What would have happened if his plans to establish Mannheim as a second Bauhaus-oriented university after Ulm hadn’t failed? Notwithstanding this setback, Bauhaus student Herbert Hirche is, next to Egon Eiermann and Hans Gugelot, one of the key figures in German post-war design, with demonstrated success at adapting classic functionalist concepts to changing lifestyles. The young architect was able to gather a great deal of experience while working in Eiermann’s office starting in 1939. After the war he worked for architect Hans Scharoun, wrapped up in projects for rebuilding Berlin. A co-founder of the Verband deutscher Industriedesigner (Association of German Industrial Designers), Hirche helped to shape the domestic world of the “golden” post-war decades; less so in his original occupation than as a gifted teacher as well as a talented furniture and product designer. He saw to it that in the young republic a counter- program to the prevailing sedate conservatism could develop and prosper. Hirche spearheaded Modernism at a number of prominent firms, among them Braun and Wilkhahn. In the process, his architectural mindset was probably behind the dominance of the cube in his designs, that rational symbol that is already in strong evidence in early pieces such as his Tiefer Sessel (Deep Easychair, made today by Richard Lampert) and Barwagen (Bar Trolley, for Christian Holzäpfel). The same pared-down linearity is echoed in his sideboards and his phonographs (for Braun). The Braun HF 1 television is an icon that seems to escape the otherwise exceedingly brief aesthetic half-life in this field. The flowing forms in his shell and basket chairs, on the other hand, demonstrate the Scandinavian influence that still held sway over the design of this period.
