Prism tower, war graves monument, Waldfriedhof, Munich
Collaboration with Bernhard Schagemann
Photo: Benno Keyßelitz
FREELANCE WORKS
---A selection of the wide variety of Aloys F. Gangkofner's artistic activities is illustrated here. Technical drawings by Gangkofner himself still exist, sketches have become lost. Many of the executed commissions no longer exist. Among other things, Gangkofner used new technical methods, whose durability did not always live up to their guarantees. The large formal lighting could today be considered too time-consuming to clean and thus too expensive to maintain. Some of these had to make way for more practical solutions and ultimately many spaces succumbed to being refurbished during fast-paced times.
PRISMA TOWER AT THE WAR GRAVES MONUMENT AT THE MUNICH-WALDFRIEDHOF
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Client:
Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., Landesverband Bayern
Architect:
Helmut Schöner
Prisma tower:
Aloys F. Gangkofner, Bernhard Schagemann
Construction:
1961 – 1962
“When I first visited the structure, I was struck by the architect’s strong desire to preserve for the living the memory of the dead and of the resurrection. The architectural means clearly expressed this idea: The horizontal wall of names running into the structure, covered with rust, stood for the past juxtaposed with the very high vertical opening for light that stood for the resurrection, salvation.
The structure for me posed the challenge of catching the light in the high, vertical crevice and then directing it into the room so that light would illuminate the names of the dead on the horizontal band of names once every day. The final product in a long line of trials was a prismatic element of clear, perfectly colorless crystal glass measuring 7 x 14 centimeters in its floor plan and with a height of 7.5 centimeters, with very specific inclinations and angles. The seven sides of the prism were cut and polished on a gauge. The prism tower was built of more than 18,000 such elements.
When the sun shines between 9:15 and 12:30 A.M., a band approximately 1.4-meters broad with the colors of the spectrum is cast upon the ceiling of the sloping roof, upon the wall of names, and back across the floor to the foot of the tower. The effect from outside was surprising. If the sun is behind the observer and axial to the prism wall, the wall appears like a fireworks display of many-colored gems.”
Aloys F. Gangkofner
Southside and interior view with spectral band over wall of names, war graves monument, Waldfriedhof, Munich
Photo: Benno Keyßelitz
Entrance area and interior view, war graves monument, Waldfriedhof, Munich
Photo: Benno Keyßelitz
Left: Catholic church Herz Marien, Regensburg, 1963
Prismwindow„The new city of Jerusalem“
Right: War cemetery, Monte Cassino, Italy, 1965
Cast glass cross in the room of honor
Photo: Gisela Goldschmidt / Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge
Apostle cross in the Vatican with the insignia of Pope John XXIII and Bishop Neumann, in occasion of the beatification of Bishop Neumann, silver foot by Erhard Hössle, 1963, H 70 cm
Photo: Private archive
Head Management of Allianz at the English Garden, 1954
Glasfountain, Mounted on a plate of Laaser-Marmorplatte,
Hessenglaswerke, Stierstadt, H 190 cm
A masterpiece of glassmaker's art: the fountain consists of two parts, free-blown in the Hesse Glassworks, Stierstadt, polished.
Only after several attempts was it possible to blow and cool such large glass bodies.
Building complex of the architect Josef Wiedemann placed under preservation order in 1998.
Photo: Allianz Archives
Glas fountain, Head management of Allianz in the English Garden, 1954
Photo: Matthias Gangkofner
Left: Conference room, Tiefbau-Berufsgenossenschaft, Munich, 1953
Light ceiling, antique glass, silver gilding, Lamberts, Waldsassen
Right: Alter Justizpalast, Munich, 1960
Chandeliers, glass rods with inlaid opal threads, Hesse Glassworks, Stierstadt, Ø 2,5 m
Photo: Private archive
Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg, 1960-1963
Light fields, cast patterns, 110 x 200 cm
Photo: Private archive
Foyer with lamps by Peill + Putzler, small concert hall, Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg
Photo: Private archive
Left: Large concert hall, Meistersingerhalle, Nürnberg
Wall lighting of halved and mounted Prisms, Hessenglaswerke, Stierstadt
Right: Foyer and entrance area, Meistersingerhalle, Nuremberg
Ceiling lightings, Hesse Glassworks, Stierstadt, 180 x 180 cm
Photo: Private archive
Lecture hall, Schwesternhaus, Rotkreuz Hospital, Munich, 1963
Chandelier, Hesse Glassworks, Stierstadt, H 90. Ø 160 cm
Photo: Private Archive
Structured cast lamp, private house, 1961
The structured cast glass was developed by Max Gangkofner in the Technical College for Glass in Zwiesel at the beginning of the 1960s.
Photo: Gabriele von Bonin
Entrance hall, Osram-Building, Munich, 1965
Prism sculpture, Hesse Glassworks, Stierstadt
Design of prism form: Karl Berg, assistant of Aloys F. Gangkofner
Photo: Karl Berg
Entrance hall, Osram-Building, Munich, 1965
Prism sculpture
Photo: Karl Berg
Technical drawing of the lighting fixtures, Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie, Hannover, 1974
Photo: Private archive
Entrance hall, Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie, Hannover, 1975-1976
Light fixtures, chromed steel, full glass balls, Ø 4,6 m
Photo: Karl Berg
Haftpflichtverband der Deutschen Industrie, Hannover, 1975-1976
Detail on the work on the light fixtures
Photo: Karl Berg
Entrance Hall, Bavarian State Library Munich
Chandeliers of pressed glass disks, 1978
Photo: Bavarian State Library, Archives
Park Theater, Bensheim
Photo: Blasius Spreng / Margarethe Lange
Parktheater, Bensheim
Foto: Blasius Spreng / Margarethe Lange