Werner Seligmann (March 30, 1930 – November 12, 1998) was an architect, urban designer and educator.
Biography Werner Seligmann was born on March 30, 1930, in Osnabrück, Germany. His father, Fritz, was born December 31, 1902, in Krefeld, Germany, survived a labor camp in Bielefeld and deportation to KZ Theresienstadt, Terezín in Czechoslovakia. He died March 10, 1971, in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. His mother, Charlotte Louise (Czermin), was Fritz's second wife and was born June 1, 1902. She died in KZ Ravensbrück, Germany, about 1944.Hohenems Genealogie Genealogy site of Jewish families Fritz was Jewish but Charlotte was not.Interview by Bruce Coleman with Jean Seligmann in Cortland NY on January 28, 2012, and February 12, 2012. His sister, Helga Seligmann, was born in Osnabrück September 17, 1931, and died during an Allied bombing raid November 21, 1944 in a Kinderheim (orphan's home) am Schölerberg, Osnabrück, where she lived after the arrest of her mother by the Gestapo Tod mit 13 Jahren: Helga Seligmann starb heute vor 81 Jahren im Luftschutzstollen am Schölerberg - Osnabrücker Rundschau From his father, who was a violinist with the Osnabrück city orchestra (Osnabrück Stadttheater), Seligmann inherited a lifelong love of music and the arts in general. He wanted to be a painter, but his father said he should have a better-paying occupation. He was apprenticed to an architect in Münster, Germany.
The family lived in Osnabrück, Germany. Seligmann spent the latter part of the Second World War in a forced labour camp, probably in Bielefeld, where his father was interned.OR-Serie „Widerstand im Osnabrück der NS-Zeit“ – Folge 23: Charlotte Seligmann - Osnabrücker Rundschau After the camp guards abandoned their posts, he was picked up by American troops and ultimately reunited with his father.Interview with Werner Seligmann in Syracuse 1998 This appears to have been in a resettlement camp in Wentorf, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Wentorf was a camp for Displaced Persons (DPs) and occupied buildings that had been barracks for the German Army (Wehrmacht). From there, he was sent to the United States in 1949, leaving Bremerhaven aboard the "General J H McRae". He went to live with relatives in Groton, in upstate New York, a short distance from Cornell University in Ithaca. He studied at the Cascadilla School, a preparatory school for Cornell University, to make up for his lost time in high school and to learn English.
Seligmann received his B. Arch. degree from Cornell in 1955.Seligmann vitae On August 29, 1954, he married Jean Lois Liberman. They had two children: Raphael John and Sabina Charlotte. He became a naturalized citizen in 1955. From 1956 to 1958 he taught as an instructor at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas. There he became part of a small group of faculty that was later nicknamed The Texas Rangers, a name later attributed to Alan Chimacoff and Thomas Schumacher, although Chimacoff disputes this. Chimacoff and Schumacher were then students in the graduate design studio taught by Colin Rowe. The Texas Rangers group included historian Colin Rowe, John Shaw, painter Robert Slutzky, John Hejduk, Lee Hirsche, Bernhard Hoesli, Lee Hodgen, and W. Irving Phillips. After the "Texas Rangers" were dismissed, Seligmann pursued graduate study at the Technische Hochschule in Braunschweig, Germany, from 1958 to 1959. He taught as an Assistant at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (the ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland from 1959 to 1961 and was a designer in the office of Hoesli and Aebli, Züich, Switzerland. From 1961 to 1974 he was a professor of architecture at Cornell University and from 1974 to 1976 a professor of architecture at the Graduate School of Design (GSD) at Harvard University. From 1976 to 1990, he was Dean and Professor of Architecture at the Syracuse University School of Architecture. In 1981, Seligmann was named a Fellow of the (American Academy in Rome (FAAR)). In 1986 he was the Eliot Noyes professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. In 1988 he was the William Henry Bishop professor at Yale University. In 1994 he was the Thomas Jefferson Visiting professor at the University of Virginia. From 1990 to 1993, he was Professor of Architecture at the ETH Zurich. On his return to Syracuse University, he was named the Distinguished Professor of Architecture.
In 1998 he was awarded The AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion for Architectural Education, awarded jointly by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the American Institute of Architect, the highest award for an architectural educator. In addition to serving as a visiting critic, Seligmann wrote and lectured extensively on the works of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and other architects and issues.Seligmann biography
Unresolved biographical issues There are several issues that are missing or contradictory. Sometime in the early 1970s, Seligmann mentioned that his family had "moved south" to avoid capture.Bruce Coleman conversation with Werner Seligmann No documentary evidence can be found to support this. What can be found is an indication that the family was in Braunschweig, Germany, which is some 100 milies to the east of Osnabrück, Germany. Even the stay in Braunschweig may be in error. During a conversation with Werner Seligmann, the only occasion in which he spoke about his time in captivity, he referred to seeing "waves of bombers flying overhead," something that took "an hour and a half." They were "headed towards Munich, which at that point had no military value because that's where Hitler had his start." There was one bomber raid on Munich, April 24, 1944, that involved some 500 US and British aircraft flying from England to strike Munich.Aerial bombing of Munich It's possible that this is what he recalled, but it's uncertain. (It might have been the Bombing of Braunschweig (15 October 1944)) During the same conversation with Seligmann, he spoke about being in a resettlement camp in Holland and being called to the main office where his father, Fritz, was waiting. It was "the happiest day in my life". Authoritative sources place the resettlement camp in Wentorf, Germany. It was stated that he arrived in the US at the age of 14.Seligmann biography in the Syracuse University Special Collections Given his birth date, this would be 1944, before the end of World War II. Other sources indicate that he sailed to the US in 1949, at which point he would be 19 years old. He would thus have spent over four years in a resettlement camp. There has been no confirmation of this. Seligmann was quite clear that he was incarcerated "in a camp". He spoke about "waking up one morning, and the gates were open" and "the guards were gone." Other sources state he "survived the Shoah in hiding with another German family."
Career Architectural practice
Seligmann was registered to practice architecture in 1957 by which he had already designed and constructed three small homes. Throughout his teaching career, he maintained a practice and entered many competitions, including the invited competition, Topography of Terror for Berlin, Germany in 1993. His firm, Werner Seligmann and Associates, Architects and Urban Designers was based in Cortland, New York. Launched in 1961, the firm placed in national and international competitions and work of the firm was published and exhibited often, both in the US and abroad.
The architectural work of Werner Seligmann won two Progressive Architecture Design Awards, was illustrated on the cover of Progressive Architecture journal three times and was placed, or won, several national and international design competitions. Seligmann's work on developing housing prototypes for the New York State Urban Development Corporation in the 1970s and 1980s established his reputation in the design of social housing. The Ithaca Scattered Site Housing Project (now known as Elm Street and Maple Avenue) has been widely exhibited and published. The project's design was included in the permanent collection of the (Museum of Modern Art MOMA) in New York City. Beth David Synagogue in Binghamton NY (1963) was often seen as a significant synthesis of Wright and Le Corbusier although it was derived from the preliminary sketches for the Villa Shodhan by Le Corbusier.
Seligmann also published numerous articles on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and modern architecture in general.
Professional activities Source: Juror, International Competition for Campione, Italy 1984 Professional Advisor, N.I.A.E. Van Allen Competition 1984–85 Participant, Symposium, "The Rise of Modernism", Syracuse University 1984 Participant, Symposium "Woche der Verbrannten Bucher", University of Osnabruck, Germany 1983 Member, Team Leader, Chicago World's Fair Charette, Chicago 1983 Miami University, Team Leader, Charette, Dayton, Ohio 1982 Chairman, Juror, A.I.A., N.Y.S., Honor Awards Jury 1982 Chairman, Juror, A.I.A., Honor Awards Jury, Puerto Rico 1981 Participant, Symposium on Palladio, Syracuse University 1980 Juror, Skidmore Owings and Merrill Annual Traveling Competition Juror, A.I.A., N.Y.S. Honor Awards Jury 1979 Participant, Symposium on Le Corbusier, Syracuse University 1979 Juror, Progressive Architecture Awards Program 1978 Participant, Symposium "The Future Roles of Professionals in the Built Environment:", Harvard University 1975 Participant, Symposium "Public Policy and the Built Environment", Harvard University 1974
Significant built works Source: Bradley House, Corning NY, 1955 Miller Summer House addition, Skaneateles Lake, 1964 Beth David Synagogue, Binghamton NY, 1963 Science Building II, Cortland State University, Cortland NY, 1967 Sproull Summer House, Cayuga Lake, 1967. Demolished Temple Brith Sholom, Cortland NY, 1969 McDermott Hall, Camp Huntington, Raquette Lake NY, 1970 Willard State Hospital Administration Building, Willard NY, 1971 Ithaca Scattered Site Housing (now Elm Street and Maple Avenue), Ithaca NY, 1973 Olean Central Fire Station, Olean NY, 1980 Ithaca Commons Center (now Center Ithaca), Ithaca NY, 1981
Significant urban design works Source: Buffalo Waterfront Urban Design Study, done by the Cornell Graduate Studio with Colin Rowe and Jerry A. Wells, 1965–66 Binghamton Urban Renewal, Binghamton NY, 1966–1974 Architectural Competition - Professional Advisor: organization of competition, programming, administration Buffalo, New York "Buffalo: Waterfront", Urban Design Study Cornell University, Urban Design Graduate Program critics: Colin Rowe, Werner Seligmann, J Alan Wells, with students Richard Baiter, Richard Cardwell, David Chan, Wayne Copper, Harris Forusz, Alfred Koetter, Makoto Miki, Elipidio Olympio, Frans Oswald. 1965–66, Exhibited Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo New York, Jun 23-September 1, 1969
Significant competition entries Source: Beauborg Arts Center (later Centre Georges Pompideiu), Paris, France, 1971 Ft Lauderdale Riverfront Plaza, Ft Lauderdale, Florida, 1983 Opera de la Bastille, Paris, France, 1983 Prinz-Albrecht-Palais Park, Berlin, Germany, 1984 Arizona Historical Society Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, 1985 XVII Triennale di Milano Exhibition, Milan, Italy, Invited Competition, 1988 Tokyo International Forum, Tokyo, Japan, 1989 Topography of Terror, Berlin, Germany, 1993 Cardiff Bay Opera House, Cardiff, Wales, 1994 Felix Nussbaum House, Osnabrück, Germany, 1994
Guest lecturer Source: