Peter Grund (1892-1966) was a successful architect and urban planner. Trained in Darmstadt
towards the end of the German Empire he partnered with the architect Karl Pinno in Dortmund to
run an architectural practice during the Weimar Republic. In the early days of the Third Reich
Grund was appointed director of the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. In this role he was assigned
responsibility for the artistic direction of the Reichsausstellung Schaffendes Volk the
National Socialist regime's largest propaganda show which was accompanied by a model housing
estate. After the war in the Federal Republic of Germany he was in charge of the
reconstruction of Darmstadt as chief planning director. In this capacity he created striking
urban spaces such as the Rheinstraße arcades and the Kennedyhaus. Grund's architecture was
characterized by simple forms and classical compositions. However while he continued to use
traditional design methods his work also drew on avant-garde ideas: this is evident for
example in the Nicolaikirche built in Dortmund the first church made of exposed concrete in
Germany or in his design of a town hall for Darmstadt in the style of American Bauhaus
architecture. This publication is part of a multi-volume monograph of his work to be published
in the coming months. It presents a previously unknown and unpublished reference book on urban
planning by Peter Grund. He created it during the final years of the Second World War and its
key elements have now been reconstructed from various archival sources. This specific work
demonstrates that Peter Grund following in the footsteps of Camillo Sitte clearly advocated
the creation of closed urban spaces on a human scale in sharp contrast with the contemporary
megalomaniacal planning projects of the National Socialists. By emphasizing an urban form he
took an opposite position to the functionalist Athens Charter which was created around the
same time.
