(b Weilheim an der Teck, 13 June 1894; d Stuttgart, 9 Nov 1968). German architect, teacher and writer. He studied architecture at the Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, with an interruption for military service in World War I, and completed a doctorate there (1923) under Paul Bonatz. He first attracted notice in 1921 with some Expressionist designs (unexecuted) for high-rise towers for central sites in Stuttgart, but after 1922 he became involved with Modernism. He was a member of Der Ring, the Deutscher Werkbund and CIAM, and he was a leading proponent of Neues Bauen in southern Germany. He achieved professional recognition in 1927 through his work as site architect in charge of construction at the Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, the Deutscher Werkbund's exhibition housing estate for which he himself designed two houses (destr. 1939-45). D?cker's commissions ranged from large private houses to standardized low-cost housing and commercial buildings. All his work is concerned with the need for human scale, good lighting, access to air and sunlight and the integration of new buildings into the existing environment. These requirements were particularly well satisfied by a low-roofed, terraced layout that became a feature of his work and found its definitive formulation in the Vetter House (1927) on a steeply sloping site in Birkenwaldstrasse, Stuttgart. He also employed the terraced theme in hospital design, for example the Krankenhaus (1927) at Waibling, and hospitals with sun terraces became something of a D?cker speciality. He also developed various types of school design, including a version with pavilions and open-air classrooms. After 1933, when Hitler took power, D?cker's career as a Modernist was interrupted and he was forbidden to practise. He was subsequently involved in petitions for Modernist solutions to the reconstruction of German cities and in 1946 was appointed to direct rebuilding in Stuttgart. In 1947 he was appointed to a chair of architecture at the Technische Hochschule, Stuttgart, for which he also produced a master development plan. Later work included his design (1955-9) for the campus of the University of Sind, Hyderabad, which won him international recognition and where his approach has been compared to Le Corbusier's at Chandigarh.

See the Abbreviations for further details.