AEG Tubine Factory, (Berlin, Germany); 1909; De Stijl, the Avant-Garde in Modern Europe and the Emergence of the Modern Movement

AEG Turbine factory is located in the Moabit district in Berlin, Germany. Built in 1909; and designed by Peter Behrens in the Art Nouveau style. Peter Behren was a painter who was commissioned by AEG to first redesign the arc lamps. His success was so impressive to AEG as he did not completely redesign the lamp its self as merely improve its current design with less joints and fewer complexities to get a simpler and more effective design. Immediately following that they gave him the task of designing the AEG trademark, and later they assigned him to design what would be his first factory for AEG. The AEG turbine factory is now a staple of early modern architecture as it uses new materials and methods that were unconventional to that time. The AEG factory was not the first in Germany to use steel or steel frame construction it was the way they incorporated these materials to express basic classical values. The steel frame is hidden by bricks which is seemingly a step backwards of modernism as it’s focus is to express the materials in its truest forms. The cornerstones to node to Palladio’s rough stones. Even though the AEG factory is well-known it is extremely under appreciated as the exterior is plain and understated; there are no extra elements such as the gable or any other vague elements. The factory is Behren’s main idea as a steel rectangular facility to house the machinery and in order to move large turbines over 100 tones over the factory’s machines. In order to achieve the moving capabilities Behren used fewer but more massive girder frames in order to support all that weight. Behren saw the AEG factory as a symbol of modernism. Peter Behren to be looked at as a “temple dedicated to the new age of production”. The classicism style implemented reinforced concrete. The façade was to resemble life with the industrial advances and contemporary life. The monumental façade displayed the unmistakable AEG logo. This building an important cultural icon of modern industrial power. It showcased the extent of the architects work and showed new guides for mass production.      

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