William Dunkel

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 was not as an architect but as an advertisement artist in Düsseldorf. At this time he was able to network with other artists such as Paul Klee, Otto Dix, Max Liebermann and Oskar Kokoschka. 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 Zürich followed in 1929. Here his students would include Max Frisch, Alberto Camenzind, Justus Dahinden and Jakob Zweifel. Like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius, William Dunkel was a representative of the Neues Bauen school of architecture (sometimes translated in English as the New Objectivity 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 Zürich 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 referendums: the 60,000 seat "Oktogon stadium" (1953, actually designed by Dunkel's assistant, Justus Dahinden) and a new city theatre (1961) for Zürich, inspired by Alvar Aalto's theatre in Essen. Dunkel died on 10 September 1980 in Kilchberg, Zürich.

• Name — William Dunkel • Born — 26 May 1893 • Birthplace — New Jersey, US • Died — 10 September 1980 • Place of death — Kilchberg, Zürich, Switzerland • Occupation — Architect, painter, university teacher