Hansjörg Göritz Studio
< Chronicles
February 2016
Elementary -
A Münster Experience
A featured presenter at the 2016 Hagemeister Klinker Seminar in Germany, Hansjörg Göritz lectured on the Elementary, placing brick structures in the context of culture and timelessness. Advocating for gravitas of depth in architecture contrasts a prevailing zeitgeist of tailoring surfaces for the ephemeral and eclectic as the business of building to suit. 'It is less important what people desire but rather what they truly deserve', German church master builder architect Emil Steffann pontificated right after the war's ashes, propagating truthfulness and humbleness at a time that provided the most potential for true beginnings. Though the seminar's noble title 'Huts for Palaces' provided for reflections on the adequate, our profession in one the wealthiest countries seems fully absorbed by the business of newness, codes and revenue as typical late period occupations. In this context it is of a most inspiring example that a major industrial manufacturer chose to serve as a donor and promoter for a discourse on what should matter, making this Münster experience as truthful and elementary as the topic of the lecture's advocacy.
