DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45213#0097
93
Le Corbusier's Five points summed up the experience of architects working on innovative struc-
tural solutions in various European countries and at the same time it demonstrated the structural
possibilities offered by steel and reinforced concrete, the materials fundamental to modern archi-
tecture. This led to the erection of tall buildings with wide-spanning floor beams and consequently
large, spacious interiors.
Frame construction, of steel or occasionally wood, became widely used in domestic architec-
ture in the late 1920s. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's decision to employ steel frame construction in
the Weissenhof housing estate in Stuttgart provided a stimulating idea. Since walls were now non-
supporting, and non-structural partitions could be placed anywhere, each floor could have a differ-
ent floor plan. The external walls turned into mere curtain walls, no thicker than half-brick, and the
internal walls, made of plywood attached to the ceiling by means of screws, could be rearranged
according to the user's current needs. Wide, continuous strips of windows afforded better light and
air and were the only element limiting the floor plan's flexibility. While in 1927, the apartment block
design seemed more problematic than that of the simple detached house, the steel frame construc-
tion system devised by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe provided the answer to the much sought-after
solution. Adolf Rading would later employ a similar construction in Wroclaw.
Werkbund exhibitions devoted to modern living space became a testing ground for new materi-
als and structural solutions. The impact of technological progress, reflected in the new types of steel
and reinforced-concrete frame construction employed in Werkbund's developments in Stuttgart
and Wroclaw and prefabricated elements used in other model housing developments, remained
limited in the following decade. It is only after World War II that frame construction became widely
used in domestic architecture.
Le Corbusier's Five points summed up the experience of architects working on innovative struc-
tural solutions in various European countries and at the same time it demonstrated the structural
possibilities offered by steel and reinforced concrete, the materials fundamental to modern archi-
tecture. This led to the erection of tall buildings with wide-spanning floor beams and consequently
large, spacious interiors.
Frame construction, of steel or occasionally wood, became widely used in domestic architec-
ture in the late 1920s. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's decision to employ steel frame construction in
the Weissenhof housing estate in Stuttgart provided a stimulating idea. Since walls were now non-
supporting, and non-structural partitions could be placed anywhere, each floor could have a differ-
ent floor plan. The external walls turned into mere curtain walls, no thicker than half-brick, and the
internal walls, made of plywood attached to the ceiling by means of screws, could be rearranged
according to the user's current needs. Wide, continuous strips of windows afforded better light and
air and were the only element limiting the floor plan's flexibility. While in 1927, the apartment block
design seemed more problematic than that of the simple detached house, the steel frame construc-
tion system devised by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe provided the answer to the much sought-after
solution. Adolf Rading would later employ a similar construction in Wroclaw.
Werkbund exhibitions devoted to modern living space became a testing ground for new materi-
als and structural solutions. The impact of technological progress, reflected in the new types of steel
and reinforced-concrete frame construction employed in Werkbund's developments in Stuttgart
and Wroclaw and prefabricated elements used in other model housing developments, remained
limited in the following decade. It is only after World War II that frame construction became widely
used in domestic architecture.