Brix, Josef (also Joseph)

Engineer, architect, university lecturer

Born: 27.06.1859 in Rosenheim

died: 10.01.1943 in Berlin

Brix studied civil engineering at the Munich Technical University. From 1881, he worked as an engineer and municipal official, initially in the field of water supply in Munich, then in the field of sewerage in Mainz and 1885-95 in Wiesbaden.

As early as 1885, Brix was commissioned to design a "general drainage plan" for the rapidly growing city, the realization of which began in July 1886. In spring 1907, the central structure, the Salzbach Canal between the Warme Damm and the sewage treatment plant in the south of the city, was put into operation.

From 1895-98, Brix worked in Hamburg-Altona as a city planning officer before becoming director of the "Allgemeine Städtereinigungsgesellschaft" in Wiesbaden in 1898, the first German company specializing in drainage and sewage treatment technology.

In 1904, he was appointed professor to the newly created chair of urban planning and urban civil engineering at the Royal Technical University of Charlottenburg, which he held until his retirement in 1927.

Together with Felix Genzmer, holder of the second newly established Chair of Urban Planning, Department of Architecture, he founded the "Seminar for Urban Planning" in 1906, which was to set the trend for the new German urban planning. Together they also developed award-winning development plans, including for Greater Berlin (1909/10).

In 1913, Brix was awarded the title of Privy Government Councillor and in 1918 an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Munich. In the same year, he became rector of the TH Charlottenburg. In 1924, he was a founding member and, until 1926, the first chairman of the "Studiengesellschaft für Automobilstraßenbau" (StufA), which developed the foundations for highway construction. Among other things, Brix was a member of the Prussian Academy of Civil Engineering and an honorary member of the "Freie Akademie des Städtebaus".

A street in Biebrich is named after him.