DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45213#0070
66
Reflecting on the Neubuhl project over four decades after its completion. Max Ernst Haefeli in
1971 wrote: "The original idea envisioned by the development addressed the people renting their
flats and believing in their new possibilities, no matter whether they were wealthy or poor, young
or old, single or families, satisfied with a small living space or more expansive in their spatial needs.
There was, however, a certain limitation. We were too expensive for working class tenants. The land
was cheap but the construction method employed in the building of the estate - with its large win-
dows, central heating, abundant warm water supply, flat roofs providing good access to light - was
somewhat expensive. Since the experiment was not fully subsidised, it was 'punished' with higher
interest rates. As a result, the architects (or their fathers and several individuals) incurred losses. On
the other hand, we succeeded in obtaining a planning permit that departed from standard planning
solutions and situated the buildings perpendicular to the street. This secured better views from the
windows, more privacy, reduced noise, and a more compact spatial design of the development as
a whole. Since we had to take into consideration that in the future Kalchbuhlstrasse would become
a thoroughfare, the other streets were reduced in their status and size to internal routes (a cost-cut-
ting measure)."168 Max Ernst Haefeli sees the diversified offer of flats as a major advantage result-
ing in an increased mobility of residents within the housing estate.169 In response to the perceived
needs, the offer was indeed diversified: the single-family terraced houses contained flats with 3, 4,
5 or 6 rooms while the flats built in the one-flat-per-floor system had from 1 to 5 rooms and those
located in the gallery-access blocks contained 1 or 2 rooms.
Like earlier in Karlsruhe and Basel, the estate's architectural form was restrained and simple and
the floor plans were functional and rational. In the row houses, the living room, kitchen, and WC
were located on the ground floor and the bedrooms and bathroom on the first floor. This model
layout was patterned after the floor plans developed by Oud and Stam for the Weissenhof estate.
Alfred Roth wrote about the Neubuhl development's planning conception in 1940: "The Neu-
buhl development's characteristic feature is its fluid integration into the surrounding hilly landscape
whose natural relief has been preserved and emphasised. In this respect, the arrangement resembles
the traditional vernacular architecture of rural settlements dotting the shores of the Lake of Zurich.
The rows of buildings situated perpendicular to the slope and the street are essential to the estate's
spatial design. The rooms face the gardens and not the street: from their windows and from the spac-
es between the rows, vistas open up to the surrounding mountains and the lake which makes the ar-
chitecture merge with the near and distant landscape. With their stepped arrangement, the terraces
follow the terrain's relief which contributes a wonderful diversity to the development's spatial design,
additionally emphasised by its fluid landscaping with preserved old trees."170
168 Johannes CRAMER, Niels GUTSCHOW, op.cit., p.160.
169 Ibidem. During the first 20 years, the estate's 195 flats saw 207 tenants moving to other locations within the estate and 423 moving out
altogether.
170 Ibidem, p.161.
Reflecting on the Neubuhl project over four decades after its completion. Max Ernst Haefeli in
1971 wrote: "The original idea envisioned by the development addressed the people renting their
flats and believing in their new possibilities, no matter whether they were wealthy or poor, young
or old, single or families, satisfied with a small living space or more expansive in their spatial needs.
There was, however, a certain limitation. We were too expensive for working class tenants. The land
was cheap but the construction method employed in the building of the estate - with its large win-
dows, central heating, abundant warm water supply, flat roofs providing good access to light - was
somewhat expensive. Since the experiment was not fully subsidised, it was 'punished' with higher
interest rates. As a result, the architects (or their fathers and several individuals) incurred losses. On
the other hand, we succeeded in obtaining a planning permit that departed from standard planning
solutions and situated the buildings perpendicular to the street. This secured better views from the
windows, more privacy, reduced noise, and a more compact spatial design of the development as
a whole. Since we had to take into consideration that in the future Kalchbuhlstrasse would become
a thoroughfare, the other streets were reduced in their status and size to internal routes (a cost-cut-
ting measure)."168 Max Ernst Haefeli sees the diversified offer of flats as a major advantage result-
ing in an increased mobility of residents within the housing estate.169 In response to the perceived
needs, the offer was indeed diversified: the single-family terraced houses contained flats with 3, 4,
5 or 6 rooms while the flats built in the one-flat-per-floor system had from 1 to 5 rooms and those
located in the gallery-access blocks contained 1 or 2 rooms.
Like earlier in Karlsruhe and Basel, the estate's architectural form was restrained and simple and
the floor plans were functional and rational. In the row houses, the living room, kitchen, and WC
were located on the ground floor and the bedrooms and bathroom on the first floor. This model
layout was patterned after the floor plans developed by Oud and Stam for the Weissenhof estate.
Alfred Roth wrote about the Neubuhl development's planning conception in 1940: "The Neu-
buhl development's characteristic feature is its fluid integration into the surrounding hilly landscape
whose natural relief has been preserved and emphasised. In this respect, the arrangement resembles
the traditional vernacular architecture of rural settlements dotting the shores of the Lake of Zurich.
The rows of buildings situated perpendicular to the slope and the street are essential to the estate's
spatial design. The rooms face the gardens and not the street: from their windows and from the spac-
es between the rows, vistas open up to the surrounding mountains and the lake which makes the ar-
chitecture merge with the near and distant landscape. With their stepped arrangement, the terraces
follow the terrain's relief which contributes a wonderful diversity to the development's spatial design,
additionally emphasised by its fluid landscaping with preserved old trees."170
168 Johannes CRAMER, Niels GUTSCHOW, op.cit., p.160.
169 Ibidem. During the first 20 years, the estate's 195 flats saw 207 tenants moving to other locations within the estate and 423 moving out
altogether.
170 Ibidem, p.161.