Karl Egender

Karl Egender grew up in Zurich. He completed an apprenticeship as a structural draughtsman with the Wassmer brothers in Zurich and then worked for a year in Biel. In 1920–1921, he attended lectures as a guest student under Paul Bonatz at the Stuttgart Technology University before becoming self-employed and forming a partnership with Adolf Steger.[1]

The two architects established themselves from the mid-1920s with larger construction projects, often resulting from competitions. Their main work was Commercial School and Museum of Applied Arts in Zurich, but also the Volkshaus Limmathaus, also located in the industrial district nearby.

Egender continued to run office for approximately four more decades, attracting many young architects who later pursued their own careers. In the 1930s, Wilhelm Müller was his partner. Collaborators included Ernst Friedrich Burckhardt and Bruno Giacometti. In the 1930s, notable works included the Hallenstadion in Oerlikon (1938–39),[2] with its expansive steel structure creating the monumental effect of a sports palace, and the Johanneskirche in Basel, where the construction was also exposed.[3] After World War II, Egender became a specialist in department store architecture.

Egender, who also emerged as a painter in his early years, was married to the painter Trudy Wintsch.