DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45213#0086
82
Imposing a new model of community life
If we eliminate from our hearts and minds all dead concepts with regard to the house and look at the
question from critical and objective point of view, we shall arrive at the "House-Machine", the mass-
-produced house, healthy (morally so too) and beautiful in the same way that the working tools, familiar
to us in our present existence, are beautiful. [...] It is a revolution, radically departing from the past.
Le Corbusier189
During the interwar period, changes to social structure, especially the evolving role of women in the
family, and working class families in particular, became an important factor affecting approaches
to community housing, notably so in Germany. The women's pursuit of emancipation and more
prominent status in society and also the necessity experienced by many to get a paying job to sup-
plement the family income190 created new challenges for women as mothers and housewives by
putting more strain on their time-honoured responsibility for child rearing and housekeeping. The
German Hausfrau's traditional mentality was giving way to the vision of the active, working woman
conscious of her new role in society. This process was recognised and acknowledged by forward-
looking architects who saw their calling in providing affordable housing for working people.
The Werkbund's activity coincided with the period marked by a total change to the perceived
role of the architect's profession, the change consisting in his (or her) reduced dependance on cli-
ents, developers/contractors and rising status as an exponent of essential concerns, values and char-
acteristics of the era. Thinking in terms of designing flats and houses that could easily be reproduced
to satisfy mass housing needs inspired the conception of community housing and became reflected
in new architectural tendencies.
Trying to adjust architectural design to human needs, the architects also tried to adjust man to
modern architecture. The method of analysing the function of particular spaces/areas of the apart-
ment disregarded the inhabitants' individual characteristics. The modern functional interior was
suited to the rational, well-organised resident. Anything not regarded as "modern" and everything
that did not fit into the simple, hygienic interior was eliminated. The architects envisioned the ideal
user of modern architecture. Some even went as far as to develop the concept of communal living in
the modern housing estate that may be summed up as "community housing - housing community".
Not only were the residents viewed as the users of the apartments but they were also integrated
189 Szczesny RUTKOWSKI, op.cit., s. 82.
190 In the aftermath of World War I, women's entering the job market became essential because so many men had either been killed or returned
disabled physically or psychologically.
Imposing a new model of community life
If we eliminate from our hearts and minds all dead concepts with regard to the house and look at the
question from critical and objective point of view, we shall arrive at the "House-Machine", the mass-
-produced house, healthy (morally so too) and beautiful in the same way that the working tools, familiar
to us in our present existence, are beautiful. [...] It is a revolution, radically departing from the past.
Le Corbusier189
During the interwar period, changes to social structure, especially the evolving role of women in the
family, and working class families in particular, became an important factor affecting approaches
to community housing, notably so in Germany. The women's pursuit of emancipation and more
prominent status in society and also the necessity experienced by many to get a paying job to sup-
plement the family income190 created new challenges for women as mothers and housewives by
putting more strain on their time-honoured responsibility for child rearing and housekeeping. The
German Hausfrau's traditional mentality was giving way to the vision of the active, working woman
conscious of her new role in society. This process was recognised and acknowledged by forward-
looking architects who saw their calling in providing affordable housing for working people.
The Werkbund's activity coincided with the period marked by a total change to the perceived
role of the architect's profession, the change consisting in his (or her) reduced dependance on cli-
ents, developers/contractors and rising status as an exponent of essential concerns, values and char-
acteristics of the era. Thinking in terms of designing flats and houses that could easily be reproduced
to satisfy mass housing needs inspired the conception of community housing and became reflected
in new architectural tendencies.
Trying to adjust architectural design to human needs, the architects also tried to adjust man to
modern architecture. The method of analysing the function of particular spaces/areas of the apart-
ment disregarded the inhabitants' individual characteristics. The modern functional interior was
suited to the rational, well-organised resident. Anything not regarded as "modern" and everything
that did not fit into the simple, hygienic interior was eliminated. The architects envisioned the ideal
user of modern architecture. Some even went as far as to develop the concept of communal living in
the modern housing estate that may be summed up as "community housing - housing community".
Not only were the residents viewed as the users of the apartments but they were also integrated
189 Szczesny RUTKOWSKI, op.cit., s. 82.
190 In the aftermath of World War I, women's entering the job market became essential because so many men had either been killed or returned
disabled physically or psychologically.