As the architecture and urban planning councilman of the city of Frankfurt and with the support of the social ideals of the Weimar Republic, Ernst May understood that the new city for the working class required not only the rationalization of the housing unit, the mechanization of the construction process or the normalization of elements, but that there was also a need to inquire into new forms of collective living. The aim was to create a life in common and a shared reality in a city for all that led to the transformation of established programmes and fostered the rise of a feeling of community that, up until then, had been inexistent. A crucial step to achieve this was to overhaul land use policies. 15,000 were units built between 1925 and 1930, which at the time represented more than 90 percent of the finished houses in the city, a number that would not have been reached without the effort put into economic efficiency from their design to their construction.
The urban strategy implemented for this programme contemplated a decentralized layout based on the polynuclear growth of the city, producing several satellite complexes with collective services that functioned as selfsufficient colonies in direct contact with their natural surroundings. Key to this rationalization was the establishment of the size of the minimum dwelling, even though research into rationalizing the economy of the home centred on what become known as the Frankfurt kitchen designed by Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky, with its reduction in size and optimization of use. In order to economize the process, the mechanization of building systems was also needed; in this case, large-sized, prefabricated, concrete panels were developed in order to reduce construction times. At the same time, May insisted on improving the quality of building elements, such as doors, windows or handles, so he carried out a careful study to homologate and standardize these features establishing the Frankfurter Register, which had to be accepted by all the contractors. Lastly, the Frankfurt team understood the importance of spreading their objectives, especially when it came to raising awareness of these issues among housewives, therefore their research was shown in exhibitions, conferences, books, magazines or films. W ith this global understanding of the urban realm, Frankfurt am Main became an experiment in the matter of working class housing with a widespread impact.
As the architecture and urban planning councilman of the city of Frankfurt and with the support of the social ideals of the Weimar Republic, Ernst May understood that the new city for the working class required not only the rationalization of the housing unit, the mechanization of the construction process or the normalization of elements, but that there was also a need to inquire into new forms of collective living. The aim was to create a life in common and a shared reality in a city for all that led to the transformation of established programmes and fostered the rise of a feeling of community that, up until then, had been inexistent. A crucial step to achieve this was to overhaul land use policies. 15,000 were units built between 1925 and 1930, which at the time represented more than 90 percent of the finished houses in the city, a number that would not have been reached without the effort put into economic efficiency from their design to their construction.
The urban strategy implemented for this programme contemplated a decentralized layout based on the polynuclear growth of the city, producing several satellite complexes with collective services that functioned as selfsufficient colonies in direct contact with their natural surroundings. Key to this rationalization was the establishment of the size of the minimum dwelling, even though research into rationalizing the economy of the home centred on what become known as the Frankfurt kitchen designed by Margarete Schutte-Lihotzky, with its reduction in size and optimization of use. In order to economize the process, the mechanization of building systems was also needed; in this case, large-sized, prefabricated, concrete panels were developed in order to reduce construction times. At the same time, May insisted on improving the quality of building elements, such as doors, windows or handles, so he carried out a careful study to homologate and standardize these features establishing the Frankfurter Register, which had to be accepted by all the contractors. Lastly, the Frankfurt team understood the importance of spreading their objectives, especially when it came to raising awareness of these issues among housewives, therefore their research was shown in exhibitions, conferences, books, magazines or films. W ith this global understanding of the urban realm, Frankfurt am Main became an experiment in the matter of working class housing with a widespread impact. Read More
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