Hugo Kükelhaus

Hugo Kükelhaus (March 24, 1900-October 5, 1984) was a German carpenter, writer, pedagogue, philosopher and artist. Hugo Kükelhaus is best known for his infant toys "allbedeut" and the “Experience field for the development of the senses.” Throughout his life he presented his views for a humane-scaled living environment in talks and publications. Besides this he is regarded as a harbinger for infant toy designs that fulfil the requirements of pedagogy and developmental psychology. He gained international recognition for his design of 30 “Experience stations” at the German Pavilion of the Expo 1967 in Montreal. His ideas are relevant for contemporary theories of intelligence, educational technology and the design of learning environments.

Childhood and youth

Hugo Kükelhaus grows up as the oldest of five children in a household that is closely connected to the crafts, his father being chairman of the association of carpenters of the town of Essen and involved in newly organising the associations of vocational professions of the German crafts. In 1919 Hugo Kükelhaus finishes his Abitur in Essen, begins an apprenticeship as a carpenter in Essen and, as a “travelling fellow” (Geselle), wanders through Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltics. In 1925 he receives his “carpenters master’s certificate” from the chamber of crafts of Arnsberg. In the following years he reads at Heidelberg, Münster and Königsberg Sociology, Philosophy, Mathematics/Logic and Physiology.

Writing

The close relationship between practice and theory leads like a thread through the whole life achievements of Kükelhaus. 1932 he publishes his first book “Das Gesetz des Ebenmasses” (The law of Structure) where he develops from the golden section canonical-figures to which furniture can be constructed to a humane scale. His main work “Urzahl und Gebärde” (Primordial Number and Gesture) is published in 1932. This work on Numbers as the psychological and physiological foundation of being receives great recognition. Numerous other publications follow, while Kükelhaus still is closely related to the world of crafts: In 1931, following the death of his father, he takes over the redaction of the trade journal “Das Tischlergewerk” (The carpenter trade) in which he is involved until 1956. From 1934 on he is also a member of staff at the Alfred-Metzner Publishing house in Berlin which publishes the series Schriften zur deutschen Handwerkskunst (Writings to the German Arts and Crafts) (1935 ff) and Deutsche Warenkunde (German Journal of product trade), a news service concerning excellently designed products of trade and industry. He organises exhibitions, and gives lectures as well as workshops. At the same time he is busy a a freelance writer and designer.

Kükelhaus as designer

Through his involvement with Fröbelschen Spielgaben, a toy manufacterer, and in a dialogue with the Fröbel researcher Erika Hoffmann he designs from 1939 on the “Allbedeut” toys, dexterity toys for infants. Their profound quality is later underpinned by Jean Piaget’s developmental psychology and Kükelhaus receives in 1971 the Federal Prize Gute Form (Good Form) for these.In 1950 he becomes an educator at the School of Arts and Crafts in Münster (Werkschule Münster, heute Fachhochschule für Design), from 1954 on he is solely occupied as a freelancer. As a furniture designer, Illustrator, glas artist and sculpturer, involved in the design of the interior and exterior of profane as well as sacral buildings. He settles in the mediaeval town of Soest in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Kükelhaus as a critique of inhuman architecture

From 1960 on Kükelhaus intensifies his research and experimental studies into the sensory modalities. He observes with great care and concludes that modern man in his technical civilisation robs himself of the fundamental experiences necessary for the development of the body and the senses. He critiques the increasingly inhumane tendencies of the 1970s modern architecture, and develops basic principles of “organological” building. He works on principles of development for spaces for all aspects of life according to the “Functioning principles of the human body.” This engagement results in the accredited publication Unmenschliche Architektur (1973) (Inhumane architecture) and in consultancy work and artistic involvement regarding appropriate “organic” architecture in schools, kindergartens and factories.

Experience field for the development of the senses

Kükelhaus gained international recognition through his Experience field for the development of the senses, presented at the 1967 World Expo in Montreal in form of 30 different experience exhibits. At the centre of these exhibits stands experiencing the world with the senses and an awareness for the body, as opposed to a purely intellectual engagement with the world. In the foreground is the corporeal and physical engagement with roundabouts, swings or the texture of the ground beneath the visitors feet.These experiential exhibits are manifestations of his phenomenology of consciousness regarding the learning process as a psycho-physiological experience: Learning through the body.

Quotes

“What exhausts us is "not" making use of the possibilities of our organs and senses, their subjugation and suppression. What constitutes them is development. Development through the engagement with a world that wholly challenges me.”

"The development of man is optimally supported by that environment which provides multifarious well-proportioned stimulations. Notwithstanding the question if this world of stimuli consists of physical or social circumstances and factors - its multifariousness is life’s condition.”

"We have for centuries sought to replace experience with knowledge. What a spare world we now live in!"

External links

1. Andreas Luescher (2006) Experience Field for the Development of the Senses: Hugo Kükelhaus' Phenomenology of Consciousness International Journal of Art & Design Education 25 (1) , 67–73 doi:10.1111/j.1476-8070.2006.00469.x Full text available at:
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