DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45213#0044
40
ideas of Gropius and Van der Rohe who focused on prefabrication and various types of construction
to Le Corbusier's perfectionism and Scharoun's organic approach.
The often adamant critics of the Weissenhof project focused specifically on the flat roofs and
more generally on the architects' approach to living space and its prospective users. Thus, the size of
the kitchen as a workplace was deliberately reduced, utility rooms were rarely included and because
of high rents the first tenants were almost exclusively members of the academic community.
The founding of the Block group by Paul Schulze-Naumburg118 in 1928 was a programmatic
manifestation of criticism directed at the Weissenhof project. Schulze-Naumburg maintained that
modern architectural works had nothing in common with the German character and landscape or
Nordic culture.
Several years later, Neues Bauen having been banned in Nazi Germany, the Weissenhof project
would be derided as a "shameful stain".119 Nevertheless, it reflected the two major changes that were
coming: the switch from craft to industrial methods and the coming of a new lifestyle. Due to its ex-
perimental character, the actual costs of the Weissenhof estate far exceeded the estimates and the
originally planned financial framework of the municipal project. However controversial, its influence
would prove strong and stimulate the development of modern architecture in Europe. Having so
resolutely departed from tradition, it marked the beginning of an entirely new approach to building
which would in time irrevocably change man, his environment and his life.
As the first experimental Werkbund housing estate implementing the principles of a new style
in living space design, referred to as Neues Bauen (identified with the International Modern style), it
would inspire and influence the successive Werkbund projects.
118 Kari KIRSCH, Die Weifienhofsiedlung. Stuttgart 1987, p.19. Trotzdem modern. Die wichtigsten Textezur Architektur in Deutschland 1919-1933, ed.
Kristiana Hartmann, Bauwelt Fundamente 99, Braunschweig, Wiesbaden 1994, p.159. The co-founders of the Block society were: Bestelmeyer,
Blunck, Bonanz, Ge(3ner, Schmitthener, Seeck i Stoffregen. Schulze-Naumburg, an outspoken opponent of Modernism received an honorary
doctorate from Stuttgart Technische Hochschule and was elected by the Reichstag in 1930 from the Nazi Party list.
119 Dietrich W. SCHMIDT, 'Historia, mi^dzynarodowe znaczenie ..
ideas of Gropius and Van der Rohe who focused on prefabrication and various types of construction
to Le Corbusier's perfectionism and Scharoun's organic approach.
The often adamant critics of the Weissenhof project focused specifically on the flat roofs and
more generally on the architects' approach to living space and its prospective users. Thus, the size of
the kitchen as a workplace was deliberately reduced, utility rooms were rarely included and because
of high rents the first tenants were almost exclusively members of the academic community.
The founding of the Block group by Paul Schulze-Naumburg118 in 1928 was a programmatic
manifestation of criticism directed at the Weissenhof project. Schulze-Naumburg maintained that
modern architectural works had nothing in common with the German character and landscape or
Nordic culture.
Several years later, Neues Bauen having been banned in Nazi Germany, the Weissenhof project
would be derided as a "shameful stain".119 Nevertheless, it reflected the two major changes that were
coming: the switch from craft to industrial methods and the coming of a new lifestyle. Due to its ex-
perimental character, the actual costs of the Weissenhof estate far exceeded the estimates and the
originally planned financial framework of the municipal project. However controversial, its influence
would prove strong and stimulate the development of modern architecture in Europe. Having so
resolutely departed from tradition, it marked the beginning of an entirely new approach to building
which would in time irrevocably change man, his environment and his life.
As the first experimental Werkbund housing estate implementing the principles of a new style
in living space design, referred to as Neues Bauen (identified with the International Modern style), it
would inspire and influence the successive Werkbund projects.
118 Kari KIRSCH, Die Weifienhofsiedlung. Stuttgart 1987, p.19. Trotzdem modern. Die wichtigsten Textezur Architektur in Deutschland 1919-1933, ed.
Kristiana Hartmann, Bauwelt Fundamente 99, Braunschweig, Wiesbaden 1994, p.159. The co-founders of the Block society were: Bestelmeyer,
Blunck, Bonanz, Ge(3ner, Schmitthener, Seeck i Stoffregen. Schulze-Naumburg, an outspoken opponent of Modernism received an honorary
doctorate from Stuttgart Technische Hochschule and was elected by the Reichstag in 1930 from the Nazi Party list.
119 Dietrich W. SCHMIDT, 'Historia, mi^dzynarodowe znaczenie ..