Alfréd "Fred" Forbát (also: Alfréd Forbat, Alfred Füchsl, in the German and Scandinavian literature mostly Fred Forbát )) (March 31, 1897 in

Pécs Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the countr ...

(

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

) – May 22, 1972 in

Vällingby Vällingby () is a suburban district in Västerort in the western part of Stockholm Municipality, Sweden. History The agricultural land where the modern suburb now stands, has a history stretching some 2,000 years back (i.e. at least twice ...

(

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

)) was a Hungarian architect, urban planner, professor and painter who worked in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Hungary,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

and Sweden. He is considered an important representative of the Bauhaus modern.

Life and work

He was born to Jewish parents in

, former Austria-Hungary (today part of the

Republic of Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

). He studied architecture and art history at the

University of Budapest A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

. From 1920–22 Forbát worked intermittently with

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in conne ...

and taught at the

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

in its first incarnation, in Weimar.''ArchINFORM. Fred Forbát''
(in German). (Accessed: 6 December 2016) From 1923 to 1924 he worked as a freelance architect in Weimar and with the MA Group in Vienna. Then from 1924 to 1925 he worked for the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

as the technical leader for a housing development in

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

, the capital city of Greek Macedonia. From 1925 to 1928 he was the lead architect at Sommerfeld Co. in Berlin, and from 1928 to 1932 he worked in the architectural office of Hubert Hoffmann, developing the Berlin housing projects

Siemensstadt Siemensstadt () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the district (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. History The locality emerged when the company Siemens & Halske (S & H), one of the predecessors of today's Siemens, bought land in the area, ...

(1930) und

Haselhorst Haselhorst () is a locality in the borough of Spandau in Berlin. It is located between Siemensstadt and the Old Town of Spandau and is separated from the Hakenfelde locality by the River Havel. Overview The manor of Haselhorst was incorporate ...

(1931). Between 1932 and 1933 he worked in Moscow on a town planning project for the Russian state-run planning organisation ''Standardgorprojek'', together with

Ernst May Ernst May (27 July 1886 – 11 September 1970) was a German architect and city planner. May successfully applied urban design techniques to the city of Frankfurt am Main during the Weimar Republic period, and in 1930 less successfully expor ...

. In 1938 he briefly returned to Hungary as a freelance architect, and was responsible for a number of tenements and free-standing houses there. Later that same year he traveled to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, where he began a long-term association. He worked for the Urban Ministry, then became a member of the city planning group "Eglers Stadsplanebyrå". He was partly responsible for master plans for

Skövde Skövde () is a locality and urban centre in Skövde Municipality and Västra Götaland County, in the Västergötland (Western Gothland region) in central Southern Sweden. Skövde is situated some 150 km northeast of Gothenburg, between Swe ...

(1949),

Landskrona Landskrona (old da, Landskrone) is a town in Scania, Sweden. Located on the shores of the Öresund, it occupies a natural port, which has lent the town at first military and subsequent commercial significance. Ferries operate from Landskrona t ...

(1951),

Upplands Väsby Upplands Väsby () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Upplands Väsby Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 149,463 inhabitants in 2020. History The municipality has a long history with clear traces of settlements from t ...

(then, Hammarby kommun, 1951), Kullabygden (1959),

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

(1967) and

Kristinehamn Kristinehamn is a locality and the seat of Kristinehamn Municipality, Värmland County, Sweden, with 17,839 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Kristinehamn is situated by the shores of lake Vänern where the small rivers ''Varnan'' and ''Löt'' dr ...

. In 1952 Forbát was co-organizer of the 1952 special (non-congress) meeting of CIAM in Sigtuna (Sweden), and also helped organize the 1957

Interbau Interbau was a housing development, constructed as part of the 1957 International Building Exhibition in the Hansaviertel area of West Berlin. The overall plan was managed by Otto Bartning, and the urban design competition was won by Gerhard Job ...

project in Berlin. His papers are held by the Swedish Museum of Architecture in Stockholm. He died in Vällingby, Sweden in 1972, aged 75, his grave is located in the memorial grove in

Skogskyrkogården Skogskyrkogården (; ) is a cemetery located in the Gamla Enskede district south of central Stockholm, Sweden. Its design, by Gunnar Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz, reflects the development of architecture from Nordic Classicism to mature Functional ...

''MMIN Encyclopedia biography Fred Forbát''
(Accessed: 10 February 2022)

References

External links

* Berkovich, Gary. Reclaiming a History. Jewish Architects in Imperial Russia and the USSR. Volume 2. Soviet Avant-garde: 1917–1933. Weimar und Rostock: Grunberg Verlag. 2021. P. 192. * ''Art & Politics in the Weimar Period'', by John Willett
Forbát's papers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbat, Fred 1897 births 1972 deaths 20th-century German architects Hungarian urban planners Academic staff of the Bauhaus Housing in Sweden Hungarian architects Hungarian Jews Technical University of Munich alumni People from Pécs Hungarian emigrants to Sweden Hungarian expatriates in Germany Hungarian expatriates in Greece Hungarian expatriates in the Soviet Union