Kai Gutschow Bio

Kai Gutschow is the historian of modern architecture as well as the 2nd year studio coordinator in the five-year, professional Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) program at CMU.

Gutschow's primary field of research has been the complex and controversial history of modern German architectural culture, especially the role that architectural criticism, theory, and media culture played in influencing professional and cultural developments. He is currently finishing a book manuscript titled "Inventing Expressionism: Art, Criticism, and the Rise of Modern Architecture," an intellectual history of the origins of Expressionism in German architecture from 1905-1925. It argues that Expressionist architecture arose not primarily out of a revolutionary political moment that followed World War I in Berlin, as is often maintained, but rather out of a widespread and continuous evolution of ideas on the role of "expression" in modern architecture from the late nineteenth century to the mid-1920s. In addition to his book, he has lectured on and published refereed journal articles and book chapters on a variety of related topics, including the work of the German architectural critic Adolf Behne, on Bruno Taut's iconoclastic "Glashaus" as "Installation Art," on the East African colonial architecture of the German modernist Ernst May, on the modernity of the conservative critic Paul Schultze-Naumburg, and on the German patriotism and Jewish heritage of the German critic Walter Curt Behrendt.

Gutschow has combined this original historical research with a leadership role in promoting the importance of history alongside the fundamentals of early architectural design to aspiring professional architects in his teaching. His goal has been to bring together distinct yet related visions of architecture--history and design--into an integrated pedagogy and career path. His training in art history, cabinetmaking, architectural design, and architectural history over the years reflects an effort to synthesize what are often seen to be disparate areas of architecture. Both his scholarship and teaching have emphasized architecture's unique dependence on its own past, and on the evolution of architectural ideas and design strategies from the past into the future. Only through rigorous research and engaging the past critically, by using the past as a design tool, can we ensure that architecture has a solid foundation and makes an original contribution to our field, especially when the architectural profession is facing profound challenges and the education of architects is undergoing radical changes, as it is today.

Gutschow has served on CAS's Lecture and Fellowship committee, and has contributed to the Center's "Controversies in the Arts" project, the 2005 "(Im)permanence" conference, as well as the discussion series on Arts in Society.

	*Kai Gutschow, M.Arch/PhD, Associate Professor of Architecture*
	Kai Gutschow is the historian of modern architecture as well as the 2nd year studio coordinator in the five-year, professional Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) program at CMU. Gutschow's primary field of research has been the complex and controversial history of modern German architectural culture, especially the role that architectural criticism, theory, and media culture played in influencing professional and cultural developments. He is currently finishing a book manuscript titled "Inventing Expressionism: Art, Criticism, and the Rise of Modern Architecture," an intellectual history of the origins of Expressionism in German architecture from 1905-1925. It argues that Expressionist architecture arose not primarily out of a revolutionary political moment that followed World War I in Berlin, as is often maintained, but rather out of a widespread and continuous evolution of ideas on the role of "expression" in modern architecture from the late nineteenth century to the mid-1920s. In addition to his book, he has lectured on and published refereed journal articles and book chapters on a variety of related topics, including the work of the German architectural critic Adolf Behne, on Bruno Taut's iconoclastic "Glashaus" as "Installation Art," on the East African colonial architecture of the German modernist Ernst May, on the modernity of the conservative critic Paul Schultze-Naumburg, and on the German patriotism and Jewish heritage of the German critic Walter Curt Behrendt. Gutschow has combined this original historical research with a leadership role in promoting the importance of history alongside the fundamentals of early architectural design to aspiring professional architects in his teaching. His goal has been to bring together distinct yet related visions of architecture--history and design--into an integrated pedagogy and career path. His training in art history, cabinetmaking, architectural design, and architectural history over the years reflects an effort to synthesize what are often seen to be disparate areas of architecture. Both his scholarship and teaching have emphasized architecture's unique dependence on its own past, and on the evolution of architectural ideas and design strategies from the past into the future. Only through rigorous research and engaging the past critically, by using the past as a design tool, can we ensure that architecture has a solid foundation and makes an original contribution to our field, especially when the architectural profession is facing profound challenges and the education of architects is undergoing radical changes, as it is today. Gutschow has served on CAS's Lecture and Fellowship committee, and has contributed to the Center's "Controversies in the Arts" project, the 2005 "(Im)permanence" conference, as well as the discussion series on Arts in Society.