Otto Bartning was born into a Protestant family. The faith influenced his ideas of constructing Protestant churches. After studiying in Berlin, without earning a degree in architecture, he participated in founding the Bauhaus in Weimar with Walter Gropius. He wrote most of the first ideas, but did not become a staffs' member.
The churches he constructed at the beginnin of his career, were mostly influenced by expressionistic features. His plans for the Star church (Sternkirche) in 1922 attracted a lot of attention. In addition to the architectural form, the liturgical statement is expressed that the congregation is literally united in one group.
The realization of the Steel church for the Pressa exhibition in Cologne in 1928 was also groundbreaking. The quick assembly method should enable a quick change of location for a church building. That was done, because the church moved from Cologne to Essen, Germany. But Bartning's church was destroyed in World War II.
Barting worked as an architect and as a theorist and author. After the Bauhaus moved from Weimar to Dessau, he took over the management of the Weimar Art School from 1926. After the political pressure he went back to Berlin in 1930.
Even after World War II he was involved in church architecture, now partly with the reconstruction of his own churches. He is considered one of the most important architects for Protestant churches in Germany in the 20th century. Specialists and enthusiasts call his churches in German Bartningkirchen. This term elevates these buildings to a category of their own.
In addition to churches, he also designed residential and public buildings.
Sources
Buildings
Berlin, Germany
Gustav Adolf Church
Frankfurt (Oder), Germany
Music school
Berlin, Germany
Siemensstadt
Berlin, Germany
Reichsforschungssiedlung Haselhorst