Stadtbaukunst: The Role of the "Other Modernity" in Designing European City The Wohnhof and Borstei Siedlung

Abstract

With this study we want to focus on an historical period, the '20s, fundamental for contemporary urban design. The '20s represent a moment of synthesis of several elements: the potentialities and the risks of the industrial revolution; the ideas of the utopians, Howard's idea of garden city; the tragedy of the First World War, the need for a large number of houses to be built in a short time. So the '20s are full of reified ideas about the theme of dwelling. In particular, we want to focus on the research carried out in Germany by a group of architects linked to the figure of Theodor Fischer and to the schools of Stuttgart and Munich. They considered urban design as “the art of building the city” (Stadtbaukunst), and they carried out the idea of modern city based on traditional elements (street, square, landmark, type and its variations) considered in a renewed relationship with nature and landscape. Studying the urban plans of these architects of the “other modernity” means studying parts of the city, trying to give order to the big and shapeless city. These parts assume the features of small town in the big city, or close to it, attempting to re-establish the idea of city as the place of human dwelling. This study allows us to reflect on the problem of the expansion of the city and the definition of its boundaries,providing information on how to establish a new town (in nature), or how to re-establish an idea of city in the shapeless parts (suburbs).