Architect, German Peter Behrens was one of the most prolific architects of his generation. He created buildings ranging from embassies, monuments, bridges, churches, and giant factories to domestic houses, workers’ estates, and apartment blocks. He also became the first industrial designer in the modern sense; he was responsible for mass-produced furniture, textiles, cutlery, ceramics, and glass in addition to his well-known range of electrical appliances for the AEG, or General Electric Company. His graphic work was enormously successful, and he was active in theater design, calligraphy, and typography. He was a teacher and a writer, and he had a strong influence on the development of his assistants, who were to become the most celebrated architects of the next generation. Behrens was born in St. Georg, Hamburg, and he was the son of a landowner who did not marry his mother. Both his parents died when he was young, and he was reared by a guardian from the age of 14. On leaving school ...