Berg, Max

Berg, Max (1870–1947). Stettin-(now Szczecin-) born German architect, who became City Architect of Breslau (now Wrocław), where he designed the gigantic Jahrhunderthalle (Century Hall—1910–13), one of the first buildings in which the arcuated possibilities of reinforced concrete were exploited on a large scale in the huge ribbed dome with rings of clerestorey-lights rising up above. It was intended as the centrepiece of a huge park laid out to commemorate the centenary of the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig, hence the name of the hall. It was one of the most adventurous and advanced structures to be built before 1914. He also designed many buildings in and around Breslau to cope with the increase in population when the creation of the Polish Corridor drove many Germans into Silesia after 1918, and later retired and settled in Berlin in 1925.

Bibliography

Biegański (1972);
Konwiarz (1926);
Pehnt (1973);
Jane Turner (1996)