Flora Steiger-Crawford facts for kids
Flora Steiger-Crawford (born September 1, 1899, in Bombay, India – died July 31, 1991, in Zurich, Switzerland) was a very talented Swiss architect and sculptor. She made history in 1923 by becoming the first woman to graduate in architecture from the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. There, she studied with a famous professor named Karl Coelestin Moser.
After her studies, Flora worked for an architecture firm called Pfleghard & Haefeli in Zurich. In 1924, she married Rudolf Steiger and together they started their own architecture firm in Riehen. A year later, they moved their firm to Zurich.
Early Career and Modernist Design
Flora and Rudolf Steiger's first big project was the Sandreuter House in Riehen, built in 1924. This house is super important because it's seen as the very first Modernist house in Switzerland! Modernist architecture is a style that uses simple shapes, open spaces, and new materials like steel and glass.
Flora Steiger-Crawford didn't just design houses. She also created modern furniture. One cool example is a stackable metal chair she designed in 1932 for the Zett House in Zurich. Imagine chairs that can be neatly stacked to save space!
From Architecture to Sculpture
In 1930, Flora decided to explore a different artistic path: sculpture. She slowly stopped her work in architecture, completely finishing her architectural career by 1938. From that year on, she became a member of the Swiss Association of Female Artists and Sculptors, focusing on her new passion.
Literature
- Evelyne Lang Jakob, Flora Steiger-Crawford, Architektenlexikon, pp 510–511.
- Flora Steiger-Crawford, Marianne Burkhalter, Jutta Glanzmann, Evelyne Lang-Jakob: Flora Steiger-Crawford 1899-1991. gta, Zurich 2003, ISBN: 978-3-85676-112-7.
