Hermann Jansen

Hermann Jansen (born 28 May 1869 in Aachen, died 20 February 1945 in Berlin) was a German architect, urban planner and university educator.

Hermann Jansen was born in 1869 was the son of the pastry chef Francis Xavier Jansen and his wife Maria Anna Catharina Arnoldi. After visiting the humanistic Kaiser-Karls-Gymnasium in Aachen Jansen studied architecture at the RWTH Aachen University in Karl Henrici. After graduation in 1893, Jansen worked in an architectural office in Aachen.

1897 drew Jansen to Berlin, and in 1899 created his own business with the architect William Mueller. In the same year he made the designs for the later-named Pelzer tower in his home town of Aachen. In 1903 he took over the publication of the architecture magazine "The Builder" (1903–1916), which was first published in 1902 in Munich.

In the years prior to 1908, the District of Berlin and its surrounding towns and cities had witnessed immense growth due to private investment. Due to the unplanned nature of growth in the City, several key urban challenges surfaced. These included the provision of housing, capacity for efficient transport, and the demand for public open spaces. With pressures mounting, the City saw planning a means of directing growth, and in 1908 put forth the ‘Groẞ- Berlin’ (Greater Berlin) competition. The competition required planners and architects to put forth design that would link central Berlin with surrounding towns in the regions to form a metropolis, spanning from the historic centre to outer suburbs.

Jansen was among the planners who submitted a comprehensive plan for a Greater Berlin, and when the competition closed in 1910 his was awarded equal first place. Jansen’s proposal, later dubbed "The Jansen-plan" stood as the first comprehensive plan ever to be commissioned for Greater Berlin. Under the Jansen plan, development of Berlin would be arranged around a small inner ring and a larger outer ring of green space comprising parks, gardens, forests and meadows, which would then be connected via green-corridors radiating outward from the compact inner-city. The central focus of green space in Jansen’s design was well received and laid the foundation for the creation and safeguarding of open spaces across Berlin.

In addition to his focus on public space, Jansen’s plan received accolades for the attention drawn to overcrowding in central Berlin, with a proposed fast transport system aimed at integrating the centre of the city with peripheral areas. What made this aspect of Jansen’s plan for Berlin so popular was the creation of socially positive dwellings in areas of urban expansion. These dwellings came in the form of single houses within small settlements with the intention of creating new opportunities for Berlin’s less privileged social classes to live outside the city centre. Unfortunately due to the onset of World War I, Jansens's plan was only partially implemented, however evidence of his work can still be found to some extent in the cityscape.

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