Hans Döllgast, post-war reconstruction and modern architecture

Abstract

The works of post-war reconstruction in Munich by the German architect Hans Döllgast (1891-1974) have become a reference point for interpretative modern architectural responses to damaged heritage. In the context of Berlin’s museum restorations of the past 15 years, leading designers from David Chipperfield to Roger Diener have paid tribute to Döllgast’s inspirational restitution of the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich in the 1950s. This article revisits Döllgast’s contribution to reconstruction by drawing on a wider corpus of his writings. Döllgast’s critical attitude to modernism is examined not as a quirk but rather as a key to his distinct achievements in reconstruction. Unlike existing accounts, the article focuses on cross-cutting themes in Döllgast’s approach rather than approaching his work by case studies. It challenges the tendency to over-privilege the iconography of ruination in Döllgast and draws attention to his underlying interest in continuity in modern architecture.