Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Housing: Questions and Attitudes, Approaches and Ideas - An Essay
Housing: Questions and Attitudes, Approaches and Ideas - An Essay
*
Cerurdo 8rownMunrlque
~ ~
! #$%&'()* +%,&-'$(& .(/ .--'-%/,&
.ln houslng urtlculurly does the true fuce of the domlnunt cluss reveul ltself.
ln deullng wlth the concet of muss houslng, one mlght muke the followlng ruther sturk observutlon: thut when evuluutlng
efforts done to dute ln thls ureu, the concet of suce und volume of the bullt envlronment hus not been ultered. Ruther,
the hyslcul dlmenslons of thls envlronment huve. lor the houslng of the musses, ellteestubllshed, reguluted und enforced
suce requlrement huve usuully been decreused. 1hus, these decreuslng suces und volumes huve become less und less u
functlon of thelr need, und more often the result of lund und constructlon economy, together wlth the luck of
understundlng of the needs of the users. An extreme result ls the use of "suce' by the ellte us un lnstrument for
lntlmldutlon und suresslons.
!"! $%&'()%*+, -.'/*/0/.'&
1he roblem of the unuvullublllty of muss houslng cume ubout ln lts most drumutlc
form us u result of the lndustrlul Revolutlon.
z
Lurlng the lute Llghteenth und eurly
Nlneteenth Centurles, us the lndustrlullzutlon of the Luroeun contlnent reuched u hlgh level, the ucuteness of the houslng
shortuge ln the urbun centers romted some ubllc uctlvlty ln the form of governmentul suly of houslng, us well us ln
the lmlementutlon of houslng stundurds. Eowever, ln terms of the uctuul efforts, us descrlbed by lrledrlch Lngels ln !"#
%&'()*+ ,'#(-)&*, these ln no wuy uddressed themselves to the cuuses of the soculled houslng crlsls. As Lngels stutes, the
uer clusses becume concerned only becuuse they felt menuced: uny eldemlc thut mlght uttuck the overcrowded urbun
worker houslng sectors would no doubt uttuck the uercluss sectors us well.
1hough luter dlsbunded when the eldemlc wus controlled, lt murked the beglnnlng, ln
8rltuln, of offlclul regulutlon und monltorlng of houslng condltlons ln worker sectors.
* Lssuy wrltten ln , us urt of u gruduute course ut Cornell Unlverslty whlle ursulng un M.Arch.
Meyer (,z), ,.
z
8uuer wrltes thut "the houslng roblem us we know lt.owes lts mujestlc scule to the develoments of the lust
century.' (), ,.
Puwley (,), z. 8uuer quotes un eurly work by Lngels (8z) ln descrlblng the condltlons ln Lnglund: "At the
bottom flows, or ruther stugnutes, the lrk [ln Munchester], u nurrow coulbluck, foulsmelllng streum, full of debrls und
refuse.Eere euch house ls ucked close behlnd lts nelghbor, und u lece of euch ls vlslble, ull bluck, smoky, crumbllng,
unclent.' (), .
!"#$%& () *+,-./0 12
ECUSlNC: Questlons und Attltudes, Arouches und ldeus z
!"1 2+),3 45/.'%/'6 7/.'8)3
8y the turn of the century, there exlsted u very ucute shortuge of houslng, urtlculurly ln Luroe. lollowlng the llrst vorld
vur, durlng whlch there wus un ulmost comlete stouge ln the constructlon of houslng,
1he mujorlty of these houslng efforts could be descrlbed us belng u "rutlonullzutlon ugulnst the level of llfe und the 'modus
vlvendl' of the vust worklng clusses.'
c
1he blrth of the mlnlmum house comes ubout the comurtmentullzutlon und
cusulutlon beglns. 1he tylcul unlt wus churucterlzed by the reductlon ln
".the number und surfuce of the llvlng und clrculutlon ureus wlthout corrldors, sleelng cublns [closets?|,
dlvlslble rooms, etc. 1he kltchendlnlng ureu wus reduced slowly to u kltchen, u smull corner kltchen, even u
slmle closetkltchen.'
1here were osltlve lmrovements, however, ln terms of the technosunltury lnstullutlons of the dwelllngs.
Meyer (,z), 8.
c
Meyer (,z), 8z.
ln Cermuny, there wus un outstundlng rogrum ln lrunkfurtumMuln. 1here, the clty
urchltect, Lrnst Muy, develoed stundurd uurtment tyes whlch were to be used ln ull
munlclul houslng rojects. 1hese vurled from studlo uurtments wlth roof gurden, to
houses wlth two, three bedrooms together wlth u guesthouse. 1here wus rovlslon for communulllke green ureus, rlvute
gurdens, stores, und other communlty fucllltles. 1here were vurlous new develoments bullt us urt of thls rogrum, wlth u
totul number of ,ccc unlts, umong them Rmmerstudt. 1hough ut u smuller scule thun the rogrum ln vlennu, these
rojects lntroduced the concets of stundurdlzutlon und refubrlcutlon ln houslng, und ure un outstundlng exumle of
soclully orlented und resonslve houslng rogrums osslble.
ln the Sovlet Unlon, where rogresslve urchltecturul movements hud reuched thelr uogee ln the lute zcs ufter becomlng
the vunguurd of the 8olshevlk Revolutlon urt ldeology, u tye of houslng not revlously found ln Czurlst Russlu wus
lntroduced, whlch reflected the hllosohy of the new soclety: the communul house.
"ve ure oosed to such rerevolutlonury bulldlng tyes us the seculutlve uurtment house, the rlvute
resldence, the 'noblemun's club,' etc., ull roducts of rerevolutlonury soclul, technlcul, und economlc clrcumstunces. [und
lnsteud roose| new tyes of communul houslng, new tyes of clubs.whlch ln fuct should be conductors und condensers
of soclullst culture' (CSA resolutlon, z Arll z8). Quoted ln lo (6,), .
6
lo (6,), c.
,
lo (6,), 6.
!"#$%& E) F@+?GH@+IG8BJ0 >:.,,@0 *
!"#$%& K) &,L.?;M?@<N0 >:.,,@0 *
!"#$%& O) %6//.+;<@7<0 !+@,PJ9+<G@/G
H@:,0 Q
!"#$%& R) S.:T.,-BJ;:.7?9,L0
4<9<<L@+<0 Q
ECUSlNC: Questlons und Attltudes, Arouches und ldeus
1here were vurlous other houslng efforts durlng thls erlod, wlth commenduble quulltles, but of less umbltlous mugnltude
thun those ulreudy descrlbed. ln Cermuny, us urt of the ldeu of houslng us u utlllty, vurlous houslng comlexes were bullt,
umong them the Crosledlung Slemensstudt und the Eufelsensledlung ln 8erlln.
8
Another scule of rogrum wus thut of the
verkbund, founded ln Munchen ln c, by Eermunn Mutheslus, und whlch brought together not only some of the
romlnent urchltects of the duy, but lndustrlul deslgners und englneers us well, to ".udvocute the stundurdlzutlon und
modulur coordlnutlon of lndustrlul roducts so thut ull munner of urts und leces would flt together.'
1he verkbund
sonsored und orgunlzed, umong other thlngs, exhlblts. 1hese lncluded houslng exhlblts ln Stuttgurt (z,) und ln vlennu
(c). 8ecuuse they were efforts to show thut "good' deslgn ln thut they were reresentutlve of the lnternutlonul Style
could be ulled to houslng, us well us to show whut the urchltects ln vogue hud to offer, they dld not, und do not,
reresent un urouch ut solvlng houslng needs of the workers, us hud been the cuse ln the revlous efforts.
"lt seems,' wrltes Eunnes Meyer, "thut the urchltects, becuuse of thelr urtlstlc nuture, felt themselves to be mlsslonurles of
the 'new' urchltecture or the 'old', but ln reullty were the ones thut reresented oenly or secretly, the flnunclul cultul to
whlch they were subjected.'
zc
.z.z lollowlng the Creut Leresslon (z), there were vurlous other roblems thut develoed und whlch hlndered
the roer und sufflclent rovlslon of houslng. Cne wus thut, becuuse of the deendency on governmentul fundlng for the
constructlon of ulmost everythlng, rojects cume under the strlct control of the whlms und tustes of the ower structure.
z
Another roblem wus thut the contlnuul demund for urbun houslng encouruged the subdlvlslon of exlstlng unlts.
1he most slgnlflcunt, though, wus the rlse of lusclsm und wlth lt, the exodus of the leudlng rudlcul deslgners, lncludlng Lrnst
Muy, Eunnes Meyer, vulter Crolus, und others, from the nutlon whlch hud begun to show the wuy ln whlch houslng
should be treuted so us to best meet the needs of the workers: Cermuny. vhut cuused the exodus wus not just the rlse of
the fusclst governments ln both Cermuny und ltuly, but thelr uvowed uttuck on everythlng thut reresented "modernlsm'
und thus untlnutlonullsm (lnternutlonullsm belng ooslte to nutlonullsm). 1he olltlcul develoments ure too extenslve to
cover, but lt sufflces to suy thut the leuders ln terms of deslgn hud to flnd refuge outslde. vhere they went, however, ls very
lmortunt, for lt glves u clue us to thelr commltment to urchltecture us u soclully resonslve rofesslon: Muy und Meyer,
ulong wlth Muy's stuff ln lrunkfurt, to the Sovlet Unlon, where they would try thelr tulents ln the 'new soclety', Crolus,
Mles und most of the teuchers of the 8uuhuus from whlch, whlle servlng us dlrector ufter Crolus reslgned und before
belng succeeded by Mles, Meyer wus forced to reslgn by the rlghtwlng clty councll of Lessuu becuuse of hls commltment
8
Slemensstudt wus deslgned by Crolus, Erlng, Schuroun und 8urtnlng (z), Eufelsensledlung, ulso known
us 1uutSledlung, by 8runo 1uut (zz,). Eoffmunn (68), , 8ehrendt (,), zc,, Ungers (66), zc.