Der Bau - Translation Initiative

Help bring Der Bau, Carl Kemper's fundamental work exploring the architecture and sculpture of Rudolf Steiner's First Goetheanum into English.

Carl Kemper collaborated on both the first and second Goetheanum as a sculptor, designer and teacher. He spent his life exploring the sculptural and architectural motifs of the Goetheanum as they appeared in the plan, interior and exterior architecture of the building.

Der Bau draws together essays on the architecture and sculpture of the Goetheanum by Carl Kemper and others, and forms a fundamental resource for understanding Rudolf Steiner’s architectural impulse.

Originally published in German, your contributions will help make this publication available to readers of English worldwide.

This project has the generous support of The Anthroposophical Society in Australia  (gift of $2000 AUD) the Ruskin Mill Land Trust , UK (pledge of £2500), and the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain  (pledge of £2000).

What We Need

How your contribution will help:

Goal 1 - Raising $8000 AUD will allow us to commission a professional translation.

Goal 2 - Raising $23,000 AUD will fund a professional translation and cover the production costs of the publication.

Goal 3 - Raising $38,000 AUD will fund a professional translation, cover the production and the printing costs of the initial edition.

All donors will be gratefully included on the Acknowledgements page of the English edition.

The Impact

As we approach the 100th anniversary of the destruction of the First Goetheanum in 2022, bringing Der Bau into English will help to foster a worldwide understanding of Rudolf Steiner’s architectural impulse.


The Goetheanum – Essays on the architecture and sculpture of the First Goetheanum by Carl Kemper

Edited by Hilde Raske in collaboration with Albert von Baravalle, Friedrich Häusler, Heinrich Kern and Georg Unger.

Table of Contents
- Foreword
- A path to the Goetheanum – Heinrich Kern
- The Language of the forms – Hilde Raske
- Carl Kemper’s work on the second Goetheanum – Albert von Baravalle
- The design of the columns
- The columns in the large cupola
- The mystery of surface
- Capitals and bases in the large cupola
- The small cupola
- The relationship of the sculpture to the structural forces
- The life of the line
- The Planetary Seals
- Metamorphosis – Heinrich Kern
- The Ground Plan – Albert von Baravalle
- Layout of the ground plan
- The ground plan according to the architect Schmid-Curtius
- The Temple of Solomon and the Goetheanum
- The construction of the ground plan from the circle of division
- The plan of the Goetheanum from the circle of division
- Additional aspects of the construction of the ground plan
- Comparison of the executed ground plan with the ideal plan
- Inversion
- Experiencing the curves
- Qualitative geometry in space – Georg Unger
- The Cassini solids
- Cube, cross and dodecahedron
- Carl Kemper – A biography – Hilde Raske
- Reference notes
- Timeline of the development and execution of the architectural concept
- Dimensions of the columns


Other Ways You Can Help

Please share our fundraising campaign with your friends and anthroposophical organisations. To publish an English edition of Der Bau, we only need 1,500 people worldwide to give $25 each.