Weissenhof Estate

Weissenhof Estate

Aerial view of the Weissenhof Estate
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement
Location Baden-Württemberg, Germany
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Coordinates 48°48′02″N 9°10′39″E / 48.8006°N 9.1775°E / 48.8006; 9.1775
Reference 1321-005
Inscription 2016 (40th Session)
Website www.weissenhof2002.de/index.html
Location of Weissenhof Estate

The Weissenhof Estate (or Weissenhof Settlement; in German Weißenhofsiedlung) is a housing estate built for exhibition in Stuttgart in 1927. It was an international showcase of what later became known as the International style of modern architecture. Two of its buildings, designed by Le Corbusier, as well as several of his other works, were inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[1]

History and description

The estate was built for the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition of 1927, and included twenty-one buildings comprising sixty dwellings, designed by seventeen European architects, most of them German-speaking. The German architect Mies van der Rohe was in charge of the project on behalf of the city, and it was he who selected the architects, budgeted and coordinated their entries, prepared the site, and oversaw construction. Le Corbusier was awarded the two prime sites, facing the city, and by far the largest budget.

The twenty-one buildings vary slightly in form, consisting of terraced and detached houses and apartment buildings, and display a strong consistency of design. What they have in common are their simplified facades, flat roofs used as terraces, window bands, open plan interiors, and the high level of prefabrication which permitted their erection in just five months. All but two of the entries were white. Bruno Taut had his entry, the smallest, painted in various colors.

Advertised as a prototype of future workers' housing, in fact each of these houses was customized and furnished on a budget far out of a normal worker's reach and with little direct relevance to the technical challenges of standardized mass construction. The exhibition opened to the public on 23 July 1927, a year late, and drew large crowds.

Homes

Homes 5-9: Terraced houses by J.J.P. Oud

Of the original twenty-one buildings, eleven survive as of 2006. Bombing damage during World War II is responsible for the complete loss of the homes by Gropius, Hilberseimer, Bruno Taut, Poelzig, Max Taut (home 24), and Döcker. Another of Max Taut's homes (23) was demolished in the 1950s, as was Rading's.[2]

List of homes

Home 33: The Scharoun residence

See also

References

  1. "The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  2. "Siedlungshäuser: Die Häuser der Weissenhofsiedlung". Weissenhofsiedlung. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
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