Hugo Kükelhaus

Hugo Kükelhaus (March 24, 1900 – October 5, 1984) was a German carpenter, writer, pedagogue, philosopher and artist. Hugo Kükelhaus is best known for his infant toys "allbedeut" and the "Experience field for the development of the senses." Throughout his life he presented his views for a humane-scaled living environment in talks and publications. Besides this he is regarded as a harbinger for infant toy designs that fulfil the requirements of pedagogy and developmental psychology. He gained international recognition for his design of 30 "Experience stations" at the German Pavilion of the Expo 1967 in Montreal. His ideas are relevant for contemporary theories of intelligence, educational technology and the design of learning environments.

Hugo Kükelhaus grew up as the oldest of five children in a household that was closely connected to the crafts, his father being chairman of the association of carpenters of the town of Essen and involved in reorganising the associations of vocational professions of the German crafts. In 1919 Hugo Kükelhaus finished his Abitur in Essen, began an apprenticeship as a carpenter in Essen and, as a travelling journeyman (Geselle), travelled through Germany, Scandinavia and the Baltics. In 1925, he received his master carpenters’s certificate from the chamber of crafts of Arnsberg. In the following years, he read Sociology, Philosophy, Mathematics/Logic and Physiology at Heidelberg, Münster and Königsberg.

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