages, 2-colour, € 9.00, ISBN 978-3-00-048097-3.

Die REH. Geschichte und technische Details der transportablen Raumerweiterungshalle.
Ed. by Wismar University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Design. Wismar 2008. 28 pages, 4-coloured, € 5.00, ISBN 978-3-939159-68-1.

Contact

Hochschule Wismar
University of Applied Sciences
Technology, Business and Design
Müther-Archiv
Haus 7a
Philipp-Müller-Straße 14
23966 Wismar
muether-archiv@hs-wismar.de

 

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