Projects by Name

Sigfried Giedion, Werner Moser and Rudolf Graber founded Wohnbedarf in 1931 to sell modern furnishings, including designs by Breuer, Le Corbusier, and Alvar Aalto. Two years later, Breuer received the commission to renovate the Wohnbedarf stores in Zürich and Basel through his friend Giedion. Both stores featured large, plate-glass shop windows and open spaces for the display of furniture. Breuer designed the façade of the Basel branch to look as if it was constructed from a huge panel of corrugated metal. Pillars divided the interior space of the Zürich branch, which also included a mezzanine with a steel railing reached by a projecting, sculptural staircase with cantilevered steps. Breuer outfitted one end of the space with the same system of vertical wooden strips used to hang pictures or photographs that he had previously installed in his own apartment in Berlin and the De Francesco apartment. Breuer renovated the Zürich store in 1956.