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Biography: Moser
(b Karlsruhe, 16 July 1896; d Zurich, 24 Aug 1970). Son of (2) Karl Moser. He studied architecture (1915–19) with his father in Zurich and with Paul Bonatz in Stuttgart, then worked with Marinus Jan Granpré Molière in Holland and finally spent three years (1923–6) in the USA, at least two of them with Frank Lloyd Wright. He then returned to Zurich. His first buildings were single-family houses, often built on a slope. Their clear, simple overall shapes contrast with delicate details such as banisters, partitions and furniture, and with the surrounding environment. Werner Moser was a founder-member of CIAM (see CIAM, fig. 1), and after the late 1920s he worked with other Modernist architects such as Emil Roth (1929) and Mart Stam (1930). He was involved in the Neubühl housing project (1930–32), Zurich, the first Modernist estate in Switzerland, together with Paul Artaria, Hans Schmidt and Max Haefeli and Rudolf Steiger. Moser also made outstanding contributions to church and school building, and in Das Kind und sein Schulhaus (1933) he emphasized the importance of school architecture in modern education. His design for the Protestant church (1938–41), Altstätten, Zurich, an extension of the original 18th-century building, reflects his appreciation of regional factors. His use of modern constructional techniques and forms, together with local materials and a sensitivity to the environment, and the creative tension achieved by his asymmetrical spatial arrangements, pointed the way to a new approach to building in Switzerland.
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