The Fagus Factory is a shoe-last factory in Alfeld an der Leine, Germany, designed by Walter Gropius with Adolf Meyer and begun in 1911 for the manufacturer Carl Benscheidt. Its main building is faced almost entirely in glass, with the structural steel frame set back from the corners so the curtain wall turns the corner uninterrupted by any visible support, an arrangement unprecedented at the time and a defining image of early modern architecture. The factory continued producing shoe lasts in the original buildings for decades afterward. UNESCO inscribed the complex as a World Heritage Site in 2011, citing its influence on the development of modern architecture and industrial design.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Designed By
Designed by Walter Gropius with Adolf Meyer.
In Style
A pioneering early work of modernist functionalism, widely cited as a forerunner of the Bauhaus.
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