The Glass House: Crucible of Biodynamic Agriculture

Summary

The Glass House (1914) is the oldest extant building designed by Rudolf Steiner. Now nearing its centenary, the Glass House of Dornach has served as home for two enduring anthroposophic endeavours. It was the production centre for the vibrantly-coloured engraved glass windows of the Goetheanum, and it was the crucible for evolving Rudolf Steiner’s Koberwitz lectures through to ‘biodynamic agriculture’, Steiner’s new agriculture for the world. In 1919 Guenther Wachsmuth (1893-1963) and Ehrenfried Pfeiffer (1899-1961) had set up a research laboratory in the basement of the Glass House. In 1924 the Agricultural Experimental Circle was founded at Koberwitz with the results to be reported to the Natural Science Section of the Goetheanum at Dornach. Ehrenfried Pfeiffer henceforth devoted his life to the advancement of biodynamic agriculture and brought it to public awareness with his 1938 book, Bio-Dynamic Farming and Gardening, published in five languages. Photographs are included of the Glass House, Engraved glass by Assya Turgeniev for the Goetheanum, Ehrenfried Pfeiffer's laboratory, and Sonnenhof at Arlesheim, site of the earliest BD preparations.