Andreas Kaufmann,
Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Leica Camera AG and main shareholder of
the firm. He was the driving force in the creation of the amazing Leitz Park
Main Building, whose construction needed three years of intensive work.
© jmse
By José Manuel Serrano
Esparza
A few years after saving Solms based Leica Camera A.G from bankruptcy in 2005, when he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board and shareholder of the firm, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (a visionary man with remarkable entrepreneurial talent and utterly grasping the huge historical, technological and photographic values embodied by Leica brand throughout its existence) craved for returning Leica to its Leitz former home, that´s to say, to its birthplace in the city of Wetzlar, where in 1914 a genius called Oskar Barnack had created the Ur-Leica prototype camera, which added to the Leica 1 Model A (first mass produced 24 x 36 mm format Leica camera launched into market) introduced at the Leipzig Fair of 1925, would mean a revolution in world photography, in synergy with the top-notch lenses created by Professor Max Berek.
A few years after saving Solms based Leica Camera A.G from bankruptcy in 2005, when he became Chairman of the Supervisory Board and shareholder of the firm, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (a visionary man with remarkable entrepreneurial talent and utterly grasping the huge historical, technological and photographic values embodied by Leica brand throughout its existence) craved for returning Leica to its Leitz former home, that´s to say, to its birthplace in the city of Wetzlar, where in 1914 a genius called Oskar Barnack had created the Ur-Leica prototype camera, which added to the Leica 1 Model A (first mass produced 24 x 36 mm format Leica camera launched into market) introduced at the Leipzig Fair of 1925, would mean a revolution in world photography, in synergy with the top-notch lenses created by Professor Max Berek.
And after managing to
incredibly turn Leica Camera A.G into a highly profitable concern within the
photographic digital market in an exceedingly short period of six years
(between 2006 and 2011), whose turnings points were the design and manufacture
of the Leica S2 medium format camera (featuring the best photographic lenses
ever made, created by Peter Karbe) in September of 2008 and the Leica M9 (first
24 x 36 mm format digital rangefinder camera in history and able to use not
only the most modern highly luminous aspherical Leica M lenses but also non
aspherical Leitz primes dating back to 1954) a year later, in September of
2009, it dawned on the charismatic Dr. Kaufmann that it was time to come back
to Wetzlar (after almost three decades in which the firm headquarters had been
in Solms since 1986) and keep on expanding Leica Camera A.G until becoming one
of the leading-class firms of the digital photographic industry.
But to fulfill that goal
it was necessary to create a building whose architectural design should be a
reflection of the Leica company´s ethos, so the immense challenge was put on
the shoulders of Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg Architects,
Martin Gruber,
the internationally acclaimed architect who along with Prof. Helmut
Kleine-Kraneburg designed the Leitz Park Main Building as Headquarters of Leica
Camera AG.
© jmse
a highly experienced firm
in the inception of unique edifices with a pretty independent attitude and
whole commitment in everything they do, striving upon achieving a corporate
identity through the interaction of light, space, proportion, color and beauty
as conceptual core, to give each building its very own aura.
And the main materials
chosen were concrete and glass, as key ingredients to get a sense of permanence
and precision, visible and perceptible in the smallest detail by both Leica
Camera A.G workers and visitors from all over the world.
It was a kind of new
beginning, transforming the brand into a tangible experience.
© jmse
This way, with his
remarkable insight and in-depth knowledge of market circumstances, Dr. Andreas
Kaufmann made a far-reaching investment through his ACM firm to create
© jmse
the Leitz Park Main
Building in the outskirts of Wetzlar (Germany), encompassing a space of 27,000
square meters.
© jmse
And from the very instant
of its inauguration on May 23, 2014, the landmark Leitz Park Main Building in
Wetzlar (Germany) became the flagship construction ever built in the
photographic realm, replacing the famous and also iconic Pentacon Ernemann
Tower from 1923 (created by architects Emil Högg and Richard Müller in the
Striesen suburb of Dresden) on top of the podium.
© jmse
Left area of the main
façade of Leitz Park Main Building, showing the concave and convex surfaces
with concrete and glass bestowing it its unique appearance. This is the most
exotic area of the building and conceptually related to the mythical Parador
Ariston designed by the Bauhaus Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer in Mar del
Plata (Argentina) in 1948, with curved shapes enabling as much glazing as
possible along with a great entrance of solar light, so an integrated and
permanent visual contact with the surrounding landscape is attained from
inside.
© jmse
These rounded contours
were clearly inspired by
a) The shapes of Ur-Leica
prototype, screw mount and M mount Leica cameras that made up the Leica legend
in the analogue halcyon days of the brand during XX Century, a tradition that
has been followed by digital 24 x 36 mm format rangefinder cameras like the
Leica M9, Leica M Monochrom, Leica M240, Leica M10, Leica M10-P and the APS-C
format ones Leica T, Leica T2 and Leica CL.
b) The photographic lenses
and sports optics in which Leica brand has excelled for more than one century.
© jmse
The very beautiful inner
spiral staircase of Leitz Park Main Building, one of the highlights of this
stunning edifice making pant anybody beholding it for the first time.
© jmse
Another view of the left
area of Leitz Park Main Building façade. The beauty of the concrete (which was subtlety imbued with color to look like stone by Gruber + Kleine-Kraneburg
Architects) is indescribable, as happens with the top quality glass filling its
upper area with two rows of rectangular vertical windows and its lower one with
large glass panels framed by thin black painted stainless-steel bars.
© jmse
On the other hand, the
whole building takes advantage of new technological breakthroughs, like 22ºC
warm water running through pipes in its walls, ceilings, floors and columns,
cooling the building in summer and heating it in winter, which in symbiosis
with geothermal tubes located under the parking lot and photovoltaic panels on
the roof enables the building to generate most of its power in a sustainable way.
© jmse
Left lateral area of Leitz
Park Main Building, whose façade area boasting rounded shapes can be seen on
far right.
The accuracy and
perfection with which every detail was tackled by Gruber + Kleine - Kraneburg
Architects is praiseworthy. And once more, the winsomeness of this very
special concrete is a visual relish for every visitor, with the added bonus of
textures, colours and nuances changing depending on the day hour, being
particularly alluring at dawn and during the sunset.
© jmse
There are tons of
architectural passion in this milestone building steadily enhanced by available
light and which wasn´t conceived from scratch as something inert, but like a
living entity with personality of its own to spare.
© jmse
It´s a kind of back to the
future abridging a glorious analogue past with a new digital course through a
seamless transition, nowadays embodied by first-class products like the Leica
M10, Leica M10-P, Leica Monochrom, Leica SL, Leica S3, Leica CL and others
which have been instrumental in the thriving rebirth of the firm, resting on
second to none optical prowess featured by world-class lens designers like
Peter Karbe, Dietmar Stuible, Sigrun Kammans, Michael Hartmann and top class
engineers like Stefan Daniel, Jesko von Oeynhausen, Maike Harberts and Peter
Kruchewski, whose work has resulted in the creation of the new Leica 24 x 36 mm
and APS-C format digital cameras, without forgetting the seminal work made by
Stephan Schultz (Director of Leica Business Unit Professional) and Karin Rehn-Kaufmann (Director of Leica Galleries International).
© jmse
Café Leitz, a charming
area for having breakfast and lunch as well as indulging yourself with the
superb German breads, beers and cakes. It is located only a few meters from the
Leitz Park Main Building façade and is named after the legendary Ernest Leitz
II, the German entrepreneur and owner of Ernst Leitz Wetzlar photographic firm,
who gave the go ahead to Oskar Barnack´s Ur-Prototype in 1914 and the Leica 1
Model A (first 24 x 36 mm format camera to be produced in series) in 1925.
© jmse
Longitudinal view of the
lateral left side of Leitz Park Main Building. The sober elegance of both
curves (reminiscent of some buildings of Bauhaus and International Style
architecture featuring minimalist philosophy along with undecorated surfaces)
and straight lines is a treat to watch, in the same way as happens with the light
reflected on the glass surfaces of top windows and the lower big glass panels.
The bending areas of this
zone are also related to Bruno Paul´s Department Store in Berlin from
1930 and the New Objectivity Movement in German Architecture embodied by Erich
Mendelsohn and its Schocken Department Store in Stuttgart from 1928.
© jmse
Detail of the lateral left
side of Leitz Park Main Building, showing its farthest half area studded with
vertical straight slim bars of concrete joining the two much larger main
surfaces of this stuff, all of it being supported by the massive glass panels
growing from the ground and reflecting the surrounding trees, generating a
chromatic surge.
The geometrical
thoroughness of this edifice is truly impressive, and the stretches with
profusion of straight lines greatly follow Mies van der Rohe´s keynotes
regarding perfect symmetry, space, clarity, simplicity, minimalism, neat
rectangular lines and high-quality materials, like in this image in which the
gorgeous allurement of the first-class concrete and the sumptuous luster of the
green tonality of the reinforced glass panels together with the vertical lines
work like a charm, in harmony with their pure and simple shapes.
© jmse
Detail of the top area of
the right round tower of Leitz Park Main Building façade near dusk.
© jmse
Right lateral area of
Leitz Park Main Building near sunset. The tonalities of concrete can
substantially change depending on the hour of the day, and become a riveting
sight, specially at daybreak and at dusk, when its texture stands out and the
quality and direction of light are the best from a photographic viewpoint.
© jmse
Longitudinal view of the
right lateral side of Leitz Park Main Building taken a few minutes before sunset
from the farthest point to the round tower, visible on lower left area of the
image, beyond which part of the Ernest Leitz Hotel can be glimpsed.
© jmse
Middle zone of the same
right lateral side of the Leitz Park Main Building taken from a perpendicular
position a few seconds before the night. Some king size enlargements made on baryta
paper of some iconic pictures of the History of Photography can be seen, among
them the famous one depicting Heavyweight World Champion of Boxing Muhammad Ali
photograph made by Thomas Hoepker in 1966 in Chicago (United States), Men
Looking at Women Inside the Ministry of Health in Río de Janeiro in 1960 by
René Burri and the portrait of a girl wearing a green headscarf in Peshawar
(Pakistan ) in 2002 made by Steve McCurry.
© jmse
Longitudinal diagonal view
of the same right lateral side of the Leitz Park Main Building a few seconds
before night. The magic of the place is enhanced to the utmost by the intense
blue sky of Wetzlar, the fading textures of the concrete surfaces and the
brightness of large glass panels and king size iconic images lit by LED lights.
© jmse
And the icing of the cake
is the huge globe in the middle of the roundabout beside the right rounded tower
of Leitz Park Main Building. It was a gift given to the city of Wetzlar by Dr.
Andreas Kaufman and the Leitz Park Corporation to the city of Wetzlar.
In the background can be
seen the Ernst Leitz Hotel, a new facility built to attend the hundreds of
thousands of people who annually arrive in Wetzlar (Germany) to see Leica
Camera A.G Headquarters.
For other articles on this blog please click on Blog Archive in the column to the right
To comment or to read comments please scroll past the ads below.
All ads present items of interest to Leica owners.
_______________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
http://www.tamarkinauctions.com/ http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show
Buy vintage Leica cameras from
America's premier Leica specialist
http://www.tamarkinauctions.com/ http://www.tamarkin.com/leicagallery/upcoming-show
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
Click on image to enlarge
Order: info@gmpphoto.com
Please make payment via PayPal to GMP Photography
No comments:
Post a Comment