Dominic Bohm

Dominikus Böhm (born October 23, 1880 Jettingen; died August 6, 1955 in Cologne) was a modernist German architect and church builder.

Life

Böhm was born into a family of builders from the Swabian-Bavarian area of Germany, the youngest of six children. He studied at the Baugewerkenschule in Augsburg (now the University of Augsburg) from 1903 to 1906 and studied architecture at the Technical University of Stuttgart under Theodor Fischer. Then he opened his own architectural practice.

He first taught at the Rheinische Technicum in Bingen, and finally from 1908 to 1926 at what is now the College of Design in Offenbach, with the architect Rudolf Schwarz in a joint workshop. In 1926 he was recruited by Richard Riemerschmid to work as a professor of church architecture and architecture at the Cologne schools and he remained there until his dismissal by the Nazis in 1934. After the war he continued to teach at the Cologne plant schools until 1953.

Work

Böhm took advantage of modern building materials and techniques. By reducing the form of the church to its essential shape, the lighting of the altar and the sophisticated design of the altar, he created a new tradition of modern church architecture. In particular, he used light as a building material, and as part of the liturgy.

Böhm also considered liturgical questions which may have indirectly influenced the doctrine of the Second Vatican Council. His special merit was his belief in the participation of the community in worship, using the structure of early church buildings as a model. His churches are characterised by simple monumentality and especially by the new emphasis on the altar area as central.

Stained glass was one of his passions. So he designed the stained glass windows, built for Holy Ghost Church in Brunswick-Lehndorf in 1952. He also served as a musician and composer, and composed numerous songs and sacred music. The postmodern architect Heinz Bienefeld began his career as an assistant of his.

Part of his legacy is preserved at the German Architecture Museum in Frankfurt, while another part was located in the Historical Archive of the City of Cologne but was probably lost in the collapse of the archive building on 3 March 2009.^[1]

References

1. ^ Nine missing as Cologne archives collapse, AFP, Mar 3, 2009

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Date of birth	October 23, 1880
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Date of death	August 6, 1955
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