Designed by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer; completed 1911, with subsequent expansions Alfeld-an-der-Leine, Germany In 1910 spurred on by a dare from his former employer, Behrens Hannoverian Carl Benscheidt had visions of opening a competing shoe factory. After he secured a site just across the road from his former workplace in Alfeld, Germany (but with better rail access and three hectares to build on), Benscheidt founded Fagus GmbH in March 1911 and approached the Hannover architect Eduard Werner (1847–1923) to design his new factory. Not only had Werner designed the plans for the Behrens factory in 1897 (which was three times larger than Fagus would be), but he had the invaluable experience of knowing the calculations and work involved in building a shoe last factory. In Werner’s plan, the Fagus complex would amount to a row of brick buildings (or half timbered in the case of the warehouses), all with different functions along the production line. With the exception of the administr...