May 2019
book Release
Roland Fuhrmann
Dresden’s gateway to the skies: the world’s first streamlined airship hangar and its influence on architectural history
The largest space in the city of Dresden built column-free has disappeared from the consciousness of construction history – unfairly. This book traces the building history of Dresden’s 1913 airship hangar in a meticulous and gripping way, illustrated with previously unpublished pictorial material. Starting from this pioneer building, a panorama of airship hangar construction unfolds in the 20th century, accompanied by the growing knowledge of aerodynamics. The Dresden ‚cocoon for airships‘ interacts with Zeppelin aviation as well as with cultural and architectural history on the threshold to modernity and streamline modernity.
Only after its forced demolition in 1921 and the transfer of knowledge for its construction in the USA with adaptations in Ohio, California and North Carolina, which still exist today, was the streamlined airship hangar type known as such, setting a standard for the construction of large airships. The creator of this new design has been completely forgotten: civil engineer Ernst Meier in Berlin. For the first time, his groundbreaking work is given the credit it deserves.
The dissertation received in 2019 the Kurt-Beyer-Award.
The publication of this book was sponsored by the city of Friedrichshafen, Zeppelin Foundation.
publisher’s announcement as PDF
Book sample: abstract/imprint/table of content/index as PDF
536 pages with 770 illustrations, size DIN A4 landscape hardcover with thread stitching, retail price 79,80 €
© THELEM University Press Dresden, 2019
ISBN 978-3-95908-482-6
Awards:
Kurt-Beyer-Award 2019
nominated for the DAM Architectural Book Award 2019
Book launches:
Info on Books, Babette’s Garden, Berlin
Architektur Galerie Berlin – Satellit
Zentrum für Baukultur Sachsen, Dresden
Press review as PDF:
The Noon Balloon, USA, July 2021
Zeppelinpost, December 2020
Deutsche BauZeitschrift DBZ, September 2020
Stahlbau, May 2020
BauPortal, October 2019
Welt am Sonntag, 2019
BauNetz, 2019
Bauwelt, 2019
Dirigible, 2019
Stahlbau, 2019
Dresdner Universitätsjournal, 2019
Library list with links as PDF
www.thelem.de
German National Library www.d-nb.info
www.german-architects.com
www.baunetz.de
www.baufachinformation.de
www.architekturblatt.de
www.orellfuessli.ch
www.weltbild.ch