William Dunkel (born

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

26 March 1893, died Kilchberg, ZH 10 September 1980) was a Swiss

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

. He worked in Germany until 1929 when he relocated to Switzerland upon obtaining a teaching job at the ETH (technical university) in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. Dunkel was born in 1893 in the US. His parents, Jacob Dunkel and Berta Marie Dunkel, née Kruse, were Swiss, and William grew up in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

. In 1912 he started to study

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

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 ...

at the

Dresden University of Technology TU Dresden (for german: Technische Universität Dresden, abbreviated as TUD and often wrongly translated as "Dresden University of Technology") is a public research university, the largest institute of higher education in the city of Dresden, th ...

. He received his doctorate from Dresden in 1917 from Cornelius Gurlitt, for a dissertation entitled "Beiträge zur Entwicklung des Städtebaues in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika" (''"Contributions to the development of town planning in America"'') Because of the dire state of the economy, Dunkel's first work after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was not as an architect but as an advertisement artist in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...

. At this time he was able to network with other artists such as

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented wi ...

Otto Dix Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with Geor ...

Max Liebermann Max Liebermann (20 July 1847 – 8 February 1935) was a German painter and printmaker, and one of the leading proponents of Impressionism in Germany and continental Europe. In addition to his activity as an artist, he also assembled an important ...

and

Oskar Kokoschka Oskar Kokoschka (1 March 1886 – 22 February 1980) was an Austrian artist, poet, playwright, and teacher best known for his intense Expressionism, expressionistic portraits and landscapes, as well as his theories on vision that influenced the ...

. As an artist Dunkel would in the end leave behind him a very substantial body of work. In 1923 Dunkel opened his own architecture practice in Düsseldorf. Winning some competitive tenders and prizes, he was able to draw attention to himself. In 1926 he married Emita Gschwind. His appointment to a teaching post at the ETH (technical university) in

followed in 1929. Here his students would include

Max Frisch Max Rudolf Frisch (; 15 May 1911 – 4 April 1991) was a Swiss playwright and novelist. Frisch's works focused on problems of identity, individuality, responsibility, morality, and political commitment. The use of irony is a significant featur ...

Alberto Camenzind Alberto Camenzind (7 June 1914, in Lugano – 29 September 2004, in Astano) was a Swiss architect from Ticino. He also became a professor at the prestigious Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (''"Zürich Technical University"''). Ear ...

Justus Dahinden Justus Dahinden (18 May 1925 - 11 April 2020) was a Swiss architect, teacher and writer about architecture. Life Dahinden was born in Zürich. From 1945 to 1949, he studied architecture at ETH Zürich (ETHZ), graduating in 1956 with his PhD ...

and Jakob Zweifel. Like

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

and

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 ...

, William Dunkel was a representative of the

Neues Bauen The New Objectivity (a translation of the German ''Neue Sachlichkeit'', sometimes also translated as New Sobriety) is a name often given to the Modern architecture that emerged in Europe, primarily German-speaking Europe, in the 1920s and 30s. ...

school of architecture (sometimes translated in English as the

New Objectivity The New Objectivity (in german: Neue Sachlichkeit) was a movement in German art that arose during the 1920s as a reaction against expressionism. The term was coined by Gustav Friedrich Hartlaub, the director of the ''Kunsthalle'' in Mannheim, who ...

school, although broadly agreed definitions of who represented which architectural movement are hard to find in either of the respective languages). The style was much used in twentieth century Switzerland. Among the better known of Dunkel's contributions are the ''Orion Auto-factory'' (1929) in

and his own home in the city's Kilchberg quarter (1932). Nevertheless, two of his firm's most ambitious designs for public buildings remained unbuilt because they were rejected in

cantonal The 26 cantons of Switzerland (german: Kanton; french: canton ; it, cantone; Sursilvan and Surmiran: ; Vallader and Puter: ; Sutsilvan: ; Rumantsch Grischun: ) are the member states of the Swiss Confederation. The nucleus of the Swiss Con ...

referendums: the 60,000 seat "Oktogon stadium" (1953, actually designed by Dunkel's assistant,

) and a new city theatre (1961) for Zürich, inspired by

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

's theatre in

Essen Essen (; Latin: ''Assindia'') is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and D ...

. William Dunkel died on 10 September 1980 in

Kilchberg, Zürich Kilchberg (High Alemannic: ''Chilchbèèrg'') is a municipality in the district of Horgen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Kilchberg is the site of a regional cemetery. History Kilchberg is first mentioned in 1248 as ''Hilchberch''. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunkel, William Swiss architects 1893 births 1980 deaths Swiss expatriates in Argentina TU Dresden alumni Academic staff of ETH Zurich Swiss expatriates in the United States