Metropolisarchitecture - Ludwig Hilberseimer PDF

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Ludwig Hilberseimer
M etropolisarchitecture
and Selected Essays
Ludwig Hilberseimer
Metropolisarchitecture
and Selected Essays
Ed. Richard Anderson
A Columbia University GSAPP Sourcebook

Craig Buckley, Series Editor
In the same series:
John McHale, 77ie Expendable Reader: Articles on
Art, Architecture, Design, and Media (1951-79),
Ed. AIqx Kitnick
GSAPP SOURCEBOOKS
The last decades have witnessed a rapid expan
sion o f the field o f architecture. If the con
tem porary panoram a appears increasingly vast
and accelerated, it is sim ultaneously populated
by a num ber o f openings, holes, and gaps. The
Colum bia U niversity G SA PP Sourcebooks se
ries addresses itself to overlooked writings on
architecture and the city. Em phasizing the spe
cificity and nuance o f a single writer, each
Sourcebook is guest edited and introduced by a
different scholar, critic, or architect, and concen
trates on assem bling texts previously scattered in
disparate sources and on translating works cur
rently unavailable to English-speaking readers.
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ical outlook or specific institutional agenda, the
desire to put these w ritings back into circulation
is nevertheless m otivated by a sense o f urgency
and a com m itm ent to discourse and debate.
This edition first published by GSAPP BOOKS 2012

The Trustees o f Columbia University in the City of New York.
Essays the authors.
All images their respective owners.
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GSAPP Sourcebooks Series 2
Editor: Richard Anderson
Series Editor: Craig Buckley
Graphic Design: Geoff Han
Translators: Metropolisarchitecture translated by Richard Anderson;
appendices translated by Julie Dawson
Copy Editor: Stephanie Salomon
Printed in Belgium by Die Keure
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hilberseimer, Ludwig.
[Works. Selections. English]
M etropolisarchitecture and selected essays / Ludwig Hilber
seimer; ed. Richard Anderson.
pages cm .(Columbia University GSAPP sourcebooks; 2)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-883584-75-7
1. Architecture, M odern20th century. 2. City planning
H istory20th century. I. Anderson, Richard, 1980- editor of
compilation, translator. II. Aureli, Pier Vittorio, writer of added
commentary. III. Hilberseimer, Ludwig. Grossstadtarchitektur.
English. IV. Title.
NA680.H4513 2012
724.6dc23
Contents
9
12
A cknow ledgm ents

T ra n slato rs N otes
Introduction
15
A n End to Speculation
By R ichard A nderson
84
91
135
191
201
218
231
250
261
264
T he M etropolis
U rban P lanning
R esidential Buildings
Com m ercial Buildings
H igh-rises
H alls and T heaters
T ra n sp o rtatio n Buildings
In d u stria l Buildings
Building Trades and the
Building Industry
Selected Essays
282
290
T he Will to A rchitecture
Proposal for C ity-C enter D evelopm ent
Visual Documents
306
322
326
The Will to Architecture
Proposal for City-Center Development
Afterword
333
In Hilberseim ers Footsteps

By Pier Vittorio Aureli
365
Contributors
Acknowledgments
During this books long gestation period it bene
fited from the support o f many institutions and
individuals. T he idea for the project was conceived
at the Technical U niversity in Berlin, where I had
the opportunity to study under the auspices of a
Fulbright Fellowship in 2002-03. The initial
translation o f Grofistadtarchitektur was com pleted
in the sum m er o f 2005 in Rome, where I was able
to work w ith the generous support o f Patricia
A nderson, who has provided extraordinary assis
tance in all o f my m etropolitan endeavors. A
sem inar led by Jean-Louis Cohen and Robert
L ubar at N ew York U niversitys Institute o f Fine
A rts deepened my understanding of the visual
and architectural cultures o f the twentiethcentury m etropolis. T he M oscow A rchitecture
Institute deserves special recognition here: the
staff o f the bookshop in the In stitu tes vestibule
let me purchase a copy o f H ilberseim ers book for
next to nothing. This exem plar served as the m as
ter copy for the m ajority o f the images reproduced
in the present volume.
R esearch for this p roject was m ade possible
by C olum bia U niversitys D epartm ent o f A rt
H istory and Archaeology. I thank Barry Bergdoll
and V ittoria D i P alm a for their continued sup
port. Caleb Sm ith, G abriel Rodriguez, and Emily
Shaw o f C olum bias M edia C enter for A rt H is
tory provided invaluable technical assistance
10
A C K N O W LED G M EN TS
throughout the production of the book. The

staff of Columbia Universitys Avery Architec
tural and Fine Arts Library facilitated research
and production for this project. I thank Carolyn
Yerkes and Brooke Baldeschwiler of the Avery
Classics Collection for responding to my requests
with generosity and expedition.
Discussions with colleagues currently and
formerly at Columbia have been invaluable. I
thank in particular A lbert N arath, who gener
ously shared research he conducted at the Art
Institute of Chicago. Insights gained from dis
cussions with Albert, Cesare Birignani, and John
Harwood contributed to a shared enthusiasm for
the metropolis that propelled this project forward.
I thank Julie Dawson for her superb transla
tions and for accommodating my editorial hand
in rendering Hilberseimers at-times cryptic texts
into English. Craig Buckley deserves special
thanks for initiating this series, steering this vol
ume through its many stages, and providing
insightful criticism on the introduction. I am
grateful to Pier Vittorio Aureli, who generously
agreed to contribute his trenchant afterword to
this volume. G eoff H ans meticulous design has
enhanced the books intelligibility and visual
appeal. I would also like to thank Columbia
Universitys G raduate School of Architecture,
Planning and Preservation for making the publi
cation of this book possible.
As always, Tara Lynchs untiring support
was indispensable to me and to this project.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
11
Finally, I thank G reta, w hose presence helps me

see the m etropolis w ith younger, fresher eyes
and to w hom this book is dedicated.
Translators N otes
The challenge of translating Ludwig Hilber
seimers G rofistadtarchitektur begins with the
books title. H ilberseim ers decision to connect
its two term s G rofistadt (metropolis), and A rchite ktu r (architecture)placed the book in a
polemical relationship to a constellation of other
Germ an theories of the city. Prominent books he
addressed include August Endells D ie Schdnheit
der grofien S ta d t (The Beauty of the Big City),
1908, and Karl Schefflers D ie A rch itektu r der
G rofistadt (The Architecture of the Metropolis),
1913. Their titles suggest a mediated relationship
between architecture and the city, implying that
the terms belong to distinct orders of creation;
Hilberseim ers is an argument for their immedi
ate unity. To capture this immediacy, we have
departed from the pattern established by the
books Spanish and Italian editions (L a arquitectura de la gran ciudad; L architettura della grande
c itta ), the titles of which may be translated as
The Architecture of the Big City. We have

adopted the unfamiliar compound word metro
polisarchitecture as our title. We hope the
novelty of this articulation will at once defamiliarize its elements and convey the originality of
Hilberseim ers conceptual categories.
In his early writing, much of which is syn
thesized in G rofistadtarchitektur , Hilberseimer
drew on the concept of G estaltung in a variety of
TRANSLATORS NOTES
ways. A w ord notoriously rich in connotation,
Gestaltung, as D etlef M ertins and M ichael Jen
nings have described, was a polem ical term in
the early 1920s because it could describe (and
thus unify) b oth artistic and industrial creation.'
It is a nom inalization o f the verb gestalten,
which encom passes a range o f m eanings: to
shape, form , produce, construct, design, config
ure, and organize, am ong others. N otably, the
term was used in the title o f the avant-garde
magazine G: M aterial zur elementaren Gestaltung
(G: M aterial fo r Elementary Form-Creation), to
which H ilberseim er contributed; and from 1926
the Bauhaus, w here H ilberseim er would teach,
was officially recognized as a H ochschule fur
G estaltung (college o f design). We have departed
slightly from the tra n slatio n o f Gestaltung as
form -creation, w hich M ertins and Jennings
have ad opted in the scholarly edition o f G.
Gestaltung is rendered here predom inantly as
design or as organization when appropriate.
We feel the creative, non-m im etic connotations
of these E nglish term s com m unicate the sense
of H ilberseim ers discourse.
H ilb erseim ers personal style is character
ized by a staccato rhythm o f short, declarative
1 See D e tle f M ertins and M ichael Jennings, In tro
duction: T h e G -G ro u p and the E uropean A vant-G arde,
in G: An Avant-Garde Journal o f Art, Architecture, Design,
and Film, 1923-1926, eds. D e tle f M ertins and M ichael
Jennings, trans. Steven L indberg and M argareta Ingrid
C hristian (Los A ngeles: G e tty R esearch Institute,
2010), 4-5.
14
TRANSLATORS NOTES
phrases. At times his sentences are deliberately

incomplete. We have resisted the urge to natural
ize his style in English, and opted instead for
approximations of his telegraphic cadence. And
like most critics who write as much and as fre
quently as Hilberseimer did, his essays and books
are marked by the repetition and refinement of
key concepts and passages. We hope this pre
sentation conveys the correspondence between
H ilberseim ers idiosyncratic approach to writing
and his architectural projects for the metropolis.
R ich a rd A nd erso n
Ju lie D aw son
Introduction
LUDWIG
HILBERSEIMER
GROSS
STADT
ARCHITEKTUR
Fig. 1 Ludwig Hilberseimer, GroBstadtarchitektur, Stuttgart:

J. Hoffmann, 1927
An End to Speculation
Introduction by R ichard A nderson
It is impossible nowadays fo r any contractor to
get along without speculative building, and on a
large scale at that.1
K arl M arx, Capital, Volume II
Ludwig H ilberseim ers Grofistadtarchitektur (1927)
offers one o f the m ost cogent analyses undertaken
between the tw o w orld w ars o f arch itectu res
relationship to the city. In this w ork, H ilber
seimer approached the m etropolis as the
fundam ental condition for ratio n al architecture
and planning. W hile others found escape from
the city in the u to p ian archipelago o f suburban
settlem ents, the Siedlungen th a t represent the
finest achievem ents o f the W eim ar R epublics
social housing policy, H ilberseim er, in both
words and projects, confronted the dynam ics of
the m etropolis directly. T he present form of the
m etropolis, he m aintained, owes its appear
ance prim arily to the econom ic form o f capitalist
im perialism . H e recognized th a t the principles
that m anage and regulate industrial operations
and trade cartels failed to m ake the m etropolis
1 Karl M arx, Capital, trans. D avid F ernbach, 3 vols.
(London: Penguin B ooks in association w ith N ew Left
Review, 1978), 2: 312.
18
M ETRO PO LISARCHITECTU RE
an object of organization. He described the reign

of disorganization in capitalist cities: housing
districts are built next to noisy, smoking factories;
the concentration of the city center is reproduced
in residential quarters; building codes are applied
haphazardly; the various forces that compose
metropolises run rampant, working against each
other instead of collaborating, so energy is lost
rather than gained. Speculative development,
which Marx had already identified as a driving
force in the capitalist city, produces a misuse and
consumption of people without result.2
Although Hilberseim ers views were shared
by many, his response to the city was unique. The
chaos and lack of regulation in the metropolis
aroused an anti-urban ideology among Germ a
nys leading architects and planners: Bruno
T auts call for the dissolution of cities is
emblematic of this position.3 Despite its defi
ciencies, Hilberseim er asserted the necessity of
the metropolis in a world defined by global eco
nomic interdependencies on the grounds that
the metropolis itself accelerates economic pro
duction processes by drawing economic control
ever faster and more consciously to itself.4
The rational organization of production and
2 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Grofistadtarchitektur, Die
Baubiicher, Bd. 3 (Stuttgart: J. Hoffmann, 1927), 1; 2; 2;
see this volume, pp. 86; 89; 89.
3 Bruno Taut, Die Aufldsung der Stadte, oder, Die Erde,
eine gute Wohnung oder auch: Der Weg zur alpinen Architektur (Hagen: Folkwang-Verlag, 1920).
INTRODUCTION
19
rep ro d u ctio n o f labor, leisure, and everyday

liferequired no t an end to the m etropolis but,
in H ilberseim ers words:
an end to the metropolis that is based on the
principle o f speculation and whose very organ
ism cannotfree itself from the model o f the city
o f the past despite all the modifications it has
experienced an end to the metropolis that has
yet to discover its own laws.5
W ith this, H ilberseim er advanced one o f the
principal theses contained in Grofistadtarchitek
tur: the coordination o f the relationships that
govern the m etropolis requires an end to spe
culation as a category o f both econom ic and
aesthetic activity.
T he challenge th a t H ilberseim er presented
in Grofistadtarchitektur, however, has been inter
preted largely through the images that the book
contains. T he gray, single-point perspective ren
derings o f his Hochhausstadt (H igh-rise City),
1924, that figure prom inently in the boo k s sec
ond chapter have evoked a variety o f extrem e
reactions, m ost o f them negative. Standard texts
on the history o f m odern architecture use these
4 H ilberseim er, Grofistadtarchitektur, 2; see this volum e,
p. 87.
5 Ibid., 3; see this volum e, p. 90. T his statem en t first
appeared in G 4: Ludwig H ilberseim er, A m erikanische
A rchitektur: A usstellung in d er A kadem ie der B ildenden
K iinste, G 4 (1926): 8.
Figs.
17-18
20
M ETROPO LISARCHITECTU RE
images of eerie, uniform blocks to illustrate

the dangers of functionalism.6Richard Pommer,
one of the m ost astute commentators on H ilber
seimers work, counted these images among the
standard illustrations of the horrors of modern
housing and city planning.7 But Hilberseimer
himself offered the most damning assessment of
the High-rise City and its conceptual underpin
ning. In 1963 he described the project as more a
necropolis than a metropolis, a sterile landscape
of asphalt and cement; inhuman in every
respect.8 W hat is more, H ilberseim ers retro
spective commentary was part of his effort,
intentionally or unintentionally, to expunge the
radical propositions set forth in Grofistadtarchi
tektur from his record. The exclusion of these
images from Berliner Architektur der 20er Jahre
(Berlin A rchitecture of the 1920s), 1967, the
final text in his long bibliography, marked the
culmination of an extended process that has
hitherto impeded research on Hilberseimers
radical projects for the city.9
6 William J. R. Curtis, Modern Architecture Since 1900,
3rd ed. (London: Phaidon, 1996), 251.
7 Richard Pommer, More a Necropolis than a M etrop
olis: Ludwig Hilberseimers Highrise City and Modern
City Planning, in In the Shadow o f Mies: Ludwig Hilber
seimer: Architect, Educator, and Urban Planner, eds.
Richard Pommer, David Spaeth, and Kevin Harrington
(Chicago: The A rt Institute of Chicago, 1988), 17.
8 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Entfaltung einer Planungsidee
(Berlin: Ullstein, 1963), 22. Unless otherwise noted, all
translations are my own.
INTRODUCTION
21
Grofistadtarchitektur, however, offers much

more than a com m entary on the images o f the
High-rise City. T he b o o k s theoretical im port
has been recognized by a diverse group o f schol
ars and architects: G iorgio G rassi, M anfredo
Tafuri, M arco D e M ichelis, C hristine M engin,
Juan Jose L ahuerta, K. M ichael Hays, and m ost
recently P ier V ittorio A ureli.10 T heir work has
situated H ilberseim ers w riting w ithin the
architectural culture o f W eim ar G erm any and
9 Ludwig H ilberseim er, Berliner Architektur der 20er
Jahre (M ainz: K upferberg, 1967).
10 G iorgio G rassi, In tro d u z io n e, in Ludwig H ilb er
seimer, Un'idea di piano (P adua: M arsilio, 1967), 7-22;
G iorgio G rassi, A rch ite ttu ra e form alism o, in Ludwig
H ilberseim er, Architettura a Berlino negli anni venti (M ilan:
Franco A ngeli, 1979), 7-29; M anfredo Tafuri, Architec
ture and Utopia: Design and Capitalist Development
(C am bridge: T he M IT Press, 1976); M anfredo T afuri,
Sozialpolitik and the C ity in W eim ar G erm any, in The
Sphere and the Labyrinth: Avant-Gardes and Architecture
from Piranesi to the 1970s (C am bridge: T he M IT Press,
1987), 197-233; M arco D e M ichelis, R itratto di un
arch itetto com e giovane a rtis ta , Rassegna 27 (1986):
6-25; C hristine M engin, M odelle fiir eine m oderne
G roB stadt: Ludw ig M ies van der R ohe und Ludwig H il
berseim er, in Moderne Architektur in Deutschland 1900 bis
1950: Expressionismus und Neue Sachlichkeit, eds. V ittorio
M agnago L am pugnani and R om ana S chneider (S tuttgart:
G. H atje, 1994), 184-203; Ju an Jo s L ahuerta, 1927, la
abstraccidn necesaria en el arte y la arquitectura europeos
d entreguerras (B arcelona: A nthropos, 1989); K. M ichael
Hays, Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject: The Archi
tecture o f Hannes M eyer and Ludwig Hilberseimer
(C am bridge: T h e M IT P ress, 1992); P ier V ittorio Aureli,
A rch ite ctu re for B arbarians: Ludwig H ilberseim er and
22
M ETRO POLISARCHITECTU RE
dem onstrated its singularity. That much of

the critical work on Hilberseim er has been
undertaken in languages other than English cor
responds in part to the availability of his texts in
translation. Large portions of Grofistadtarchitek
tur appeared in Russian translation in 1932.11
The entire text appeared in Spanish in 1979, with
a second edition in 1999, and in Italian in 1981,
with a second edition in 1998.12 The books
first and final chapters appeared in English
translation in the journal Australian Planner in
the Rise of the Generic City, AA files 63 (2011): 3-18; see
also Markus Kilian, Grofistadtarchitektur und New
City: Eine planungsmethodische Untersuchung der
Stadtplanungsmodelle Ludwig Hilberseimers (Dr.-Ing.
diss., Universitat Karlsruhe, 2002); Francesco Bruno,
Ludwig Hilberseimer: la costruzione di unidea di citta: il
periodo tedesco (Milan: Libraccio, 2008).
11 Significant portions of Grofistadtarchitektur appeared
in David Arkins anthology of contemporary architecture
of the capitalist West: David Arkin, ed., Arkhitektura
sovremennogo zapada (Moscow: IZOGIZ, 1932). The portionof HilberseimerschapterHallenundTheaterbauten
(translated in this volume as Halls and Theaters) that
had previously appeared as A ttrappenarchitektur in
the journal Qualitat in 1925 appeared as Protiv maskirovochnoi arkhitektury (Against Mask-like Architecture),
115-117; most of Hilberseimers chapter Stadtebau
(translated in this volume as Urban Planning) appeared
as Problemy gradostroitelstva (Problems of Urban
Planning), 150-59. Both excerpts were translated from
German to Russian by Arkin.
12 Ludwig Hilberseimer, La arquitectura de la gran ciudad,
trans. Pedro Madrigal Devesa (Barcelona: Gustavo Gili,
1979), 2nd ed., Gustavo Gili, 1999; Ludwig Hilberseimer,
INTRODUCTION
23
1998.13This volum e presents a first, and belated,

translation o f the com plete text of Grofistadt
architektur, offering an opportunity to reconsider
one o f the m ost im portant contributions to
urban and architectural thought o f the 1920s.
Grofistadtarchitektur was unlike contem po
rary books on architecture and urban planning.
It was the third num ber in a series, the Baubiicher
(Building Books), p ublished by Julius H offm ann
in S tuttgart. It followed R ichard N e u tra s expo
sition o f A m erican building practices, Wie baut
Am erika?(H ow D oes A m erica Build?), 1927, and
H ilberseim ers own panoram ic view o f in tern a
tional m odernism , Internationale neue Baukunst
(New In te rn atio n a l Building A rt), also 1927,
which was published on the opening o f the Werkbunds W eissenhofsiedlung in S tu ttg art.14W hile
N eu tra felt it necessary to plead w ith the reader
to endure the abundance o f technical detail that
he hastily recorded during his practical w ork in
the U nited States, Internationale neue Baukunst is
prim arily a picture book. Grofistadtarchitektur, in
contrast, was the result o f extended theoretical
Groszstadt Architektur: L architettura della grande citta,
trans. B ianca Spagnuolo V igorita (N aples: C LEA N ,
1981), 2nd ed., C L E A N , 1998.
15 Ludwig H ilberseim er, G ro sz stad tarc h ite k tu r, ed.
Kim H alik, trans. H einz A rn d t, Australian Planner 35, no.
3(1998): 147-57.
14 R ichard N e u tra , Wie baut Amerika?, D ie Baubiicher,
Bd. 1 (S tuttgart: J. H offm ann, 1927); Ludwig H ilbersei
mer, Internationale neue Baukunst, D ie B aubiicher, Bd. 2
(S tuttgart: J. H offm ann, 1927).
24
M ETROPOLISARCHITECTU RE
reflection. At the same time, it offers a broad

cross section of modern architectural achieve
ments in Europe and N orth America. It
nevertheless has a more definite focus on urban
architecture than such contem porary texts as
Walter Curt Behrendts Der Sieg des neuen Baustils
(The Victory o f the New Building Style) or Gustav
A dolf Platzs Die Baukunst der neuesten Zeit
(Building-Art of the Most Recent Era), both
published in 1927.15 Hilberseimer would have
compared his book to Le Corbusiers Urbanisme
( The City o f Tomorrow and its Planning), 1925, the
contents of which influenced significant ele
ments of his own thinking.16
And yet Grofistadtarchitektur is neither a
manual on urban planning nor an outline of
modern architectures origins. Rather, it is a
m editation on the relationship between the two
term s of its compound title: m etropolis and
15 Walter Curt Behrendt, Der Sieg des Neuen Baustils
(Stuttgart: Fr. Wedekind, 1927); Walter Curt Behrendt,
The Victory o f the New Building Style, ed. D etlef Mertins,
trans. Harry Francis Mallgrave (Los Angeles: Getty
Research Institute, 2000); Gustav Adolf Platz, Die Bau
kunst der neuesten Zeit (Berlin: Propylaen-Verlag in
association with Bauwelt, 1927).
16 Le Corbusier, Urbanisme, Collection de Lespirit
nouveau (Paris: Les Editions G. Cres & Co., 1925); Le
Corbusier, The City o f Tomorrow and its Planning, trans.
Frederick Etchells (New York: Payson & Clarke, 1929).
Hans Hildebrandts translation of Urbanisme into G er
man, Stadtebau, was published in 1929 by the Deutsche
Verlags-Anstalt in Stuttgart.
INTRODUCTION
25
architecture. It is as m uch an analysis o f the

conditions for architecture in the m etropolis as it
is a prescriptive theory of form. W ritten from a
distinctly socialist perspective, H ilberseim ers
text com bines a critique o f the social, techno
logical, and econom ic factors th a t have shaped
the capitalist city w ith a N ietzschean will to
architecture. C oupling analysis w ith advocacy,
H ilberseim er articulated a program for the lib
eration o f architecture from the speculative
regim e o f the capitalist m arketplace and the sub
ordination o f the city to the elem entary laws of
art. M etro p o lisarch itectu re was the nam e he
gave to the unity o f p art and whole that would be
achieved w hen his prop ositions w ere fulfilled.
T he present volum e takes this unity for its
title and assem bles a range o f texts and images
that offers a definitive representation o f H ilber
seim ers theory o f the m etropolis. N ot a facsim ile
of Grofistadtarchitektur, this volum e presents a
selection o f the m ore than 200 im ages in the
1927 edition. H ilb e rse im ers argum ent inform ed
this selection, and each o f his own designs
included in the first edition is illustrated. An
im age-based dossier o f visual docum ents rep ro
duces select pages from Grofistadtarchitektur and
H ilb erseim ers oth e r w ritings. T hese docum ents
facilitate a fuller understanding o f the graphic
dim ension o f H ilberseim ers theory o f the
m etropolis. Two additional texts, D er W ille zur
A rch itek tu r (The W ill to A rchitecture, 1923)
and V orschlag zur C ity-B ebauung (P roposal
26
for City-Center Development, 1930), are trans

lated here for the first time and appear as
appendices. These essays supplement Grofistadt
architektur and reconstruct the genealogy of
Hilberseim ers theory of the metropolis from its
origins in the avant-gardes of the 1920s through
its m ost concrete formalization at the end of the
decade. But the texts and images presented here
have not been compiled merely as documents for
the archive of urban and architectural thought.
For to read this book todayin the midst of an
economic and urban crisis whose origins lie in
the speculative housing market; surrounded by a
variety of speculative theories of architecture, be
they iconic, parametric, or affect-basedis to see
that Hilberseimers call for an end to speculation,
in both its economic and aesthetic modes, has
acquired a surplus value, one derived not from the
patina of age but from the force of urgency.
Dionysian Origins
Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer was born on Septem
ber 14,1885, in Karlsruhe. The geometric rigor of
the citys radial-concentric street system surely
influenced him during his childhood and student
years. He enrolled in the Grand Ducal Technical
University in 1906 and would complete his ar
chitectural training in 1911.17 Among his most
17 For an excellent account of Hilberseimers biography
see De Michelis, Ritratto di un architetto come giovane
artista, 6-25.
INTRODUCTION
27
significant professors were F riedrich O stendorf

and R einhard Baum eister. O stendorf is prim arily
rem em bered today for his polem ical criticism
of the work o f H erm ann M uthesius. O stendorf
believed that an arbitrary approach to form lurked
behind both the picturesque asym m etry o f Muthesiuss country houses and his rhetoric of
Sachlichkeit (objectivity). A lthough H ilberseim er
made little reference to O sten d o rfs influence, it
is hard to im agine that his teachers oft-repeated
dictum failed to leave a m ark on his thinking: to
design is to find the sim plest form o f appearance
for a building program . 18 B aum eisters landm ark
treatise Stadt-Erweiterungen (City Extensions) of
1876 inform ed a generation o f planners on the
technical basis o f urban expansion.19 Like Bau
meister, H ilberseim er w ould em phasize the
param ount im portance o f housing and circula
tion in planning.
In 1911 H ilberseim er m oved to Berlin,
where he w ould live and w ork until he moved to
the U nited States in 1938. D uring W orld W ar I
he d irected an in stitu te o f aeronautical research,
and he flourished in the atm osphere o f postw ar
Berlin. T he citys intellectual and artistic culture
allow ed him to exercise his philosophical and
18 F riedrich O stendorf, Sechs Bucher vom Bauen, enthaltend eine Theorie des architektonischen Entwerfens, 3rd ed.,
(Berlin: W. E rn st & S ohn, 1918), 1:3.
19 R einhard B aum eister, Stadt-Erweiterungen in technischer baupolizeilicher und wirthschaftlicher Beziehung
(Berlin: E rn st & K orn, 1876).
28
Figs.
46-47
literary talents in a variety of venues. During his

time in Berlin he wrote for numerous journals,
published several books, and secured his reputa
tion as an authority on architecture and urban
planning. Hilberseim ers professional stature
was reflected in his membership in the Ring of
modern architects, his invitation to build a house
at the W eissenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart in 1927,
and his appointm ent as a professor at Hannes
Meyers Bauhaus.20Grofistadtarchitektur grew out
of Hilberseim ers intensive engagement with the
complex and varied intellectual currents that
coursed through the metropolis. W ritten before
he turned his attention exclusively to the decen
tralization of citiesthe topic that would occupy
20 The nature of Hilberseimers relationship to Hannes
Meyer lacks precise definition despite K. Michael Hayss
study of the two as representatives of a shared post
humanist position within the history of modern
architecture. In a letter explaining his removal from the
Bauhaus in Dessau, Meyer noted that his appointment of
the socialist architect L. Hilberseimer was part of the
pedagogical changes undertaken during his tenure as
director. After Meyer moved to the USSR in 1930, Hil
berseimer continued to teach at the Bauhaus, which was
relocated to Berlin under Mies van der Rohes leadership.
Both Meyer and Hilberseimer were associated with the
Kollektiv fur sozialistisches Bauen (Collective for
Socialist Building), which was organized by a group of
young, left-leaning architects in Berlin in 1930. The
Kollektiv sponsored the Proletarian Building Exhibi
tion of 1931, during which Meyer lectured while
traveling through Western Europe on leave from his
responsibilities in the Soviet Union. Hilberseimer
INTRODUCTION
29
him from the early 1930s through the rest o f his

career the book represents a synthesis o f his
reflections on the m etropolitan condition.21
In 1919, H ilberseim er w orked closely w ith
a group o f intellectuals gathered around the
magazine Der Einzige (The Singularity).22 Edited
by the literary h istorian E rnst Sam uel (also
known as A nselm Ruest) and the philosopher
Salom o F riedlander, the publication was dedi
cated to M ax S tirn e rs individualist legacy and to
participated in sem inars on urb an planning held by the
K ollektiv at the M arxistische A rbeiterschule (M arxist
W orkers School, M A SC H ) in Berlin in 1932. See Hays,
Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject, 4-6; H annes
M eyer, M ein H in au sw u rf aus dem B auhaus, in Bauen
und Gesellschaft: Schriften, Briefe, Projekte, eds. Lena
M eyer-B ergner and K laus-Jiirgen W inkler (D resden:
Verlag d er K unst, 1980), 69; K ollektiv fiir sozialistisches
B auen, J ah resb eric h t fiir das J a h r 1931, 28 January
1932, Erw in G ra ff Papers, B auhaus A rchive, Berlin.
21 F rom ab o u t 1930, H ilb erse im e r developed an approach
to d ecentralized settlem en t he called Mischbebauung, or
m ixed-height developm ent, in which residential highrises and single-story row h ouses w ould becom e the basic
elem ents o f the resid e n tia l city. H e would p ursue this
avenue o f research in num erous projects and studies
com pleted in the U n ited States. See Ludwig H ilb er
seim er, F la ch b a u und S ta d trau m , Zentralblatt fiir
Bauverwaltung 51, 23 D ecem ber 1931, 773-78; H ilb er
seim er, Entfaltung einer Planungsidee, 24-26.
22 T here is very little work on this im p o rtan t jo u rn al
and its editors. See C o n sta n tin Parvelescu, A fter the
R evolution: T h e In d iv id u alist A narchist Jo u rn a l Der
Einzige and th e M aking o f the R adical Left in the Early
Post-W orld W ar I G e rm an y (Ph.D . diss., U niversity o f
M innesota, 2006).
30
the development of Nietzschean philosophical

themes. The magazines first issue contained Hil
berseim ers essay Schopfung und Entwicklung
(Creation and Development)his first attempt
to articulate the value of the primitive.23
Primitive artworks are the most pure, he wrote,
because they have not yet fallen to the civilizing
urge for beauty. In his cultural genealogy, the
Renaissance marked a critical turning point at
which culture became primarily interested in the
imitation and reproduction of ancient culture:
One wanted to appear just as others were. Hil
berseimer identified the first signs of a way out
of this reproductive culture in the early work of
Nietzsche, particularly his Die Geburtder Tragodie
(The Birth o f Tragedy) of 1872: Then the young
Nietzsche discovered the polarity (DionysianApollonian) of Greek art. The entirety of
allegedly well-grounded Aesthetics collapsed.
The world, Hilberseimer wrote, was shocked by
the barbarism that Nietzsche revealed to be pres
ent in every aspect of Greek culture. One finally
recognized the high value of the primitive in con
trast to the reproductive.24
Hilberseim ers concept of the primitive and
its relationship to architecture acquired further
definition throughout 1919. That year saw the
23 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Schopfung und Entwicklung,
Der Einzige 1, no. 1 (1919): 5-6. This essay was excerpted
from a much longer text. The Art Institute of Chicago
holds the manuscript in its entirety.
24 Ibid., 5; 5; 6.
INTRODUCTION
31
founding o f the Arbeitsrat fu r Kunst (W ork C oun

cil for A rt) under the leadership o f W alter
G ropius and Bruno Taut. T he groups Exhibi
tion o f U nknow n A rchitects, which was held in
April, was a defining event in the advent of archi
tectural Expressionism . A lthough H ilberseim er
signed the Arbeitsrat's proclam ation, his work,
along w ith Ludwig M ies van der R ohes, was not
accepted by the show s jury. H e later noted that it
was probably the architectural clarity o f their
work th a t contradicted the rom antic nature of
the exhibition.25 H ilberseim er responded with
an article in Das Kunstblatt (The A rt Journal)
about Paul S cheerbart, the poetic inspiration for
Taut and m any o ther Expressionists, and archi
tecture.26 W ithout identifying specific architects,
he charged the Expressionists w ith a naturalis
tic m isunderstanding o f C ubist im agery and
claim ed th at in their w ork a lack o f creative
power is replaced by a search for originality.
An artw ork, H ilberseim er wrote, is a unity;
the unfolding and revelation of an idea; it is inde
pendent o f the accidental.27
We find the prim itive, productive architec
ture th a t H ilberseim er offered in response to
Expressionism in the first m ajor publication of
25 H ilberseim er, Berliner Architektur der 20er Jahre, 30.
M iess unrealized K roller-M iiller Villa P roject was also
rejected by the jury.
26 Ludwig H ilberseim er, Paul S cheerbart und die A rchitek ten , Das Kunstblatt 3 (1919): 271-74.
27 Ibid., 273.
32
Fig. 2 Ludwig Hilberseimer, early projects: above, depart

ment store; below, office building; from Deutsche Kunst
und Dekoration. 1919
INTRODUCTION
33
his architectural designs in Deutsche Kunst und

Dekoration (G erm an A rt and D ecoration).28 Pub
lished in June 1919, this series includes projects
for an urban theater, urban and suburban villas, a
train station, a covered m arket, an embassy, a
departm ent store, and an office building. As
M arco D e M ichelis has pointed out, these proj
ects bear the marks o f O sten d o rfs and H einrich
Tessenows influence, and they were probably exe
cuted before 1919.29 They were nevertheless
em bedded within H ilberseim ers discourse on the
primitive by the tim e o f their publication. U nder
the definite sway o f H ilberseim ers conceptual
categories, the critic Max W agenfuhr wrote:
Reconstruction means starting over from the
beginning. The primitive also applies to art.
Thus Hilberseimer returns to the basic form s
(U rfo rm en ): rectangle; square and right
angle; the triangle; the circle, semi-circle, and
arc define surface cube, pyramid, prism, and
sphere form mass.30
T he prim itive is thus productive, no t re
productive, in its elem ental, geom etric rigor.
28 M ax W agenfuhr, A rch ite k to n isc h e Entw urfe von L.
H ilberseim er, Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration 22, no. 6
(1919): 208-16.
29 D e M ichelis, R itra tto di un a rch itetto com e giovane
artis ta , 8-10.
30 W agenfuhr, A rch ite k to n isc h e Entw urfe von L. H il
berseim er, 211-12.
Fig. 2
34
Hilberseim er would later identify an im portant

source for his primitive geometries: Cezanne
spoke of the sphere, cone, and cylinder accord
ing to which one much formatively realize
nature.31 Hilberseim er also detected the pri
mitive force of geometric forms in the
Pre-Columbian monuments of Mesoamerica;
his analysis of the pure cubic elements and
sustained effects of simple linear arrange
ments at Palenque and Chichen Itza read like
descriptions of his own architectural projects.32
Hilberseimers engagement with the arts
landed him a job as the art critic for Sozialistische
Monatshefte (Socialist Monthly), a journal closely
associated with the German Social Democratic
Party. He occupied this post from 1920 until 1933,
when the publication was banned. In this position
he commented on topics including African Art,
experimental film, contemporary architecture,
and avant-garde artistic movements. His friend
ship with the Dadaist and filmmaker Hans
Richter, whom he had met in 1912, brought him
particularly close to Hannah Hoch, Raoul Hausmann, and other Berlin Dadaists.33In his criticism,
Hilberseimer was remarkably optimistic about
Dada, a movement that made destructive irony a
31 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Cezanne, Sozialistische
Monatshefte 28, nos. 1-2 (1922): 64.
32 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Mexikanische Baukunst, Das
Kunstblatt 6 (1922): 163-71.
33 Hans Richter, Kopfe und Hinterkdpfe (Zurich: Der
Arche, 1967), 75-76.
INTRODUCTION
35
principle o f artistic work. He warned that the

immediate future will dem onstrate the essential
seriousness that is concealed in the apparent flip
pancy o f D ada. Significantly, his characterization
of D adas aims prefigured his interest in integrat
ing the part and the w hole the room and the
cityin the capitalist m etropolis and revealed a
new political charge to his formal aspirations:
Dada w ants to free the ego from inoperative sys
tems; let it merge with the cosmos; make it
autonomously active; restore the total unity (Alleinheit) that has been crushed by bourgeois morality.34
T he M etropolis
If H ilb e rse im er view ed D ad a as an attem p t to
destroy th e m echanism s th a t iso la ted the in d i
vidual subject from th e totality, the m etropolis
itse lf was am ong th e m ost pow erful in o p e ra
tive system s th a t cru sh ed to ta l unity. In
1903 the sociologist G eorg Sim m el had id e n ti
fied the specific psychological ch a ra cte r o f
the big city in his essay T he M etropolis and
M ental L ife. 35 M e tro p o lita n individuality was
characterized above all by th e in ten sific atio n
34 Ludwig H ilberseim er, D adaism us, Sozialistische
Monatshefte 26, nos. 25-26 (1920): 1120.
35 G eorg Sim m el, D ie G roB stadte und das G eistesleb en, in Die Grofistadt: Vortrdge und Aufsatze zur
Stadteausstellung, ed. T h. P eterm ann (D resden: V. Z ahn &
Jaensch, 1903), 185-206; see G eorg Sim m el, The
M etropolis and M ental Life, in The Sociology o f Georg
Simmel (N ew York: F ree Press, 1950), 409-24.
36
of nervous stim ulation produced by rapidly

changing images, discontinuous impressions,
and the constant flow of people, goods, and
money. The subjective response to these condi
tions was to develop a protective organ to
guard against the forces that threaten to uproot
the individual. This organ produced a blase atti
tude toward the shocks of everyday life in the
m etropolis. This attitude freed the individual
from the deleterious effects of the intensifica
tion of consciousness, but it also m ani
fested itself as extreme social alienation in
the crowd, where bodily proximity and narrow
ness of space make the m ental distance only the
more visible.36 W hat is more, the blase
attitude toward the shocks of the metropolis, in
Simmels analysis, corresponds to a sub
jective internalization of the abstractionthe
leveling of all differenceon which exchange
value depends:
The mood is the faithful subjective reflection o f
a completely internalized money economy....
A ll thingsfloat with equal specific gravity in the
constantly moving stream o f money. A ll things
lie on the same level and differfrom one another
in the size o f the area which they cover31
36 Simmel, The M etropolis and Mental Life, 418.

37 Ibid., 414. On this line of argumentation see in par
ticular Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia, 84-89.
INTRODUCTION
37
The problem taken up by both urban avantgardes and m etropolitan theorists was thus how
to respond to the neutralization o f both m ental
life and the w orld o f objects in cities born of the
principle o f speculation.
H ilberseim ers first response to this prob
lem appeared in 1914 in a m anuscript for a
study titled D ie A rchitektur der G rofistadt
(The A rchitecture o f the M etropolis), which
constitutes the theoretical kernel of Grofistadtar
chitektur .38 H is w riting coincided w ith the high
point o f a period m arked by intense urban
thought. In 1908, A ugust E ndell identified the
beauty o f the big city in the ugly buildings and
noise that surrounds us in the total force o f the
38 Ludwig
H ilberseim er,
D ie
A rch ite k tu r
der
G roB stadt, Ludw ig K arl H ilb erse im e r P apers, Series
8/3, Box 1, 1914, T he A rt In s titu te o f Chicago. As R ich
ard Pom m er has p o in ted o ut, H ilb erse im e r developed his
m anuscript in two later drafts, w ritten betw een 1916 and
1918, in co llab o ratio n w ith his friend U do Rusker. See
Pommer, M ore a N ecropolis than a M etropolis, 27.
Although H ilberseim er called this w ork D ie A rch ite k
tur der G roB stadt, he did use the com pound term
Grofistadtarchitektur in the first draft. T he w ord was som e
thing o f a neologism , b u t H ilb erse im e r was n o t the first
to use it in this sense. W alter C u rt B ehrendt had used the
term in passing in his m o n ograph on A lfred M essel pu b
lished by B runo C assirer in 1911. Jo seph A ugust Lux had
used the term to g re ater effect in his m onograph on O tto
Wagner o f 1914, stating th at D ie neue G roB stadtarchitektur beginnt ihre Z eitrechnung m it O tto W agner....
(The new m etro p o lisarc h ite ctu re starts its clock w ith
O tto W agner....); see Jo seph A ugust Lux, Otto Wagner:
Eine Monographic (M unich: D elphin, 1914), 43.
38
present.39 Others sought to regulate the m etro

polis with new forms of organization. The
com petition for the design of G reater Berlin of
1910 captured the attention of the Germ an Reich
and stim ulated such innovative urban proposals
as Rudolf Eberstadt and Bruno Mohrings plan
for wedge-shaped green lungs that would con
nect Berlin to its hinterland. Hilberseimer wrote
that the task of the architect is to bring order
and clarity to the chaos.40
Hilberseimers text engaged with the most
recent literature on architecture and urban plan
ning. It was particularly indebted to Karl
Schefflers Die Architektur der Grofistadt (The
Architecture of the Metropolis) of 1913.41 Scheffler explicitly identified the metropolis as the site
where a new form of architecture would come into
being. Employing a mode of analysis Hilber
seimer would later apply in Grofistadtarchitektur,
Scheffler reduced the metropolis to its typological
elements: the apartment building, the commercial
building, and the suburban villa. The first of these
three was most important for both Scheffler and
Hilberseimer because the apartment building
expressed the uniformity of the big city, and, in
Schefflers words, the typical is the first prerequi
site of a new style.42 Hilberseimer turned to
39 August Endell, Die Schdnheit der grofien Stadt (Stutt
gart: Strecker & Schroder, 1908), 23.
40 Hilberseimer, Die A rchitektur der GroBstadt.
41 Karl Scheffler, Die Architektur der Grofistadt (Berlin:
Bruno Cassirer, 1913).
INTRODUCTION
39
W alter C urt B ehrendts Die einheitliche Blockfront

als Raumelement im Stadtbau (The U nified Block
as a Spatial Elem ent in City Building), 1911, for an
analysis o f the positive value of uniform blocks of
apartm ent buildings for m etropolitan form. The
harsh criticism that H ilberseim er directed at
Camillo Sittes artistic principles of urban plan
ning in this early text would be repeated in
Grofistadtarchitektur. Significantly, H ilberseim er
discussed O tto W agners plans for an expanding
metropolis in this early text; W agners project
would not be included in H ilberseim ers later
analysis of urban planning proposals.43
T he econom ic basis o f urban form was
already am ong H ilberseim ers concerns in 1914:
today it is capital above all else th at forces con
centrated settlem ents.44 H ilberseim er a ttri
buted the lack o f planning in the total organ
ism o f the m etropolis to the m otors o f urban
developm ent. In this he followed Schefflers cri
tique o f the Mietskaserne (rental barrack),
the derogatory designation for the tow ering,
densely built ap artm en t buildings th a t had
radically transform ed G erm an cities since
the building boom o f the 1870s th a t followed
G erm an unification and the co u n try s victory
in the F ranco-P russian W ar.45 T he m ulti-story
42 Ibid., 33.
45 O tto W agner, Die Grofistadt: Eine Studie iiber diese
(Vienna: A. S chroll u. Kom p., 1911).
44 H ilberseim er, D ie A rch ite k tu r d er G roB stadt.
40
dwelling, Scheffler wrote, exists in its present

form as the result of an immense entrepreneurial
will but also as an effect of an irresponsible and
unplanned speculative instinct.46 Scheffler, in
turn, based his analysis on the work of Rudolf
Eberstadt, who, in addition to preparing such
practical urban proposals as his entry to the 1910
competition for Greater Berlin and his project
for the development of Berlin-Treptow, was a
preem inent theorist and advocate for housing
reform. His Handbuch des Wohnungswesens und
der Wohnungsfrage (Handbook for Housing and
the Housing Question), 1909, went through
many editions and was widely read by students
and practitioners.47 Eberstadt analyzed the eco
nomics of housing and urban planning with
perhaps more rigor than anyone else and emerged
as a staunch opponent of speculations role in
the development of the metropolis. In 1907 he
devoted an entire book to the subject, Die Spekulation im neuzeitlichen Stadtebau (Speculation in
M odern U rban Planning). He described the
hegemony of speculation as follows:
Among the phenomena that characterize the
most recent period o f urban planning in Ger
45 On the development of the Berlin apartment building
see Johann Friedrich Geist and Klaus Kiirvers, Das Ber
liner Mietshaus, 3 vols. (Munich: Prestel, 1980).
46 Scheffler, Die Architektur der Grofistadt, 29.
47 Rudolf Eberstadt, Handbuch des Wohnungswesens und
der Wohnungsfrage (Jena: Gustav Fischer, 1909).
INTRODUCTION
41
many one stands out with particular clarity: the

development and ultimately complete reign o f
speculation in all spheres o f housing. From the
preparation and partitioning o f building sites
to the ownership o f finished apartments, specu
lation determines the organization o f urban
planning and the traffic in land values. The par
celing o f building sites is a speculative affair.
Construction, housing form , and housing pro
duction are determined by speculation. In its
hands lie land and building ownership; it has
mortgages and land registries at its disposal.**
Speculation, E b erstad t wrote, was nothing o ther
than oppo rtu n istic acquisition o f the lowest,
least valuable k in d . H e adm itted that the solu
tion to the problem o f speculation w ould not be
easily found. Sweeping reform s in planning regu
lation and housing finance were needed, and his
call for a radical reform o f the m etropolis prefig
ures the argum ents m ade by H ilberseim er after
W orld W ar I. E berstadt: Every isolated inter
vention th at leaves the foundations unchanged
m ust in this case be understood as an evil.49
H ilberseim ers first published response to
the m e tro p o lis ap p eared in 1923 in Sozialisti
sche M onatshefte. H is essay Vom stadtebaulichen P roblem der G rofistadt (On the U rban48 R u d o lf E b ersta d t, Die Spekulation im neuzeitlichen
Stadtebau (Jena: G ustav F ischer, 1907), 1.
49 Ibid., 2; 208.
42
Planning Problem of the Metropolis) contains

much of the text of the first chapter of Grofi
stadtarchitektur. Hilberseimer described the
design of the environment as one of the princi
pal tasks of humanity and distinguished between
the metropolis and the city of the past: the
metropolis is the natural and necessary conse
quence of the industrialization of the world.50
But there are crucial differences between the
position Hilberseim er articulated here and the
arguments he presented in his later book; the
most im portant concerns decentralization. In
his 1923 text, Hilberseim er identified one of
the most im portant sources for his thinking:
the architect, planner, and polymath Martin
Machler. Machlers activities were wide-rang
ing: he developed a plan for a new north-south
axis for Berlin in 1908 that would become an idee
fixe for a generation of planners that included
A lbert Speer; he advised Lenin on the impor
tance of energy networks in Zurich in 1917; and
he developed the theory of the Weltstadt (WorldCity) and the Grofisiedlung (Great-Settlement)
that Hilberseim er would expand.51 Also a con
tributor to Sozialistische Monatshefte, Machler
articulated his theory of the metropolis in a
50 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Vom stadtebaulichen Problem
der GroBstadt, Sozialistische Monatshefte 29, no. 6
(1923): 352.
51 On Machler see Ilse Balg, ed., Martin Machler,
Weltstadt Berlin, Wannseer Hefte 13 (Berlin: Galerie
Wannsee, 1986).
INTRODUCTION
43
series o f articles in 1921-22. M achler w rote that

if urban planners and speculators had ... con
sidered the settlem ent th at they created as ... a
cell in a total-state (Gesamtstaat); if they had
learned to see it as an organic elem ent in a large
organism ... they w ould have seen how narrow,
lim ited, and w ithout insight or foresight their
behavior w as. S2 H ilberseim er m ade M achlers
analysis the basis o f his response to the problem
o f the m etropolis and called for a strict separa
tion o f places o f w ork from places o f dwelling.
The city was to expand in the horizontal dim en
sion. Invoking the w ork o f Raym ond Unwin,
Erw in G utkind, and E rnst May, H ilberseim er
here advocated for the construction o f satellite
cities, to use M ays term inology.53 H is
design for a Wohnstadt (R esidential City) of
1923 follows the satellite-city principle and en
forces a strict separation o f functional zones.54
52 M artin M achler, D as S iedelungsproblem , Sozialisti
sche Monatshefte 27, no. 4 (1921): 185.
53 R aym ond U nw in, Town Planning in Practice: A n Intro
duction to the A rt o f Designing Cities and Suburbs (London:
T. F. U nw in, 1909); first G erm an edition, 1910; Erw in
G utkind, Vom stadtebaulichen Problem der Einheitsgemeinde Berlin (B erlin: H ans R obert Engelm ann, 1922);
E rn st May, S tadterw eiterung m ittels T ra b an ten , Der
Stadtebau 19, nos. 5-6(1922): 51-55.
54 A lthough H ilb erseim er included a diagram for a sys
tem o f satellite cities in several publications, this
d ecentralized m odel o f urban developm ent w ould not
ap p e ar in Grofistadtarchitektur. See Ludwig H ilberseim er,
S tadt- und W ohnungsbau, Soziale Bauwirtschaft 5, no.
14(1925): 185-88.
Figs.
25-27
44
Hilberseim er described how this form of growth

would radically alter the very concept of the city:
A t present our concept o f the city is based on an
ideology that is tied to the past. Although walls
and towers have long sincefallen, they haunt our
memories even today. Urban structures, such as
those that are designed to provide spacefor nine
million people in Tokyo and as many as thirtyfive million in New York, are based on premises
entirely different from those we are accustomed
to. They will thus produce an entirely new type
o f city that dispenses with spatial cohesion the
concept that we have until now used to imagine
the city. Their enormous expansion necessarily
forces decentralization. The traffic question
will become the Alpha and Omega o f the entire
urban organism.55
Thus, in 1923, Hilberseimer considered disag
gregation to be the most appropriate response to
the problem of the metropolis. Spatial cohesion,
which had been intensified by the speculative
development of German cities since the late
nineteenth century, gave way to the principle of
spatial dispersal. Following Machler, Hilber
seimer envisioned this new form of expansion
constituting new regional patterns, eventually
encompassing an economically unified Euro
55 Hilberseimer, Vom stadtebaulichen Problem der
GroBstadt, 357; compare to this volume, p. 133
INTRODUCTION
45
pean continent. F o rth e tim e being, H ilberseim ers

response to speculation was articulated in the
horizontal dim ension; by the end o f 1924 he
would turn to a vertical solution.
A esthetic Speculation
Speculation is not only a m ode of economic activ
ity; it is also a category o f artistic practice.
Reviewing the developm ent o f the arts in France
since the beginning o f W orld War I, H ilberseim er
noted that the epoch of speculation is not yet
past.56 H e referred to the persistent desire for
verisim ilitude am ong French artists and accused
them of cultivating a decorative sensibility. To
this speculative trend H ilberseim er opposed the
work o f the Parisian avant-garde. Picasso,
Braque, Gris, M etzinger, Leger are attem pting to
reach the absolute in painting; seeking to replace
the naturalistic illusion of the perspectival m ech
anism with an architectonic rhythm o f the image
(Bildrhythmus).57 H ilberseim er would later de
scribe the architectonic o f the visual arts as pre
paratory work for architectural and urban design.
56 Ludw ig H ilberseim er, Von d er K unst des jungen

F ran k reich s, Sozialistische M onatshefte 26, no. 11 (1920):
673. Paul W estheim w ould later link the ra m p a n t m one
tary inflation o f the early years o f the W eim ar R epublic
to the practice o f a rt-sp ecu la tio n . See Paul W estheim ,
D ie to te K unst d er G egenw art, Das Kunstblatt 8
(1924): 141-49.
57 H ilberseim er, Von d er K unst des jungen F ran k
reichs, 673.
46
The importance of Hilberseimers sus

tained engagement with Constructivism cannot
be underestim ated. Born in the Soviet Union,
Constructivism spread rapidly throughout East
ern and Western Europe as artists sought to
transform practice from the production of
images to the design of objects.58 Berlin was the
epicenter of International Constructivism,
which was distinct from its Soviet counterpart
in both its goals and political commitments.
Hilberseim er described the development of
Constructivism in an article of 1922. He viewed
the movement as a response to the exhaustion of
the recent experiments of Kazimir Malevich and
Aleksandr Rodchenko, whose monochromatic
paintings of 1919 had pushed Suprematism to its
final consequences. After this, a new decisive
phase had been reached:
Either one clung to abstraction and lost oneself
in individualistic speculations. Or one began to
renounce composition and turn to construction:
to the construction o f new objects.59
Hilberseim er referred to a series of debates that
took place in Moscows Institute of Artistic
Culture (INKhU K) in the winter of 1921 at
58 Christina Lodder, Russian Constructivism (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 1983).
59 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Konstruktivismus, Sozialisti
sche Monatshefte 28, nos. 19-20 (1922): 831.
INTRODUCTION
47
which sharp d istinctions were m ade between

com position and construction: the form er came
to be seen as a rem nant o f illusionistic art, the
latter as a m ode o f artistic practice th at m ight
transform everyday life.60 Recalling his earlier
essay S chopfung und Entw icklung, he defined
C onstructivism as an attem p t to break w ith the
illusionism o f R enaissance art and initiate a
creative design o f the w orld. T he laws of
artistic fo rm a tio n , he w rote, should also be
applied to space as an object and no longer to
the pictorial illusion o f space. Significantly,
H ilberseim er identified the m ost successful
attem pt at C onstructivist creation in Viking
Eggelings a b stra ct films, w hat H ilberseim er
called his Bewegungskunst (M ovem ent-A rt). In
such a w ork as E ggelings Diagonal-Symphonie
(D iagonal Symphony) o f 1921, the final
rem ains o f illusionism have been elim inated,
and a truly new object has been created and
form ed w ith the u tm o st p recisio n .61T he values
H ilberseim er associated w ith the prim itive thus
reappear in his reading o f C onstructivism and
experim ental cinem a.
In his 1922 essay on Constructivism ,
H ilberseim er identified a num ber o f international
publications that supported the movement: the
60 O n these d eb ates see M aria G ough, The A rtist as Pro

ducer: Russian Constructivism in Revolution (Berkeley:
U niversity o f C alifornia Press, 2005).
61 H ilberseim er, K on stru k tiv ism u s, 832.
48
Netherlands had De Stijl; France, L esprit nouveau;

Hungary, Ma; and Russia, Veshch/Objet/Gegenstand. Germany, he noted parenthetically, does
not possess such a publication. Despite the fact
that the trilingual journal Veshch ' was published in
Berlin by Ilia Ehrenburg and El Lissitzky, he was
right. But this would change the following year
with the publication of the first issue of G: Mate
rial zur elementaren Gestaltung (G: Material for
Elementary Form-Creation), which would appear at
irregular intervals until 1926.62 Hilberseimer was
deeply involved with the journal and its contribu
tors from the beginning, and some of the essays he
contributed to G would feature in Grofistadtarchi
tektur. The so-called G-Group consisted of
prominent members of the European avant-garde.
It included Richter, the journals chief editor, El
Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Mies van der
Rohe, Theo van Doesburg, Tristan Tzara, Hans
Arp, and Kurt Schwitters, among others. As Detlef
Mertins has described, the journals commitment
to elementare Gestaltung, which may be trans
lated as elementary design or elementary
form-creation, grew out of a cultural position
that can be traced back to Gotthold Ephraim
Lessings Laocoon of 1766. Like Lessing, the
62 See the recent translation of the journal by Steven
Lindberg and M argareta Ingrid Christian: Detlef Mer
tins and Michael Jennings, eds., G: An Avant-Garde
Journal o f Art, Architecture, Design, and Film, 1923-1926
(Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2010); hereafter
referred to as G: An Avant-Garde Journal.
INTRODUCTION
49
G -G roup sought to uncover the structural logic of

each respective m ode o f artistic expression; the
group sought to reduce art to its elements in order
to shape them anew.63
W hile the G -G roup was com m itted to
exploring the intrinsic laws o f art, it was equally
opposed to aesthetic speculation in all its forms.
Van D oesburg established this conjunction of
values in two essays from 1923. In On Elem en
tal F o rm -C reatio n , which was published in the
first issue o f G, van D oesburg distinguished
between decorative and m onum ental approaches
to expression. H e associated the decora
tive approach w ith personal taste and in tu
itio n qualities th a t failed to m eet the m odern
dem and for precision. Elsew here he w rote that
the speculative m ethod, a childish disease, has
arrested the healthy developm ent o f construc
tion according to universal and objective laws.64
In G he w rote th a t w ithout precise distinction
(sculpture from painting, p ainting from architec
ture, etc.) it is im possible to create order from
chaos and to becom e acquainted w ith elem ental
m eans o f form -creatio n.65 F or van D oesburg
63 D e tle f M ertins, A rchitecture, W orldview, and W orld
Im age in G, in G: A n Avant-Garde Journal, 77.
64 T h eo van D oesburg and C ornelius van E esteren,
T ow ard a C ollective C o n stru ctio n [1923], in The Tradi
tion o f Constructivism, ed. Steven Bann (N ew York: Viking
Press, 1974), 118.
65 T heo van D oesburg, O n E lem ental F orm -C reation
[1923], in G: A n Avant-Garde Journal, 101-02.
50
the speculative m ethod corresponds to a mode

of practice that is based on caprice and sub
jective individualityqualities diametrically
opposed to the G -G roups commitment to econ
omy, order, regularity, and collectivity.
Certain members of the G-Group under
stood aesthetic speculation and speculative
building to be fundamentally linked. Mies made
this clear in the first two issues of G. He juxta
posed his project for a concrete office building
with a powerful statement of purpose in Gs
debut issue: We reject: every aesthetic specula
tion; every doctrine; and every formalism...
create the form from the nature of the task with
the means of our time. That is our task.66 In the
following issue Mies articulated aesthetic and
economic modes of speculation in his statement
titled Building: Our task is precisely to liber
ate building activity from the aesthetic spe
culation of developers and to make it once again
the only thing it should be, namely, BUILD
IN G .67 The alleged contradiction between
aesthetic speculation and elemental design was
made forcefully apparent in 1924 in an unsigned,
two-page spread that was published between
M iess article Industrial Building and Hilber
seimers article Construction and Form in the
66 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, We reject... [1923], in
G: An Avant-Garde Journal, 103.
67 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Building [1923], in G:
An Avant-Garde Journal, 105.
INTRODUCTION
51
Die B a u u n te rn e h m e r w a rd e n s lc h e n tsc h e ld e n
m O ssen. o b s ie wirklich rationell b a u e n w ollen o d e r
o b die in E u ro p a n o c h im m er v o rh e r rs c h e n d e a sth e tis c h e S p e k u la tlo n (In w e lc h e m G e w a n d e a u c h Immer)
Ihre P ro d u k tio n b e s tlm m e n wlrd.
Die O rg a n isa tio n d e r B a u b e trieb e , d a s Prinzip,
in d e m sie a u fg e b a u t sind, e n ts c h e id e t a u c h letzthin u b e r die Art Ihrer Entw icklung. GroBzCiglge
A rbeit la s t s ic h n u r d a e rre ic h e n , w o d e r B etrieb groBz ugig ist. E ine In dustrlalisierung d e s B a u e n s se lb st 1st
s e in e r N atur n a c h g e b u n d e n a n e in en industrlellen
B etrieb.
In den nSichsten Heften werden wir Projekte

der Firma Sommerfeld verbffentlichen und besprechen, die auf rationelles und Bkonomlsches
Bauen hlnzlelen.
Fig. 3 Page from G 3, 1924; top parag ra p h : "Building con

tractors will have to decide whether they really want to build
rationally or whether the aesthetic speculation that is still dom
inant in Europe (in whatever guise that may be) will determine
their production."
52
Fig. 3
third issue of G. At left, bold red text states: We

consider a fundamental change to our form of
housing necessary. At right, a photograph of a
neo-baroque urban villa is crossed out by a large
red X . The text above the photograph reads:
Building contractors will have to decide whether
they really want to build rationally or whether
the aesthetic speculation that is still dominant in
Europe (in whatever guise that may be) will
determ ine their production.68 The editorial
lauds the rational and economical building
practices of A dolf Sommerfelds firm, which
was responsible for several large settlements in
Berlin.69 This spread places aesthetic specula
tion in opposition to rationalityindividualist
caprice is identified with the arbitrary (and
profit-driven) inflation of architectural values,
while building appears as a self-evident activity
that is governed by immanent laws. Aesthetic
speculation thus forms the antithesis to elemen
tal design because it distorts both the economy
of form and the economy of the building indus
try. This position buttressed H ilberseim ers call
for the end to the m etropolis based on the prin
ciple of speculation ... the metropolis ... that has
not found its own laws, which first appeared in
68 We consider a fundamental change... [1924], in G:
An Avant-Garde Journal, 124-25.
69 On the Sommerfeld firm s rationalization of building
production see Celina Kress, Adolf Sommerfeld/
Andrew Sommerfield: Bauen fiir Berlin 1910-1970 (Berlin:
Lukas, 2011).
INTRODUCTION
53
the fourth issue o f G in 1926 in a review o f an

exhibition o f A m erican architecture that was on
view at B erlins A cadem y o f Fine A rts.70
H ilberseim ers interest in A m erican archi
tecture proved to be o f vital im portance to both
his relationship to C onstructivism and his
approach to the m etropolis. Late in life he
recalled that his 1920 essay A m erikanische
A rchitektur (A m erican A rchitecture), w hich he
w rote w ith his friend and collaborator U do
Rusker, attracted the attention o f the H ungarian
critic E rno (E rnst) K allai, who invited H ilber
seim er into a circle o f young H ungarian artists
and architects.71 K allai was deeply invested in
the cause o f C onstructivism , and it was through
him th at H ilberseim er was introduced to Laszlo
Peri. P eris arrival on the Berlin art scene was
marked by the publication o f a portfolio of
reductive, geom etrical linoleum prints by H erw arth W aldens D er Sturm gallery in 1922. The
critic A lfred K em eny praised the spatial quali
ties o f P eris black, white, and gray im ages for
their econom y o f m inim al forms; spatial ten
sion produced by the extrem e opposition of
minim al form s; massive strength; [and] sharp,
objective determ inacy w ithout any possible
association w ith natu re.72 T hese w ords could
70 H ilberseim er, A m erikanische A rchitektur: A usstellung in d er A kadem ie d er B ildenden K iinste, 4-8.
71 H ilberseim er, Berliner Architektur der 20er Jahre, 39;
Ludwig H ilb erse im e r and U do Rusker, A m erikanische
A rch ite k tu r, Kunst und Kiinstler 18, no. 12(1920): 537-39.
54
apply to many contemporary projects Hilber

seimer executed, and it is no accident that he was
impressed by an exhibition of Peris work at the
Sturm gallery in early 1923. Hilberseimer was
particularly interested in Peris space-constructionspainted canvases that defied the planarity
and rectangular shape of traditional paintings.
He wrote that Peris elementary architectonic
explodes the narrow concept of the picture,
forms space, and turns his pictures into func
tional spatial parts. Thus, Hilberseimer
continued, his constructions become elemen
tary spatial figures of vital intensity. Most
im portant, H ilberseim er wrote that in Peris
spatial constructions the latent will to architec
ture of the new artistic movements is manifest in
elementary fashion.73
The Nietzschean qualities that Hilber
seimer found in Peris work would form the basis
for Hilberseim ers essay Der Wille zur Ar
chitektur (The Will to Architecture), which
was published in Das Kunstblatt in 1923.74 Influ
enced by the immanent logic demonstrated by
72 Alfred Kemeny, Die konstruktive Kunst und Peris
Raumkonstruktionen [1922], in Wechselwirkungen:
Ungarische Avantgarde in der Weimarer Republik, ed.
Hubertus Gassner (Marburg: Jonas, 1986), 246.
73 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Peri, Sozialistische Monatshefte
29, no. 4 (1923): 257.
74 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Der Wille zur Architektur,
Das Kunstblatt 7 (1923): 133-40; see this volume, pp. 28289. Der Wille zur A rchitektur develops themes
Hilberseimer had introduced in his im portant essay
INTRODUCTION
55
C onstructivist artifacts and van D oesburgs lec

ture D er Wille zum S til (The Will to Style),
this essay presents H ilberseim ers view o f the
relationship betw een artistic experim ent and the
laws o f architectural form .75 H e recapitulated
his criticism o f the subjective speculation of
Expressionism and praised the valuable w ork of
the C onstructivists:
Their provisional, as yet non-utilitarian con
structions reveal the unmistakable will to
possess reality. The world itself became the
material o f their design; every object was
drawn into their domain. From the construc
tion o f painting, the Constructivists transitioned
to the construction o f objects, to architecture in
the most all-encompassing sense o f the word.
The Constructivists most lucidly recognized the
A nm erkungen zu r neuen K unst (O bservations on the
New A rt) o f 1923. A nm erkungen zur neuen K unst
would be republished in G erm an in 1928, and it exists in
two English translations. See Ludw ig H ilberseim er,
A nm erkungen zur neuen K unst, in Sammlung Gabrielson (G othenburg, 1923), unpaginated; A nm erkungen zur
neuen K unst, Kunst der Z eit 3, nos. 1-3 (1928): 52-57;
O bservations on the N ew A rt, trans. H ow ard
D earstyne, College A rt Journal 18, no. 4 (1959): 349-51;
[O bservations on the N ew A rt], in M anfredo T afuri,
The Sphere and the Labyrinth, 336-38.
75 T heo van D oesburg, D er W ille zum Stil [1922], in De
Stijl: Schriften und Manifeste zu einem theoretischen Konzept
dsthetischer Umweltgestaltung, ed. H agen B achler and
H e rb ert L etsch (Leipzig: G ustav K iepenhauer Verlag,
1984), 163-79.
56
new aim, putting their entire creative power at
its disposal.16
While he acknowledged that the work of the

Constructivists represented only experiments, he
asserted that their work had revealed immanent
laws of material and form. These newly discov
ered laws of form , he stated, will achieve an
all-encompassing influence on m odern architec
ture. The task was to articulate such laws at the
scale of the metropolis, where the most hetero
geneous material masses require a law of form
applicable for every element in equal measure.77
Hilberseim er presented his first major
statem ent of the architectural laws of the
metropolis in 1924. In fall of that year the Sturm
gallery m ounted an exhibition of H ilberseim ers
and Peris architectural work, and Herwarth
Walden invited Hilberseimer to publish an
accompanying essay in the September issue of
Der Sturm (The Storm). His essay GroBstadtarchitektur (Metropolisarchitecture) constitutes
much o f the final chapter of Grofistadt
architektur and offers a critical gloss on the
work featured in the exhibition.78 Although we
do not have an exhibition checklist, it appears
that Hilberseimer presented drawings for his
76 Hilberseimer, Der Wille zur Architektur, 134; see
this volume, p. 284.
77 Ibid., 134; 135; see this volume, pp. 285; 286.
78 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Grofistadtarchitektur, Der
Sturm 15, no. 4 (1924): 177-89.
INTRODUCTION
57
Residential City, a series of row houses, and

perhaps his design for the Chicago Tribune compe
tition; Peri presented designs for an apartm ent
building with com munal services, a row-house dis
trict, and a m onum ent to Lenin in the form of a
hammer and sickle. Reviewing the show in Die Rote
Fahne (The Red Banner), the organ of the G erm an
Communist Party, Alfred Kemeny em phasized the
political nature H ilberseim ers and Peris work:
With the severe structure o f their blocks o f
houses, Hilberseimer and Peri fig h t not only
form ally against the lack o f structure in m et
ropolitan architecture; they at the same time
lead an ideological fight against the anarchic
production processes o f capitalism, whose cor
responding expression is found in the current,
chaotic form o f the metropolis.19
K em enys assertion o f the anti-capitalist con
tent o f the w ork presented at the Sturm gallery
may have co ntributed to the sym pathetic review
H ilb erseim ers and P eris w ork received from
the R ussian architect G rigorii B arkhin after their
designs w ere exhibited in M oscow in late 1924.80
79 A lfred Kemeny, N e u e V ersuche in d er A rchitekturA usstellung von H ilb erse im e r und P ri im S turm
[1924], in Wechselwirkungen, ed. H u b e rtu s G assner
(M arburg: Jonas, 1986), 249.
80 G. B arkhin, A rk h itek tu ra na vystavke nem etskikh
khudozhnikov v M oskve, Stroitelnaiapromyshlennost' 2,
no. 11 (1924): 736-38.
Figs.
25-27.
40-41. 4
58
G rofistadtarchitektur lacks the sharp

political edge that Kemeny identified in H il
berseim ers work. Instead, it supports Hilber
seim ers assertion that m etropolisarchitecture
is a new type of architecture with its own forms
and laws. Although H ilberseim er comments
on space, style, color, and m aterial in this essay,
his statem ents concerning mass, unity, and orga
nization carry the m ost weight in his attem pt to
reduce architecture to its basic elements.81
Painting served as a model of elementarization.
He wrote that every discipline needs a clear
understanding of its means and argued that
painting was the first to call attention to the
basic forms of all art: geometric and cubic
elements that resist any further objectifica
tio n .82 Recalling Wagenfiihrs comments on the
prim itivism of his early work, Hilberseimer
81 H ilberseimers discussion of style and will ( Wollen) in

this essay is related to the interest he expressed in Alois
Riegls concept of Kunstwollen, or artistic volition.
Already in his 1914 draft for Die Architektur der
GroBstadt, Hilberseimer had opposed Riegls concept
of art to the allegedly materialistic theory of Gottfried
Semper. In his creative misreading of Sempers thoughts
on style, Hilberseimer adopted a position framed by
Riegl himself and propagated by such leaders of the mod
ern movement as Peter Behrens and Walter Gropius. On
Riegls reception of Semper, see Harry Francis Mallgrave, Gottfried Semper: Architect o f the Nineteenth Century
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996), 355-82.
82 Hilberseimer, G rofistadtarchitektur, 180; compare
to this volume, p. 268.
IN T R O D U C T IO N
59
enum erated the basic elem ents o f every

architecture : cube and sphere, prism and cylin
der, pyram id and cone. H e defined arch itec tu res
fundam ental task as follows:
The problem o f architecture, apart from the
practicality o f materials and their appropriate
use, is the spatial design o f masses, which
encompasses the organization, visualization,
realization, and form ation o f a vision.83
H ilberseim er was certainly aw are o f Le C orbus
iers definition o f architecture as the m asterful,
correct, and m agnificent play o f volum es
brought together in lig h t, but he carefully
avoided any reference to the Franco-Sw iss archi
te cts influential ideas.84 Instead, H ilberseim er
invoked A uguste R odins w riting on architec
ture. In his Les cathedrales de France ( The
Cathedrals o f France), 1914, R odin had w ritten
that in ord er to use light and shadow according
to their essential p roperties and intentions, the
architect has only certain geom etrical com bina
tions at his d isp o sal.85 H ilberseim er shared
83 Ibid., 180; com pare to this volum e, p. 268.
84 Le C orbusier, Toward an Architecture, ed. Jean-L ouis
C ohen, trans. Jo h n G o o d m an (Los Angeles: G etty
R esearch In stitu te , 2007), 102. H ans H ild eb ra n d ts tra n s
lation o f this book into G erm an , Kommende Baukunst,
was published in 1926 in S tu ttg art by the D eutsche Verlags-A nstalt, b u t H ilb erse im e r evidently worked w ith the
original F rench edition. H e later recalled the privilege of
60
Rodins wonder at the powerful effects achieved

with reduced means and called for the architect
to limit his work to the use of fundamental
architectural elem ents: body, surface, color,
window and door openings, balconies, loggias,
and chimneys. Working with these elements he
will arrive at an architecture which emerges from
its own principles, he wrote.86
For Hilberseim er the emergence of an
architecture proper to the metropolis depends
on the application of these principles across
multiple scales:
Metropolisarchitecture is considerably depen
dent on solving two factors: the individual cell
o f the room and the collective urban organism.
The solution will be determined by the manner
in which the room is manifested as an element
o f buildings linked together in one street block,
thus becoming a designing factor o f the city
structure, which is the actual objective o f
architecture. Inversely, the constructive design
o f the urban plan will gain considerable influhaving received a copy of Vers une architecture from a
friend immediately after World War I. See Hilberseimer,
Berliner A rchitektur der 20er Jahre, 20.
85 Auguste Rodin, Les cathidrales de France (Paris:
Armand Colin, 1914); cited from the German edition of
1917: Die Kathedralen Frankreichs (Leipzig: K. Wolff,
1917), 4. An English translation of this book was pub
lished in 1981.
86 Hilberseimer, Grofistadtarchitektur, 182; compare
to this volume, p. 269.
61
ence on the form ation o f the room and the

building as such*1
The relationship betw een cell and organism , part
and whole, is thus the central problem o f m etro
polisarchitecture. A lthough many architects had
called for an organic architecture by the tim e H il
berseim er w rote these lines, H ilberseim er had
very specific sources in mind. H is language of
urban cells and organism s was derived from his
close reading o f M artin M achlers w riting on the
city. H ilberseim ers interest in articulating small
and large scales in an unbroken continuum was
first expressed in an analysis o f the experim ental
films of his friends and colleagues Viking Eggeling and H ans R ichter:
The works o f Eggeling and Richter demon
strate a clear path. The principles according to
which they are ordered are the constructive
principles o f our own nature, a creative synthe
sis a great condensation and seamless inte
gration from the smallest to the largest, from
the largest to the smallest.**
Thus the principle of unity according to which H il
berseim er sought to shape the m etropolis appeared
in exemplary form in avant-garde cinema, suggesting
87 Ibid., 182; com pare to this volum e, p. 270.
88 Ludwig H ilberseim er, B ew egungskunst, Sozialisti
62
that Hilberseimers interest in integration across

scales was coupled with an interest in conceptual
integration across disciplines. In this way the laws
of art might have an impact on the laws of archi
tecture in the metropolis.
In Hilberseim ers theory, the individual
building is no longer a basic element of architec
ture. Instead, buildings are either aggregations
of rooms or units of larger urban blocks. The
task of m etropolisarchitecture is thus not the
design of singular monuments; it is the shaping
of an often m onstrous and heterogeneous mass
of m aterial. As M anfredo Tafuri long ago rec
ognized, H ilberseim ers theory rejects the
unique architectural object as a possible basis
for practice: Hilberseimer did not offer mod
els for designing, but rather established, at the
most abstract and therefore most general level
possible, the coordinates and dimensions of
design itself.89 For Hilberseimer it was not the
formal model but the law of form that mattered;
he displaced architectural design from an aes
thetic of speculation to one based on the
architects organizational ability. H ilber
seimer summarized this position by recalling his
own philosophical roots:
To form great masses by suppressing ram
pant multiplicity according to a general law is
Nietzsches definition o f style: the general case,
89 Tafuri, Architecture and Utopia, 106.
63
the law is respected and emphasized; the excep

tion, however, is put aside, nuance is swept
away; measure becomes master, chaos is forced
to become form : logical, unambiguous, mathe
matics, law.90
T he V ertical D im ension
In O ctober 1924, soon after the exhibition of
his work in the Sturm gallery, H ilberseim er
em barked on a to u r o f W estern Europe. H e trav
eled to the N etherland s w here he visited A m
sterdam , U trecht, R otterdam , and T he H ague
and m et G errit R ietveld, Jan Wils, J. J. R Oud,
and others. H ilberseim er then traveled to Paris,
and with the help o f a le tte r o f introduction from
Paul W estheim , the ed ito r o f Das Kunstblatt, m et
Le C orbusier.91 H ilberseim er was already fam il
iar with Le C orbusiers w ork, but the m eeting o f
the two in P aris seem s to have been decisive for
90 H ilberseim er, G ro B stad tarch itek tu r, 188-89; com
pare to this volum e, pp. 279-80. F ritz N eum eyer has
located the source o f H ilb erse im e rs statem ent in one o f
N ietzsches posth u m o u sly published fragm ents o f 1888:
F ritz N eum eyer, N ietzsche and M odern A rch ite ctu re ,
in Nietzsche and "An Architecture o f our M inds," ed. A lex
andre K ostka and Irving W ohlfarth (Los Angeles: G etty
Research In stitu te , 1999), 303; F riedrich W ilhelm
N ietzsche, Sdmtliche Werke: Kritische Studienausgabe, eds.
G iorgio C olli and M azzino M ontinari, 15 vols. (M unich:
D eutscher T aschenbuch Verlag and de G ruyter, 1980),
13: 246. H ilb erse im e r w ould use this p arap h ra se o f
N ietzsches thoughts on style in m any texts, including the
final lines o f Grofistadtarchitektur.
91 M engin, M odelle fiir eine m o derne G roB stadt, 203.
64
Figs.
77-79
Figs.
14-16
Hilberseimers urban thinking. After his return to

Berlin, Hilberseimer developed his schema for a
High-rise City, which represented both a depar
ture from his earlier interest in the decentralized
programs of Ernst May and a response to Le Corbusiers Ville Contemporaine for three million
inhabitants (1922). First published in his pamphlet
Grofistadtbauten (Metropolis buildings) of 1925,
the High-rise City lent Hilberseimers conceptual
program visual form and presented a synthesis of
his critique of the capitalist metropolis.92
Hilberseim ers response to Le Corbusier
notwithstanding, the High-rise City also repre
sents a condensation of Germ an thought on the
tall building and urban density. Already in 1899,
the industrialist, politician, and writer Walter
Rathenau had recommended the introduction of
the City principle into German urban planning
to accommodate the fact that Berlin was trans
forming from Athens on the Spree to Chicago
on the Spree.93 Rathenau used the English word
City, shorthand for the City of London, to dis
tinguish the central business district from the
rest of the Stadt, or city. And as Rathenaus
identification of Berlin with Chicago suggests,
the City also referred to what Americans might
call downtown or the city center. Following
92 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Grofistadtbauten (Hannover:
Aposs-Verlag, 1925).
93 Walther Rathenau, Die schonste Stadt der Welt, Die
Zukunft 26, no. 1 (1899): 36-48.
65
R athenaus recom m endations on urban form,

Karl Scheffler offered a program for an ideal
metropolis based on the City principle in his
1913 book Die Architektur der Grofistadt:
In the center is a logically form ed City, a com
mercial city, which constitutes the core o f the
metropolitan form and accommodates nothing
but the form s that serve commerce and the his
torically valuable parts o f the old city. A t
many essential points in this City, i f not
entirely, tall buildings will predominate, pri
marily office buildings composed o f many
equally valuable stories.9*
The City was im agined as a zone o f increased
vertical dim ensions th a t was to be devoted
entirely to com m erce. As Scheffler m ade his rec
om m endations, the tall building becam e a topic
of popular interest. T he daily new spaper Ber
liner Morgenpost (Berlin M orning Post) published
a pam phlet on Berlins dritte Dimension (B erlins
Third D im ension) in 1912, w hich featured an
affirm ative co n trib u tio n from P eter Behrens and
a cover illustrating a city o f tow ers by the artist
Kurt Szafranski. In 1913 the architect-artist K.
Paul A ndrae initiated his series o f views o f Ber
lin as a city o f skyscrapers, som e o f which would
be featured in the E xhibition o f U nknow n
A rchitects in 1919.
94 Scheffler, Die Architektur der Grofistadt, 14.
66
Fig. 58
Hilberseim ers first serious consideration

of the tall building appeared in the essay Ameri
kanische A rchitektur of 1920. In the firm grip
of Amerikanismusa particular mix of enthusi
asm and apprehension for all things American
that spread throughout Europe between the
w ars Hilberseim er focused on the new formal
problems presented by the skyscraper.95 He
praised John Roots M onadnock Building in
Chicago for having dem onstrated and inter
preted anew the cubic-rhythmic basis of
architecture. For Hilberseimer, Roots reinterpretation of the window was a major
achievement. In the M onadnock Building the
window lacks formal accentuation; it appears, in
Hilberseim ers words, as a positive function
that represents an element in a pattern that is
stretched around the entire building.96 In Hil
berseim ers interpretation, this simple, repetitive
articulation based on the alternation of surface
and aperture represented a new unifying archi
tectural m om ent. While Hilberseim er criticized
many later skyscraper designs for their typical
Palladian misunderstandings a la Parisienne,
he celebrated the strong vertical-cubic masses
of Ernest G raham s Equitable Building in New
York. H ilberseim er refined his thinking on the
95 On Amerikanismus see Jean-Louis Cohen, Scenes o f the
World to Come: European Architecture and the American
Challenge, 1893-1960 (Paris: Flammarion, 1995).
96 Hilberseimer and Rusker, Amerikanische Architek
tur, 541.
67
tall building two years later in Das Kunstblatt. His

essay D as H ochhaus (The High-rise) of 1922
reiterated m any o f the points he had already
m ade and expressed his w onder at the tall build
ings o f A m erican cities:
In New Yorks high mountain ranges o f houses,
the material ethos o f our time found its most
powerful expression. L ike everything authentic
that seeks formation (G estaltung), material
ism found its form here. While in Europe this
hypertrophy remained limited, the uninhibited
drive fo r speculation with the high-rises o f
American metropolises has produced something
almost fantastical. Only in the East are there
urban form s o f similar, uninhibited fantasy.91
H ilb erseim er no te d th a t the high-rises o f New
York appear as m ountains because the tall
building in A m erica had generally been tre ated
as a row house, w hich despite the m asquerade
o f styles relinquishes any individual effect.
T he situ a tio n in G erm any was different, he
claim ed, w here high-rises were being planned
as the d o m inant features o f individual streets
and squares.
H ilberseim er was w riting in the m idst of
G erm anys Hochhausfieber (H igh-rise fever).98
Prew ar enthusiasm for the building type grew
97 Ludwig H ilberseim er, D as H o c hhaus, Das Kunst
blatt 6 (1922): 525.
Fig. 10
68
Fig. 60
into a variety of speculative proposals, the most

widely publicized of which was the competition,
announced in 1921, for a high-rise on a triangu
lar site next to the Friedrichstrasse station in
Berlin. With more than 140 projects submitted,
the com petition offered a panoram a of German
interpretations of the tall building. Reviewing
the com petition, Hilberseimer identified Hans
Poelzigs brick-clad, tri-corner project and the
Luckhardt brothers horizontally articulated
high-rise as the best of the competition. Echoing
his critique of the extravagances of Expression
ism, he noted that m ost architects had turned the
event into an opportunity to lose oneself in
rom anticism . Hilberseim er described Hans
Scharouns project as more original than
resolved.99 While he failed to mention Miess
submission to the competition, in Grofistadtar
chitektur H ilberseim er offered an affirmative
review of Miess projects for tall buildings, calling his high-rise in iron and glass an attem pt to
design the object from the very essence of the
new task.100 Hilberseim ers praise for M iess
project could describe his own approach to highrise design, the first examples of which date
from 1922-23. His project for the competition
98 Dietrich Neumann, Die Wolkenkratzer kommen!:
Deutsche Hochhauser der Zwanziger Jahre: Debatten, Pro
jekte, Bauten (Wiesbaden: Vieweg, 1995).
99 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Architektur, Das Kunstblatt 6
(1922): 132.
100 Hilberseimer, Grofistadtarchitektur, 68.
m
If

SQ
69
Qu
doodoo
o 0DD9ffinooz
: ^ S
Fig. 4 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Tribune Tower project, 1922
70
Fig. 4
Fig. 56
for the Chicago Tribune headquarters of 1922,

which was never actually subm itted to the jury,
dem onstrated his interest in reducing architec
tural form to its most elemental state, confirming
his statem ent that architecture had become
alm ost pure construction. 101 Its tight grid of
windows recalls both the minimal articulation of
R oots M onadnock Building and the abstract
buildings featured in George Groszs paintings.
H ilberseim ers celebration of the formal
achievements of certain American skyscrapers
did not blind him to the tension between the
high-rise and urban structure. In addition to lim
iting formal expression, the treatm ent of the
high-rise as a row house exacerbated the traffic
problem, which Hilberseim er considered the
Alpha and Omega of the entire urban organ
ism . In formulating his solution to the traffic
problem in the High-rise City, Hilberseimer
drew on contem porary critiques of the sky
scraper. Raymond Unwins paper Higher
building in relation to town planning was par
ticularly im portant. Unwin dem onstrated that
the concentration of workers in a skyscraper like
the Woolworth Building in M anhattan produced
congested sidewalks and sluggish circulation at
rush hours. He argued that you do not dispense
with transportation by going up; you merely
change the horizontally moving omnibus for the
vertically travelling lift, and incidentally make
101 Hilberseimer, Das Hochhaus, 526.
71
walking for even short journeys far more diffi

cu lt. 102 U nw ins conclusion that nothing was to
be gained from crowding was echoed by W erner
H egem ann in his book Amerikanische Architektur
und Stadtbaukunst (A m erican A rchitecture and
U rban Building-A rt) o f 1925.103 A resum e o f the
in ternational urban planning exhibition held in
G othenburg in 1923, H egem anns book cele
brated neo-R enaissance and other traditionalist
trends then active in the U nited States. It also
presented prelim inary studies by the Regional
Plan A ssociation o f N ew York. H arvey Wiley
C o rb etts proposal for the superim position of
multiple types o f circulation was extensively
illustrated. C orbett had explored the vertical
stacking o f transportation already in 1913, when
his provocative im age o f a city o f elevated side
walks was featured in Scientific American
In
1924 he published a proposal for different levels
for foot, wheel, and rail that was illustrated in a
series o f draw ings by H ugh F erriss.105 These
images featured prom inently in both H ege
m anns book and Grofistadtarchitektur. C o rb etts
.l04
102 Raym ond U nw in, H igher b uilding in rela tio n to town

planning, RIBA Jo u rn a l'll, no. 5 (1924): 126.
103 W erner H egem ann, Amerikanische Architektur und
Stadtbaukunst: Ein Uberblick iiber den heutigen Stand der
amerikanischen Baukunst in ihrer Beziehung zum Stadtebau
(Berlin: E. W asm uth, 1925).
104 H enry H a rriso n Suplee, T he Elevated Sidew alk,
Scientific American 69, no. 4(1913): 67.
105 H arvey W iley C orbett, D ifferent Levels for F oot,
W heel, and R ail, American City 31, no. 7 (1924): 2-6.
Fig. 5
Figs.
11-12
72
M ETRO PO LISA RC H ITECTU RE
SflENTIFicA MERIAN1
...
Fig. 5 Harvey Wiley Corbett, Future New York, 1913; from
Scientific American, 26 July 1913
73
proposal for the subm ersion o f rail traffic below

grade and the elevation o f pedestrian traffic
above the street undoubtedly appeared to H il
berseim er as an exem plary solution to the
circulation problem s created by the high-rise.
H ilberseim ers critique of Le C orbusiers
Ville C ontem poraine echoed U nw ins and C or
b etts critique o f the skyscraper. H e m aintained
that Le C orbusiers plan, for all its geom etric
elegance, was based on a faulty circulation p at
tern. Specifically, H ilberseim er questioned the
arithm etic th at allow ed Le C orbusier to claim
that he had increased the density o f his city cen
ter and preserved 95 percent o f the area as green
space by concentrating w orkplaces in sixty-story
skyscrapers. T hrough a calculation o f the space
required for the m ovem ent o f pedestrians and
autom obiles, H ilberseim er determ ined th a t the
dem ands o f circulation w ould reduce the am ount
of green space available to each person in the
central city to a m inim al tw o to three square
meters. T his reduction effectively neutralized
the value o f open space in Le C orbusiers city
center. F u rth erm o re, H ilberseim er w rote,
the vertical traffic will becom e dow nright
catastrophic in these enorm ous sixty-story
com m ercial buildings during rush-hour pe
riods or in an em ergency situation because,
in eradicating the horizontal congestion of
streets by im posing great spaciousness, Le C or
busier did nothing oth e r than shift this h ori
zontal congestion into a vertical congestion o f
Figs.
14-16
74
Figs.
17-19
high-rises.106A lthough he appreciated the strict

order of Le Corbusiers geometric system, Hil
berseimer understood it as only a relative solution
to the traffic problem. An absolute solution
would have to render traffic superfluous.
Despite Le Corbusiers emphatic applica
tion of the skyscraper, Hilberseim er viewed the
Ville Contem poraine as an essentially horizon
tal urban form. H ilberseim ers High-rise City,
on the other hand, depends on the superimposition of functional zones. It is, in his words, two
cities stacked vertically, as it were. 107 Hilber
seim ers plan for a city of one million inhabitants
is based on a series of long, slender slabs. In
each block, five lower stories serve commercial
functions; fifteen upper stories contain resi
dences. As in C orbetts proposal for New York,
elevated footpaths link residential zones; auto
mobile traffic travels on grade; and rail traffic is
submerged below ground. Because city dwellers
are to live above their places of work, horizontal
circulation within the city is reduced to a mini
mum. A lthough H ilberseim ers High-rise City
has often been criticized for its lack of green
space, he considered access to the natural world
to be among the advantages offered by con
centration: in contrast to todays urban frag
mentation, which results in hours of travel in
106 Hilberseimer, Grofistadtarchitektur, 16; see this vol
ume, p. 121.
107 Ibid., 17; see this volume, p. 123.
75
order to reach the countryside, the spatial con

centration o f this city enables one to reach the
countryside quickly w ith the help o f a corre
sponding w ell-developed rail system . 108 The
H igh-rise City thus appears as a dense, orga
nized, city center th a t integrates spaces of
habitation and spaces o f labor through vertical
concentration a site o f m etropolitan intensity
situated w ithin a bro ad er regional landscape.
H ilberseim ers H igh-rise City was one of
several projects for the reform o f the m etropolis
produced in the early 1920s. T he proposal could
be com pared to R ichard N e u tra s Rush City or
Farkas M olnars so-called K U R I City.109 H ilber
seim ers contem poraries m ost often considered
the H igh-rise C ity in relatio n to Le C o rb u siers
Ville C ontem poraine. H ugo H aring offered a
trenchant critique o f each o f th eir proposals in
his essay Zwei S tad te (Two C ities) o f 1926.
108 Ibid., 20; see this volum e, p. 131.

109 On N e u tra s Rush C ity see T hom as S. H ines, Richard
Neutra and the Search fo r Modern Architecture: A Biography
and History (Berkeley: U niversity o f C alifornia Press,
1994); on M o ln ars K U R I C ity see R enate BanikSchweitzer, U rban Visions, P lans, and Projects, 18901937, in Shaping the Great City: Modern Architecture in
Central Europe 1890-1937, ed. Eve Blau and M onika
Platzer (M unich: P restel, 1999), 58-72. H ilb erse im e rs
High-rise C ity should also be com pared to his relatively
u ndocum ented p roject for a Wohlfahrtsstadt (W elfare
City), which sought to synthesize the seem ingly c o u n te r
vailing tendencies o f c o n c en tra tio n and d ecentralization
and was exhibited as a large m odel in S uttg a rt in 1928.
76
H aring saw the basic problem of urban planning

as the creation of a non-geom etric concept of
planning that could accommodate human indi
viduality. He opposed the subordination of
hum an developm ent to the principles of orga
nization of a mechanistic world and noted that
man is entirely banished from Hilberseim ers
city; in Le C orbusiers city he is only a guest,
passing through. 110 Despite Hilberseim ers
intentions, the Czech critic Karel Teige wrote in
his essay K sociologii architektury (Toward a
Sociology of A rchitecture) that Hilberseim ers
city was based on the fundamentally Corbusian principles of maximum centralization.111
H ilberseim ers High-rise City, and Grofistadtar
chitektur as a whole, found perhaps its strongest
and m ost sustained resonance in the Soviet
Union. In 1928, as the USSR was preparing for
a wave of urbanization foreseen by the First
Five-year Plan, H ilberseim ers High-rise City
became the center o f a debate in the pages of
Stroitelstvo Moskvy (Construction of Moscow).
One com m entator compared the project to Le
C orbusiers ideas, which Soviet architects knew
well, and praised it as a rational attem pt at
solving the m ost pressing questions posed by
the contem porary science of urban planning. 112
110 Hugo Haring, Zwei Stadte, Die Form 1, no. 8 (1926):
172-73.
111 Karel Teige, K sociologii architektury, ReD 3, nos.
6-7(1930): 191.
77
In response, an o th er critic anticipated H ilber

seim ers later description o f the H igh-rise City
as a necropolis: W hat is the vertical city? It is a
cemetery! A row o f houses shaped like grave
stones enclosed by a green fence. 113 In 1932
significant po rtio n s o f Grofistadtarchitektur
appeared in R ussian tra n slatio n in D avid A rkins
anthology o f recent architecture o f E urope and
A m erica Arkhitektura sovremennogo zapada
(A rchitecture o f the C ontem porary W est).114
And the H igh-rise City w ould be featured, albeit
with critical com m entary, in A leksei Shchusev
and L. E. Z agorskiis Arkhitekturnaia organizatsiia goroda (A rchitectural O rganization o f the
City) o f 1934.115
H ilberseim er offered a final proposal for
the vertical organization o f the city in his
Vorschlag zur C ity-B ebauung (P roposal for
City-Center D evelopm ent), 1929-30.116 C reated
in response the Berlin City C ouncils decision to
112 Vit. L-v, V ertikalnyi g o ro d , Stroitelstvo M oskvy 5,
no. 7 (1928): 21-23.
113 Iu. G., O tv e tn a s ta tiu Vit. L -v a V ertikalnyi go ro d ,
Stroitelstvo M oskvy 5, no. 12 (1928): 18.
114 See note 11, p. 22.
115 A. V. Shchusev and L. E. Z agorskii, Arkhitekturnaia
organizatsiia goroda (M oscow : G o sstro iizd at, 1934).
1,6 The project was first published in Das Kunstblatt
and subsequently expanded in Die Form. T he essay p u b
lished in Die Form was re p rin ted in M oderne Bauformen
and is included in this volum e: Ludw ig H ilberseim er,
Vorschlag zu r C ity-B ebauung, Das Kunstblatt 13(1929):
93-95; V orschlag zur C ity-B ebauung, Die Form 5, nos.
Figs.
78-86
78
institute new guidelines for high-rise con

struction in the city center, Hilberseimers pro
posal represents a further development of
the High-rise City.1,7The project retains the superimposition transportation networks but removes
dwellings from the city center. This was to be a city
of work; specifically, Kopfarbeit, intellectual work
of the kind Siegfried Kracauer documented in his
study of the intellectually homeless salaried
masses of Germanys new class of white-collar
workers.118 Underground parking garages and
subway platforms connect directly to the lower
floors of long, narrow blocks. The first two floors
of each block contain spaces for commerce: vast
23-24 (1930): 608-11; Vorschlag zur City-Bebauung,
Moderne Bauformen 30, no. 3 (1931): 55-59; see this vol
ume, pp. 290-305.
117 H ilberseimers project was one of several responses to
this policy change that the Berliner City-Ausschuss (Ber
lin City Committee) had promoted since its founding in
1926. The Committee was a nongovernmental interest
group of Berlin-based businessmen. It was chaired by
Alexander Flinsch and received intellectual direction
from M artin Machler. Hilberseimers proposal can be
compared to Hugo Harings studies for Berlins city cen
ter. See Balg, ed., Martin Machler, 169-172; Matthias
Schirren and Sylvia Claus, eds., Hugo Haring: Architekt
des neuen Bauens 1882-1958 (Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje
Cantz, 2001), 184-85.
118 On H ilberseimers city and the problem of intellectual
labor see Aureli, Architecture for Barbarians, 6. On
Germanys white-collar workers see Siegfried Kracauer,
Die Angestellten (Frankfurt: Societats-Verlag, 1930); Sieg
fried Kracauer, The Salaried Masses, trans. Quintin Hoare
(London: Verso, 1998).
79
halls, storage spaces, sales floors, and so on.

Above, two narrow, six-story slabs rise from the
broad base. Separated by a courtyard that runs
the length of the block, the slabs are devoted
exclusively to office space. Their interiors are
entirely open, constituting generic surfaces that
can be reconfigured at will. H ilberseim er pre
sented his proposal in refined plans and sections
and a striking axonom etric line drawing, which
has been interpreted as an image in which all
dissonances and disjunctions are absorbed, all
differences canceled. 119 H ilberseim er also pre
sented his proposal in an iconic photom ontage
dem onstrating the im plem entation of his plan on
a m ulti-block site in a rectangle bordered by
U nter den Linden and the G endarm enm arkt in
the center o f historical Berlin.
The tension betw een the axonom etric
purity and the photographic concreteness that
H ilberseim er deployed in his proposal corre
sponds to the tension th at anim ates the
relationship betw een the general and the partic
ular in H ilberseim ers theory o f the m etropolis.
If his P roposal for C ity-C enter D evelopm ent
sought to address the questions raised by the city
of intellectual w ork, H ilberseim er approached
these questions from two extrem es:
These very important and incisive questions
require detailed clarification, which can only be
119 Hays, Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject, 182.
80

accomplished through theoretical preparatory
work, because the chaos o f the contemporary
metropolis can only be confronted with experi
ments in theoretical demonstration ,120
The aim of experiment is to develop, in th

purely abstract, the basic principles of urba
planning from contem porary requirem ents.1
Abstraction from the particular is thus prepart
tory work toward the identification an
coordination of the disparate relationships th<
constitute the metropolis.
This m ethodconfrontation through at
stractionwas already present in the High
rise City, and it might characterize Hilbei
seimers fundam ental approach to the metropolis
Both H ilberseim ers writing and projects can b
seen as theoretical dem onstrations that, despit
the chaos engendered by the principle of specu
lation, the m etropolis, like the Construct
ivist object and the abstract film, posses
ses immanent laws of organization. In thi
way, Hilberseim ers projects for the metropo
lis were abstractions designed to reveal the ele
m entary logic of architecture and urbai
form theoretical experiments intended, ii
Hilberseim ers words, to enable the metropoli:
to discover its own laws. Once discovered
120 Hilberseimer, Vorschlag zur City-Bebauung, Da
Kunstblatt, 93; compare to this volume, p. 112.
121 Ibid., 94; compare to this volume, p. 112.
81
H ilberseim er thought, the basic elem ents of the

m etropolis could then be reassem bled as a com
plex, ordered unity. M easure w ould then rule,
chaos could becom e form , and logic would reign.
Although H ilberseim er regularly insisted that
his projects had no prospect o f realization, he
nevertheless m aintained th a t seem ingly u to
pian hypotheses indicate the real path that
necessity will force us to follow sooner or
later. 122 T he question today is w hether we are
too early or too late to see H ilberseim ers hypoth
eses tested by the force o f necessity.
The Metropolis
The design of the environment is one of humani
tys primary tasks. State and city planning
constitute essential elements of this design. States
and cities are mutually dependent and always
interrelated. Metropolises, and world cities in
particular, are the energy centers of both states
and the world these states produce; they are inter
sections of the flow of human activity, economics,
and spirit. The city, and above all the metropolis,
therefore cannot be considered an independent
organism existing for itself alone. The city grows
with and is connected to the people who produce
it; the all-encompassing economic system con
nects it to the entire civilized world. This world
constitutes a collective organism. Comprehend
ing the laws of this organism is a crucial preliminary
task of planned design. The constructive method
must follow an investigative analysisa system
atic investigation and evaluation of the
fundamental and the essential.
Human societies produce organizational
Commu
nity
forms that correspond to their respective produc
formation
tive capacities: the loosely defined tribal area is
replaced by the more firmly articulated village at
the level of agrarian production. The firmly orga
nized city emerges at the level of artisan production.
At the final stage of industry, trade, and traf
ficthe highest stage of human social organization
to datethe metropolis and world city appear.
Design
o f the
environ
ment
T H E M ETR O PO L IS
85
The m etropolis is a product of the economic Econom ic

developm ent o f the m odern era. It is the natural prem ises
and necessary result o f global industrialization.
Large cities o f the past differ from m odern
m etropolises prim arily in their entirely disparate
econom ic foundations. These cities o f the past
corresponded to the stage o f m aterial productive
forces that determ ined the econom ic structure of
the society that produced them . Therefore these
historical cities cannot be com pared to the m od
ern m etropolis and no portentous parallel can be
draw n betw een them . A ccording to Friedrich
Engels, Rom an im perial society reached the sum
mit o f sim ple com m odity production but
collapsed at the threshold o f capitalist m odes of
production, while the m odern m etropolis pre
supposes the capitalist m ode o f production.1
T he conspicuously large num ber o f m etrop T he large
olises, in co n trast to the relatively isolated larger num ber
o f m e
cities o f the past, is a further result o f this m od tropolises
ern econom ic organization. Indeed, there is a
tendency to extend the m etropolis across an
entire c o u n try across the entire civilized
world. F or the m om ent this trend operates in an
overly exploitative fashion th a t corresponds to
speculative private interests, which lack planned
organization. Yet this tendency has the undeni
able aim o f productively integrating every
1 [H ilberseim er refers to the ou tlin e o f the social and
econom ic developm ent o f the R om an Em pire th at Engels
provides in The Origin o f the Family, Private Property, and
the State, w hich was first published in 1884.]
86
Todays
metro
polis
person into the collective economic organism. It

is im portant to recognize that the metropolis is
not an enlargement of the antiquated urban
model. The metropolis differentiates itself
according to its characteristics, not only accord
ing to its size. A city becomes a metropolis only
through the introduction of certain economic
phenomena, primarily through the concentra
tion of capital, people, and the industrial
exploitation of both. With the disappearance of
these factors, the metropolis will dissolvea
large population alone is not enough to make a
large city a metropolis.
Thus the present form of the metropolis
owes its appearance primarily to the economic
form of capitalist imperialism, which, for its
part, developed in close collaboration with sci
ence and technologies of production. Its powers
extend far beyond national economies and
increasingly into the global economy. An excess
of intensity and energy is achieved through
extreme concentration and comprehensive orga
nization. Since production for ones own needs is
no longer sufficient, aggressive overproduction
is encouraged; the focus is on stimulating needs
rather than satisfying them. Thus the metropolis
appears first and foremost as a creation of allpowerful capital; as a feature of its anonymity;
as an urban form with its own economic, social,
and collective psychic foundations that enable
the simultaneous isolation and tightest amalga
mation of its inhabitants. A rhythm of life
T H E M ETR O PO L IS
87
am plified a thousand tim es displaces the local

and the individual. M etropolises share a certain
resem blance w ith one another; one finds an
in ternationalism in their appearance. They do
not relate to specific dom ains like royal capitals;
that is, they represent neither the physiognomy
nor the image o f th eir state and nation.
By confusing m etropolises w ith royal capi
tals, the seats o f bureaucracy, many have branded
m etropolises parasites on the rest o f their
respective countries. They are seen only as con
sum ers, not producers. Entirely m isjudging its
true essence, m any have overlooked the fact that
the m etropolis itse lf accelerates econom ic pro
duction processes by draw ing econom ic control
ever faster and m ore consciously to itself. This
acceleration has contributed greatly to the pro
ductive labor and intellectual achievem ents of
the nation. Todays econom ic relationships
sim ultaneously condition the m etropolis and
are, in turn, conditioned by the activity o f the
m etropolis. T hus it is understandable that the
m etropolis is m ost strongly form ed in nations
that in recent generations have experienced the
m ost intense industrial developm ent: Am erica,
England, G erm any, and Belgium. T he Rom ance
and Slavic nations have, as yet, very little o f the
required concentration o f capital and highly
reproductive proletariat.
W ith the fall o f feudalism the bourgeoisie
saw itse lf as the m aster o f the w orld and assum ed
a place o f pow er for w hich is was ill prepared.
In te rn a
tionalism
88
Nineteenth-century forms of production brought

unexpected development to nations that, with
out the organizational capacities required to
manage such production, implemented entirely
insufficient regulatory measures. With surprisDisorga- ing abundance, a great number of forces
nized city clamored for and instigated the formation of
building metropolises, yet it was not possible to harness
or organize these forces or to make their excesses
useful to the general public or the collective pop
ulation. Instead of thoughtfully and sys
tematically addressing all public needs, one
attem pted merely to satisfy fleeting demands
without consideration for general interests.
Long-term responsibility was quite easily
deferred. Everything was left to private initia
tive, whose essential point of view was to drive
up land values and rental profits as high as pos
sible. There was no general or directed aim,
which would have been necessary to turn such a
comprehensive social form as the metropolis
into a functioning organism.
This is why the primary characteristic of
metropolises is disorganization. The organizing
spirit, as it is expressed in the management of
great industrial and trade corporations, has been
entirely disregarded in the planning and construc
tion of metropolises. In the former the principle
of the division of labor systematically organizes
False
the entire company. In the latter everything is
growth confused. Residential quarters are infiltrated by
noisy, smoking factories or by traffic-producing
T H E M ET R O P O L IS
89
com mercial buildings. The spatial exploitation

required in the city center is thoughtlessly applied
to residential districts as well.2 Streets are sche
m atically planned. Building codes are applied
uniform ly to all types o f buildings w ithout dif
ferentiating according to purpose or taking into
consideration special characteristics. M etropo
lises lack any sort o f organizing design. The more
spontaneously and unexpectedly they developed,
the m ore they are the products of mere happen
stance. The various forces that com pose
metropolises run ram pant, w orking against each
other instead o f collaborating, so energy is lost
rather than gained. It is a m isuse and consum p
tion o f people w ithout result.
T h at the m etropolis can be abused like
everything else does not speak against the
m etropolis, but against the abuser. A nd the
abuser is capitalism . Its ruth less exploitative ori
en tation is concerned only w ith profit and
p rofitability n o t w ith people. This is the basis of
the destructive character o f all o f capitalism s
en terprises, including the m etropolis. Only in a
socially o rdered society, w here production cor
responds to the needs o f people, not to the greed
for profit o f the privileged, can the m etropolis
becom e a purposeful organism , can it change
from a d estructive to a constructive entity. This
2 [H ilberseim er uses the E nglish w ord C ity in the origi
nal, which is re n d ere d here as city center. H e follows
B ritish usage o f C ity as s h o rth an d for a specialized busi
ness d istrict. See this volum e, pp. 64-65]
Abuse
90
depends on the spirit that builds the city, which

is today, however, of a very comfortable mecha
nistic variety.
A city born of the spirit of speculation will
be always an artificial, never a necessary product.
And everything artificial awaits an imminent
downfall. According to Henry Ford the modern
metropolis has been wasteful. It is bankrupt today
and will tomorrow cease to exist because its lifes
pan is determined solely by its functionality and
profitability.3When both fail, decline will set in.
So the end of the metropolis?
NO!
But an end to the metropolis that is based
on the principle of speculation and whose very
organism cannot free itself from the model of
the city of the past despite all the modifications
it has experiencedan end to the metropolis
that has yet to discover its own laws.
3 [Hilberseimer paraphrases Henry Fords statement in

My Life and Work (1922): The modern city has been
prodigal, it is to-day bankrupt, and to-morrow it will
cease to be. Fords book was translated into German in
1923. In German, the modern city is rendered as Die
moderne Grofistadt (the modern metropolis), bringing
F ords statement semantically closer to Hilberseimers
concerns. See Henry Ford with Samuel Crowther, My Life
and Work (Garden City: G arden City Publishing Co.,
1922), 193; Mein Leben und Werk (Leipzig: Paul List,
1923). 225.1
Urban Planning
The task o f the urban planner extends far beyond
the present. It is he who will determ ine, in broad
strokes, the city and the urban life o f the future.
Therefore the basis o f all urban construction
m ust be a com prehensive plan, which, with
thought and care, takes into account the various
needs o f a future com munity; considers the geo
graphic and topographic location o f the city; and
does not leave the citys national, economic, and
productive im portance out o f consideration. The
definition o f the means o f tran sp o rtatio n train T ra n sp o r
tation
and canal routes, m ain streets, elevated and
underground tra in s is o f prim ary im portance.
These are the arteries o f the entire organism . O f
sim ilar im portance is the division o f the city into
F unc
tional
residential, com m ercial, and industrial quarters
division
according to the conditions and qualities o f the
territory and in consideration of the correspond
ing needs. Likewise the building o f parks, green
spaces, and bodies o f w ater throughout the urban
organism is o f g reat im portance. In order to elim
inate land speculation, which has had devastating
effects on our cities, in the future such a plan m ust
be preceded by a com prehensive expropriation of
the land so that the city can develop spatially
unhindered. T he claim s o f private property m ust
necessarily concede to the claim s o f the general
public in the construction o f a city. U rban plan
ning is not a private concern but a public matter.
92
/
Two
j urban
types
The
natural
city
Camillo
Sitte
Over the centuries two urban types have

emerged, which seem, from a philosophical per
spective, to be diametrically opposed, but in
practice have influenced one another greatly:
the naturally developing city and the artificial
geometric city.
The naturally developed city is not the cre
ation of a single will, but the product of a long
evolution. Like the city of the Middle Ages, it is
the work of many generations. It was organized
either radially around a centerwith a cloister,
a cathedral, or a castle as the focal pointor it
was organized along a river or military road with
an extended center, so that the streets radiate out
like fingers. The advantages of the natural city
are found in its complete adaptation to the ter
rain. The physiognomy of its streets depends on
the individual house, whose narrowness can
adapt to any form. Depressed by the desolation
o f todays cities, Camillo Sitte was the first to
attem pt to identify the causes of this bleakness
and to propose remedies.4 He took the medieval
city as a model and made an artificial system the
principle of this form of development. He mis
takenly sought models in the past and tried to
pose the problem of urban planning in purely
formal terms, divorced from technical and
hygienic factors. This urban system has nothing
to offer the present. It is the result of slow
4 [See Camillo Sitte, Der Stddtebau nach seinen kurtstlerischen Grundsatzen (Vienna: Karl Gaeser, 1889).]
U R B A N P L A N N IN G
93
organic evolution. On the o ther hand, contem

porary urban developm ent, particularly in its
scope, requires extensive foresight. Its specifica
tions guide developm ent down certain paths, so
that the plan, which in the past was a result,
becomes today a necessary precondition. These
The
dem ands correspond in large m easure to the geom etric
city
geom etrically p artitio n ed urban system. It is a
typical product o f colonization. Even the peo
ples o f antiquity used such a system for founding
cities. It proved itse lf to be very suitable when it
was im portant to quickly and crudely delim it
urban terrain th a t was to be rapidly developed.
Yet despite the various form s this urban
system acquired from the R enaissance through
the Baroque, it has nevertheless been applied to
the m odern m etropolis as prim itively as it was to
those old colonial cities, though the scope is
indeed far greater. As a result o f its schem atic Schem a
tic ap
application, this urban system has been greatly
plication
discredited. D ue to convenience, thoughtless
ness, and lack o f im agination, it has been
senselessly applied w ithout consideration for
the terrain , the relationship to the sun, and w ith
out p roper p erspective or architectonic sense.
It has been m uch disputed as to which of
these system s is superior. It is unnecessary to try
to reach a general decision on this m atter. P racti
cal requirem ents and artistic sensibility alone
are decisive. M ore im p o rtan t than any system is
the organism th a t is to be designed. F or creative
people, system s are only a m eans tow ard design,
94
never ends unto themselves. The widespread

opinion that any unevenness of terrain prevents
Bath and geometric planning is unfounded. The Baroque
Canberra has shown that even on uneven terrain a com
pletely organized and geometric layout can b
achieved, as in the city of Bath built on the hills
of Avon to the east of Bristol. Or to name a more
Fig. 6
recent example, Canberra, the new Australiai
capital which is being built according to the plans
of the American architect Walter Burley Griffin.
It is a consistently executed geometric desigi
laid out on a hilly terrain dotted with lakes.
American
For the time being, American metropolises
metropo- m 0st purely embody the m etropolitan type.
lises
Americans created straight streets for objective
reasons: in addition to the clarity attained, which
eases the flow of traffic, a rectilinear network of
streets has the advantage of producing rectangu
lar city blocks. New York has already had a
district designed according to these principles
for 100 years: M anhattan, todays business cen
ter. The layout of Philadelphia, whose center is
based on a plan by William Penn, is founded on
similar principles. In W ashington the rectilinear
network of streets is overlaid by a system of
diagonal streets in order to ease traffic. Of par
ticular note is the plan of the projected city
Fig 7
Prince Rupert in British Columbia by Brett and
Hall of Boston. The city is laid out on two pla
teaus that are divided by a deep stone ravine. The
residential quarter extends along the inclination
of a hill, with streets that are adapted to the
Fig. 7 Brett and Hall, Plan o f Prince Rupert, British

Columbia, 1909
96
terrain. The commercial city, which is situated

on the plateau, is subdivided by a grid of streets.
It is one of the few examples of a radical separa
tion o f the residential and the commercial city.
Neglected
The common element in these urban proj
design
ects lies in their neglect of design. Their
construction is an undisciplined outgrowth of
the urban plan. They are an inorganic accumula
tion of opposed elements. Their layout is
determ ined exclusively by economic viewpoints
whose narrow-mindedness is becoming mori
and more apparent, thus throwing the usefulness
of such urban forms into question.
For contem porary urban planning the most
City ex
tensions im portant and m ost essential problem is the city
extension. Several systems have been developed
to meet this need, the m ost im portant of which
are the concentric and the radial systems. The
The con oldest is the concentric system: expansion
centric
through the installation of a new ring in the sense
system
of a medieval city, where the circular defensive
wall, if rebuilt farther out, allowed a new ringshaped extension. This form of extension has
survived even into the era of intensified traffic,
yet it proves to be wholly inadequate for the
metropolis. It enables not systematic growth but
systematic compression. In the place of a ring
The
radial
form ation, the radial system proposes a radial
system
axis o f development. Instead of forcing the
developed and undeveloped land to conform to a
belt-shaped space, a wedge-like extension allows
a more intensive exploitation of undeveloped
97
land for the po p u latio n .5 Yet this is also not a

final solution but only a provisional remedy,
which expires when the grow ing city has reached
a certain size. Then this sort of extension is like
wise no longer a fundam ental im provem ent, but
only an attem pt at renovation m ade in the spirit
of com prom ise.
T he problem of the m etropolis has yet to be The un
solved in term s o f residential hygiene or traffic resolved
m anagem ent. F or som e time, one thought that system of
the m etro
the housing problem could be disregarded
polis
because this was prim arily a m atter of ap a rt
ments for proletarians, who generally receive
very little attention. F or them , the w orst was
good enough. T he traffic problem , on the other
hand, soon dem anded g reat attention. Yet both
residential and traffic problem s are closely con
nected, because the traffic o f the m etropolis is,
of course, not an end unto itself but a m eans in
the hands o f the inhabitant o f the m etropolis.
Thus the urban planner m ust consider them both
at the sam e tim e, as they are the m ost im portant
aspects o f the entire com plex o f urban planning.
The sterility and unsustainable character of
urban extension system s to date has already led
to a new system o f city extension and to a new
5 [H ilberseim er alludes to the w edge-like green spaces
devised by B runo M ohring and R udolf E b ersta d t as
green lungs for B erlin in th eir entry for the C om peti
tion for G reater B erlin o f 1910. See R udolf E berstadt,
Handbuch des Wohnungswesens und der Wohungsfrage 4th
ed. (Jena: G ustav Fischer, 1920), 232-33.]
98
The
separa
tion of
districts
The
satellite
system
system of urban planning in general. Attempts

have been made to create perfect housing devel
opments through the complete separation of
residential districts from centers of work. It is
no accident that these attem pts began in Eng
land, the country that without a doubt has the
most developed residential culture. In England
attem pts have always been made to separate
working and living quarters, which was, however,
only ever possible for the upper classes. Here as
well, the proletariat, the largest part of the popu
lation, was condemned to live in impossible
apartm ents in working-class districts, which are
the same in all metropolises. In a certain sense
they make up the true international character of
the metropolis. The rapid growth of the m etro
polises has only ever made these districts worse.
The separation or dissolution of the m etro
polis into residential and working quarters leads
ultim ately to the form ation of the satellite sys
tem. Arranged concentrically around the heart
of the city, the center, which in the future will
only be a place of work, are self-sufficient living
quarters at a sufficient distance satellite cities
of a limited population size, whose distance
from the central city can be quite great given
todays means of transportation, that of a rapid
train system built specifically for commuters.
In spite of the local self-sufficiency of these
living quarters, they remain elements of a
collective system, remaining closely connected
with the city center, with which they form an
99
econom ic and governm ental unit. T he residents

o f satellite cities w ork in the city center. The
center will gradually becom e a place o f work,
w ithout residential quarters, as these are to be
fully excluded.
It will be objected that the transport of
these great m asses o f people to the central city
will cause extrem e difficulties, even that it will be
im possible, because currently it is not even pos
sible to m anage traffic w ithin the m etropolis
itself. As justified as this critique is, one m ust
keep the following in mind. Raym ond Unwin, a
specialist in housing at the English M inistry of
H ealth and one o f the key supporters o f the sat
ellite city system , has calculated according to
statistics that 60 percent o f all the workers in
L ondon work in districts different from those in
which they live. Indeed, in m any cases the num
ber o f w orkers who leave their district to go to
work is the sam e as those who travel to the same
M asses
district to work. Because these great masses of
peo p le in N ew York there are three m il o f people
lio n who m ust be transported to and from the
central city, already live apart from their w ork
places, they could ju s t as well live outside the city
in a satellite district. W ith system atic organiza
tion it is even possible for com m uting tim e to be
reduced and for the population to live in healthy,
respectable dwellings. London already has two
such satellite cities: Letchw orth w ith 35,000 and
Welwyn w ith 40,000 inhabitants, yet the city is
w orking intensively on future satellites.
100
Constructing satellite cities also allows the

developed area to be restricted. Building activ
ity, which has always been distributed across the
entire m etropolitan periphery, can be concen
trated at certain points, which will be relatively
quickly developed and thereby always have a
completed character. Todays urban periphery
with its exposed firewalls and innumerable
streets leading nowhere will disappear. The
m etropolis will become an organically unified
figure and the necessary connection to open land
will finally be established. Restricting the devel
oped surface of the city will also be of great
im portance for traffic planning.
In connection with such a far-ranging urban
extension, the inner city m ust be renovated and,
accordingly, the population redistributed. By
The inner creating new residential quarters, the entire
city is
inner city will be made free for commercial life.
only a
streets must be regulated, and narrow, unsanicommer,
,
ciai city tary> an<* poorly constructed buildings and
blocks m ust be demolished and rebuilt. Renova
tion must not be hindered by a sentimental
consideration for history, because our task is not
to conserve the past, but to prepare the way for
Paris
the future. T hat even a medieval urban center
can be reconstructed according to modern
requirem ents is dem onstrated by the sweeping
renovation and redesign of Paris, which was exe
cuted by Georges-Eugne Haussm ann around
the middle of the nineteenth century. Even if
this renovation was determined by strategic
101
considerations and is today outdated, its actual

purpose was nevertheless to obtain a clear over
view o f the city and facilitate unhindered traffic
by thoroughly organizing the urban center.
M artin M achlers plan for Berlin is even
Berlin
more all-encom passing.6 H e has attem pted to according
to
define a functional design for Berlin according to
M achlers
a com prehensive prognosis and has established
plan
param eters according to which his new organiza
tional m easures are to take place.
In order to m eet the citys econom ic, social,
Fig. 8
and cultural tasks, M achler allots Berlin a circu
lar area w ith a fifty-kilom eter radius, m easured
from the tow er o f the city hall.7 The areas are
divided according to the various requirem ents
o f econom ic and social life: there will be a rea
sonable ordering o f consum er and producer
groups, as well as places for w ork, leisure, and
residence. T he vital h ea rt o f Berlin is trade. The
surface area defined by a six-kilom eter radius
from the tow er o f the city hall will be devoted to
trade. This ring is to be surrounded by another
of a ten-kilom eter radius reserved for com merce.
A wedge o f sixty degrees cuts into this
business and com m ercial zone from the west.
6 [See M artin M achler, D enkschrift betreffend eine
E rganzung des G esetzentw urfes zu r B ildung eines
S tadtkreises G roB -B erlin, Der Stadtebau 15, no. 1-2
(1920): 3-12.]
7 N ew York later ado p te d a plan for the future develop
m ent o f the city w ithin a circular area defined by an
eight-kilom eter radius.
102
Fig. 8 Martin Machler, Schematic distribution o f Berlins

functions, 1920
Fig. 9 Hugo Haring, Project for Platz der Republik, Berlin,

1927
103
Fig. 10 New York, High-rise street
G overnm ent offices, am bassadorial buildings,

hotels, and institutes for art, research, and edu
cation populate this wedge from the center to
the periphery.
T he large o uter ring contains facilities for
leisure, sanitation, and agriculture.
T he industrial settlem ents also contain
space for w orkers settlem ents because industry
104
and the working population go hand in hand.

Therefore industry must be located where it can
provide workers with suitable housing.
Between the southwest and northeast in
dustrial areas, the residential settlements are
arranged along the waterways for those who
work in the center.
The
The precondition for this organization of
traffic
Berlin is a correspondingly developed transporfor Berlin tat*on system that wiU facilitate flawless traffic
management. Through the creation of a central
train station for Berlin, which is to be designed
as a major traffic node, Machler attem pts to
solve these problems. He gathers all of the rail
lines that enter Berlin from all directions at two
train stations at the northern and southern ends,
respectively, of the citys inner periphery and
directs them beneath the city by electric rail. The
intersection which results will become a central
train station which will be the focal point of both
commuter and long-distance rail. This organiza
tion will render all terminal train stations
superfluous, thereby radically solving one of
the most difficult traffic problems in the center
of the city.8
Fig. 9
Hugo Haring executed an architectural
design for a detail of this comprehensive plan:
8 [Machlers plan addressed the fact that most of Ber
lins train stations were terminals, that is, end-of-theline stations, which made transferring between stations
and rail lines difficult, thus complicating the travel
experience.]
105
the governm ental center that is concentrated

around the Reichstag. H e attem pts to create an
entire urban space devoted to political functions,
concentrating the buildings required into a
p olitical forum .
T he im m easurable advantages the satellite
system presents to the housing industry are off
set by the above-m entioned disadvantages for
tran sportation: such designs do not im prove
traffic in relation to todays traffic patterns, but
n either do they exacerbate them further.9
By solving the housing problem only one of
A
the m ost im portant challenges facing the m etrop one-sided
solution
olis is met. T he problem o f traffic, which is ju st
as im portant, is no t affected in the least by this
attem pt to solve the issue according to urban
planning standards. T he traffic w ithin the central
city will still contribute to and cause the same
deficiencies. T he horizontal expansion o f urban
land and the satellite system may be viewed as an
excessive cham pioning o f horizontal urban plan
ning. They will never offer the possibility of
perfectly organizing the ever-increasing traffic in
the city center o f a m etropolis. Everything from
the o uter districts will always surge tow ard the
center, w hich, w hen a city has reached a certain
size, sim ply cannot absorb all o f the traffic. Com
plete chaos will ensue.
9 [C om pare to H ilb erse im e rs earlier advocacy for
decentralization: Ludwig Hilberseim er, Vom stadtebauli
chen P roblem d er G roB stadt, Sozialistische Monatshefte
29, no. 6 (1923): 352-57; see this volum e, pp. 42-44]
106
Fig. 10
This chaos in urban planning was exacer

bated in America because buildings could be built
at any height whatsoever until a building regula
tion was put in place inl915.I0Inthis way high-rises
were built on urban sites that had been designed
for relatively low development; a drive was created
to outdo ones neighbor simply out of the desire to
hold the record for the tallest building.
Disad
vantages
of sky
scrapers
A skyscraper often creates fewer offices than

the number o f existing ones that it detrimen
tally affects by blocking the supply o f light and
air. Even more disastrous is the effect o f tall
commercial buildings on street traffic, which
today defies description. When the employees
o f a clothing store want to go outside for fresh
air during lunch they stand shoulder to shoul
der. I f someone needs to travel one-two
kilometers in New York during business hours
and is careless enough to choose a motor vehicle
10 [Hilberseimer refers to the Building Zone Resolution
adopted by the New York City Board of Estimate in 1916,
which regulated the height and bulk of buildings and
divided the city into three classes of districts: residence,
business, and unrestricted. The resolution introduced the
concept of the zoning envelope, which limited the mass
of a building according to predetermined formulas and
stimulated the design of stepped-back skyscrapers. See
Commission on Building Districts and Restrictions, Final
Report, June 16,1916 (Flew York: Board of Estimate and
Apportionment Committee on the City Plan, 1916), 22344; Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and
Skylines in New York and Chicago (New York: Princeton
Architectural Press, 1995), 67-79.]
107
as a mode o f transport, he will be faced with

hour-long delays (W erner H egem ann).11
The im possibility o f these conditions natu
rally increases w ith the height o f the building.
Thus R aym ond U nwin makes the following
observation on the 55-story W oolworth Build
ing. If an em ployee is allotted five square m eters
o f w orkspace, this building can contain 14,000
people.12 If a standing em ployee is allotted 60
square centim eters o f ground, then, if all of
these em ployees w ere gathered in front o f the
building at the sam e tim e on a sidew alk six
m eters wide, a sidew alk 855 m eters long would
be required to accom m odate these 14,000 peo
ple. But if one begins to calculate the figures for
these people in m otion, then, w ith a necessary
surface for a w alking person o f 60 by 150 centi
m eters, a sidew alk o f the sam e w idth would have
to be 2,100 m eters long.
Because the W oolw orth Building has but a
fragm ent o f this sidew alk and because it is not
isolated, but betw een other buildings, even
if they are n o t as tall, one m ust w onder how cir
culation is even possible given N ew Y orks
narrow streets.
11 W erner H egem ann, D as H ochhaus als V erkehrsstorer
und d er W ettbew erb d er C hicago T ribune: M ittelalterliche Enge und n euzeitliche G o tik , Wasmuths Monatshefte
fiir Baukunst 8 (1924): 296.
12 R aym ond U nw in, H igher building in rela tio n to town
planning, RIBA Journal 31, no. 5 (1924): 125-50.
Fig. 56
108
The congestion of streets for pedestrians

is coupled with an even more severe situation
for motor vehicles. New Yorks narrow streets
allow only three automobiles to travel side by
side, yet one is allowed to stop on both the
right and left sides, leaving only one lane for
unhindered m otiona condition that makes
traffic obstructions ever more catastrophic. Here
the consequences of neglecting the fundamental
principle of urban planningto never build a
street higher that it is wideare being felt. In
America they are striving with all of their energy
to solve this ever-increasing deficiency that
threatens the existence of the metropolis. Under
present circumstances the continued existence
of the m etropolis itself appears impossible.
To ease the effects of congestion on streets
Improve
ment of
caused by high-rises, the office of the state of
the street
New York has developed the Regional Plan of
system
New York and Environs.13This plan attempts to
Figs.
create more space for vehicular traffic and to
11-12
separate pedestrian and m otor traffic by altering
and improving the street system and by raising
the level of the sidewalk above that of the
Street
conges
tion
13 [Hilberseimer refers to the New York Regional Plan

ning Association, which was founded in 1922. The
Association was not, as Hilberseimer suggests, a govern
mental organization. It was funded in large part by the
Russell Sage Foundation and directed by the British plan
ner Thomas Adams. See Michael Simpson, Thomas Adams
and the Modern Planning Movement: Britain, Canada, and
the United States, 1900-1940 (London: Mansell, 1985).]
m ftn n n j R :.. j
Fig. 11 New York, Proposals fo r street expansions to accom
modate traffic: (Top Left) Current condition; (Top R ight)
Elevation o f sidewalks; (B ottom ) Elevation o f sidewalks, the
use o f the ground floor space o f buildings fo r transportation,
and the enclosure o f streets fo r pedestrian traffic
stre e t.14 T he C ity Planning C om m ission o f C hi

cago is likew ise attem pting an urban renovation
o f the inner city o f Chicago, which has already
14 [H ilberseim er refers to H arvey W iley C o rb e tts design
for a system o f su p erim p o sed traffic netw orks for lower
M anhattan. See H arvey W iley C o rb ett, D ifferent Levels
for F o o t, W heel, and R ail, American City 31, no. 7 (1924):
2-6; see this volum e, pp. 71-73.]
110
Fig. 13
M etro
politan
chaos
been partially executed. Though these attempts

at improvement are greatly limited, they never
theless signify a desire to bring about structural
change. This is in contrast to the purely decora
tive attempts at concealing these problems
undertaken by other cities. Some cities try to con
ceal the inadequacy of their urban structures
through the introduction of broad avenues, which
as a rule cut diagonally across the grid of the
urban plan. In Philadelphia, for instance, the dec
orative extravagance of Fairmount Parkway in no
way solves the deficiencies of the urban plan.
It has yet to be made clear that in the con
struction of the m etropolis one is faced with the
organization of a new form with its own dynam
ics, which not only quantitatively but above all
qualitatively differentiates itself from the city of
the past. This is where the planlessness and cha
otic character of all metropolises, which are
entirely products of happenstance, derive from.
As long as they have not reached a certain scale,
it does not m atter whether they are planned well
or poorly. But their shortcomings become glar
ingly visible as soon as this scale is surpassed.
This is the condition in which most of the socalled metropolises more or less find themselves
todayfirst among them are the American
m etropolises governed by high-rises.
We have identified the character of the
existing metropolis as a conglomeration, as an
accumulation of disparate elements. Their
development is a haphazard concatenation that
111
Fig. 12 New York, Proposal fo r a two-story street without

intersections
Fig. 13 Jacques Griber,

Philadelphia, 1917
Plan fo r
Fairmount Parkway,
serves only im m ediate needs, w ithout a higher

perspective or sense o f responsibility to the
future. In contrast, the city o f the future m ust
have the character o f a planned entity, o f a
fully thought-through organism . All deficiencies
112
Sche
matic
solutions
m ust be recognized and eliminated; the city must

be systematically constructed according to its
various elements and be designed in a completely
new sense. It must embody the fundamental
requirem ents of urban planning. The urban lay
out must be clear and manageable. Dwellings
m ust be sanitary and comfortable. Enclosed resi
dential courtyards are to be avoided. The blocks
should be open and allow the circulation of air.
The width of streets and courtyards must corre
spond to the height of adjacent buildings. Traffic
m ust be regulated and separated according to
type so that each sort of transportation mode is
allocated its own respective level.
The chaos of the contem porary metropolis
can only be confronted with experiments in theo
retical dem onstration. Their task is to develop,
in the abstract, the fundamental principles of
urban planning according to contemporary
requirements. This will produce general rules
that enable the solution of certain concrete prob
lems. Only abstraction from the specific case is
capable of revealing how the disparate elements
that constitute the metropolis can be brought
into an order of dense relationships. Attempts at
such a fundamental analysis of the design of the
metropolis have been undertaken by Le Corbus
ier and Ludwig Hilberseimer. Both attempt to
organize everything that the population of a city
of millions requires for life, labor, and leisure,
with the intention of achieving a maximum
am ount of order, fulfilling everyones needs for
113
space, air, hygiene, and com fort, and o f turning

the city into an efficient organism .
Le C orbusier designed a plan for a city of
Le
three m illion inhabitants in order to dem onstrate C orbusi
e
rs
urban
his principles o f urban planning.13 To allow
plan
absolute clarity o f his intentions, he selected a
Figs.
com pletely flat te rra in a level surface w ithout
14-16
topographic hindrances, which enabled him to
fully realize his geom etric design.
H e divides the population into three cate
gories: the urban, the suburban, and the mixed.
He calls the urban dw ellers those who both work
and live in the city. T he suburban dwellers are
those who w ork in the industrial zone and live in
the associated garden cities. T he m ixed category
describes those who w ork in the city b ut live in a
garden city.
An urban form em erges as a delim i
ted, dense, and concentrated o rg an the cen
ter and an extended, supple, elastic o rg an the
factory zone w ith garden cities. Between the two
is an undeveloped strip o f forests and meadows.
T he principles o f his plan include easing R elief o f
the pressure placed on the center, albeit w ith an the center
increase o f its p o pulation density, by increasing
the m eans o f tra n sp o rtatio n and increasing
green space.
The
O n a surface o f 2,400 by 1,500 m eters,
3,600,000 square m eters or 360 hectares, in the high-rise
core
city center stand tw enty-four high-rises, which
Le C orbusier, Urbanisme (Paris: G. C res & Co., 1925).
114
M ETRO PO LISA RCHITECTU RE
Fig. 14 Le Corbusier, Ville Contemporaine, 1922; perspective
Fig 15 Le Corbusier, Ville Contemporaine; plan
Fig. 16 L e Corbusier, Perimeter Block
115
116
The
residen
tial city
occupy 5 percent of this area. They are cruciform

in plan and without courtyards. They are of
iron and glass and are to be sixty stories high.
Every building accommodates 10,000 to 50,000
employees with an allotment of ten square
meters for each. There are a total of between
400,000 and 600,000 workplaces. On average
that amounts to an occupancy of between 17,000
and 25,000 employees for one high-rise, which
corresponds to a density of 1,110 to 1,650
employees per hectare.
This minimal development, which occupies
only 5 percent of the terrain, allows the con
struction of parks with playgrounds and sports
facilities. Parking lots and garages are at the bot
tom of the high-rises. Restaurants, cafes, and
luxury shops are arranged on terraces in the
parks. A t one side, bordering the English garden,
is a forum with public and administrative build
ings: museums, theaters, concert halls, and the
city hall. The adjoining English garden is planned
as a future expansion district for the city. To the
other side of the city are docks, freight train sta
tions, and industrial quarters.
Insofar as they do not live in a garden city,
the 400,000 to 600,000 employees who work in
the city have apartm ents with their families in
the residential district bordering the city center.
There are two types of buildings. The first is
composed of open, bracket-like blocks with five
to six two-story dwellings stacked vertically. The
density of these buildings is 300 persons per
117
hectare w ith 85 percent open space. The second

type is com posed o f closed blocks w ith the same
density but w ith only 48 percent open space.
N early two m illion people live in the garden
The
garden
cities. H ere construction is three stories high.
cities
Each dwelling has 100 square m eters o f living
space spread over two stories and a private gar
den o f 50 square m eters. To this space is added
150 square m eters o f com m unal fruit and vege
table garden space and an adjoining 150 square
m eters o f com m on recreation and sports areas.
In addition to residential building types, The street
and rail
the street and rail system defines the structure of
system
the u rban plan. T he spaciousness o f the devel
opm ent perm its a very favorable traffic system.
T he central tra in station is located at the center
o f the city. It unites all rail traffic: on the first
u n d erground level is the subway netw ork, which
has stations b eneath every high-rise and residen
tial block. On the second underground level are
the long-distance lines. On the platform above
the central train station is the runw ay for aerial
tran sp o rtatio n . S treet traffic is sim ilarly clas
sified. H eavy vehicles and buses travel un
derground. A ll buildings stand on pillars so that
the ground level is com pletely open. This
level form s the docks o f the buildings, where
deliveries are unloaded. Light trucks, slowmoving private autom obiles, and pedestrians
travel on basem ent level. Both large, 180-meterwide axial streets are equipped w ith elevated
40-to-60-m eter-w ide highways for fast-m oving
118
Fig. 10
Critique
automobiles. These elevated highways are con

nected to street level by ramps.
Intersections and curves hinder traffic, which
is why the number of streets is reduced and all of
them are straight. Yet they do not only intersect at
right angles, they also run diagonally. The module
of street traffic is the distance between two sub
way stations, which is 400 meters. Thereby land
parcels of 400 meters per side are created. The
street loses its constricting corridor-like charac
ter due to the bracket-shaped buildings. It becomes
more spacious and no longer feels closed in.
Le Corbusier believes he has achieved not
only a qualitative, but also a quantitative im
provement of the city. The qualitative improve
m ent is absolutely certain. His city is well orga
nized and spacious. It is more a park than a sea
o f houses. The chaos of New York seems to have
been overcome. Disorder has become order,
insecurity has become security, disquiet has
become quiet. The air is pure. Life is simplified.
All the difficulties of todays metropolis have
been eliminated. The entire problem has been
wonderfully solved.
But if we investigate the quantitative im
provement that Le Corbusier believes he has
achieved, we reach a negative conclusion. The
alleged enormous increase of population density
of the city is based on a fiction, on the equation
o f incommensurable scales. The qualities of this
city are not thereby annulled, but its quantitative
improvement is greatly modified.
119
In contrast to existing cities, where streets

becom e narrow er as they approach the center, Le
C orbusier places the broadest streets in the city
center. H ow is this possible w ithout reducing
po p ulation density? T hrough am assing stories,
which Le C orbusier increases up to sixty. This
not only fails to reduce population density but
even m ultiplies it.
The average p o pulation density o f Paris is
364 p ersons per hectare; o f L ondon, 158; and o f
Berlin, 300. In the overpopulated quarters of
Paris it is 533 persons per hectare; in London,
422; and in Berlin, 383. If one com pares these
figures w ith those th a t Le C orbusier believes he
has achieved in the center o f his city, 1,100 to
1,650 persons per hectare, one has the im pres
sion that, by utilizing high-rises, he has been
able to triple the p op u latio n density while m ain
taining a great quantity o f open space. U pon
closer inspection it tu rn s out th a t he has com
pared incom m ensurable scales: the residential
density o f m etropolises and the density o f com
m ercial occupancy.
W hile the ten square m eters th at he allots
em ployees as w orkspace are quite sufficient (in
A m erica they are only allotted five square
m eters), this space is quite insufficient to meet
the needs o f a person at home. F or residential
p urp oses one should never assum e an area of
u nder thirty square m eters for a single person. It
th erefore follows th at the high level o f density
calculated by Le C orbusier is totally fictitious. It
The
am assing
o f stories
An im
possible
com pari
son
120
The
demands
on street
space
is founded on the impermissible equation of

workspace and residential space.
As further proof, the following should be
taken into consideration: we have ascertained
that each of these twenty-four high-rises provides
on average workspace for 17,000 to 25,000
employees. Each high-rise has a parcel of land of
400 by 400 m eters (160,000 square meters, or 16
hectares) at its disposal. If one were to develop
this 16-hectare area with exclusively five-story
buildings, 20 to 30 percent of this area would be
required in order to accommodate the same
17,000 to 25,000 employees, which would still
leave 70 to 80 percent of the overall space unde
veloped. Admittedly, Le Corbusier builds on only
5 percent of this 16-hectare area and intends the
remaining 95 percent to be used as park and green
spaces where sports facilities can also be housed.
Nevertheless, upon closer examination of
these parks and green spaces, one is again led to
essentially negative conclusions because there
m ust also be sufficient street space available to
the employees accommodated by the high-rises.
For pedestrians alone one m ust allot one square
m eter of moving space per person. According to
Erich Giese, the braking distance required by
autom obiles is about twenty-six square meters
o f traffic space.16Thus if each person is allotted
14 Erich Giese, Strafiendurchbriiche als Mittel fiir die
Losung des Berliner Verkehrsproblems (Berlin: Verlag der
Verkehrstechnik, 1925).
121
an average o f th re e-fo u r square m eters o f street

space, that com es to a total circulation area of
75,000 to 100,000 square m eters. This spatial
requirem ent causes the park and green spaces to
shrink to such an extent th a t only two to three
square m eters are left per person. F urtherm ore,
the vertical traffic will becom e dow nright cata
strophic in these enorm ous sixty-story com
m ercial buildings during rush-hour periods or in
an em ergency situation because, in eradicating
the h orizontal congestion of streets by im posing
great spaciousness, Le C orbusier did nothing
other than shift this horizontal congestion into a
vertical congestion o f high-rises.
As a resu lt o f equating residential density
and the density o f occupancy for com m ercial
buildings, Le C o rb u sier gave the im pression
th a t he was able to triple p o p u la tio n density. We
believe we have proved th a t this is based on fic
tion. So, since it is also possible to attain the
sam e density using buildings o f only five sto
ries, the only thing left to decide is w hether one
should b uild a city center o f high-rises sepa
rated by large intervals or a city center o f
buildings o f n orm al height. V ertical traffic can
be reduced by increasing these tw enty-four
high-rises accordingly and thus the sam e effect
w ith regard to density is produced using either
buildings o f n o rm al h eight or high-rise devel
opm ents. T hus it becom es clear th a t an eco
nom ic problem has been tu rn e d into a problem
of p ure aesthetics.
'
L22
M E T R O P O L IS A R C H IT E C T U R E
^turns out that Le Corbusiers proposal is

ân attem pt to harmonize existing
i of chaos he proposes the
g eo m etric system. He does not
^hough initially this impreslarranges and improves,
uh ^ alteration or fresh
Even the traffic
|/ly formulated,
gd and spacious,
: is not thereby
êd
ily relative?
by increasby radically
llberseimer s is
aT construction of the menstead of further expansion at the
ground level, Hilberseimer proposes further com
centratiori and clusteringthe construction |o f
individual urban elements, functionally disting
uished by their vertical placement. Two cities
stacked vertically, as it were. The commercial city
123
and vehicular traffic lie below; the residential city C omm erand pedestrian traffic lie above. Subways and cial city
below,
long-distance train lines lie underground.
residential
As a vertical city, it can be nothing other city above
than a city o f high-rises. Yet in contrast to the
chaos o f A m erican high-rise cities, whose struc
Fig. 10
ture is arbitrarily defined, it m ust be system ati
cally organized. T he high-rise, which, like the
tenem ent block, has long contributed to the
chaos o f the u rban organism through the con
ventional subdivision o f parcels o f land, m ust
be used in a com pletely new way. Its advar
m ust not be canceled ou t again by its ^ rbitrary
application. T his is to be achieved y aggregating high-rises in blocks and th' ough unified
organization and design.
Because the resident^ 1city i? located above
t live above his
|jh e com m ercial city, ev
I'jo la c e . T his a s ^ ctlof the new city is sim ilar
f :ity o f the f ast. In the city o f the m edieval
re,?.n\ ;i tia * q u arters were placed above
com m ercial and w orkspaces in a single house.
W hat was individual in the past, in the age of
manual labor, will becom e collective in the
future, in the age of industry. Through this verti- Horizoncal stacking of commercial and residential cities,
paths between them will no longer be traveled
traffic
horizontally but for the m o s t part vertically tak
ing place indeed even within the building itself,
elim inating the need to ever step onto the street.
T odays lengthy, tim e-consum ing routes will
disappear, sim plifying b o th life and traffic and
124
The new
street
system
reducing the latter to the utm ost. The detached

house, which transform ed the m etropolis into
chaos, will vanish. It will be replaced by the
communal house, which occupies the entire
block and includes apartm ents, work and com
mercial spaces, and everything else that life
requires. The common street system, which is
composed of num erous blocks of individual
houses, which in turn produce innumerable
courtyards w ithout light or air, will disappear
along with the detached house. The smallness of
these blocks requires an expensive, tightly
meshed network of streets, without thereby
raising the quality of the apartm ents or func
tionally organizing the street system.
The new urban form determines its street sys
tem in relation to the sun and the dimensions of
streets and blocks according to the supply of light,
air, and the requirements of transportation. The
provision of light and air demands at minimum a
distance between buildings that is equal to their
height: street width equals building height. These
considerations determine the width of streets and
the depth of blocks because the distance between
buildings inside the city blocks must also corre
spond to the height of the building. Block length is
determined by the distance from the urban rail sta
tion. This produces blocks of extreme length but,
because transverse residential structures have
been eliminated, of minimal depth.
Ludwig H ilberseim ers plan, which is
constructed from essential urban elements,
Fig. 17 Ludwig Hilberseimer, High-rise City, 1924; northsouth street
Fig. 18 Ludwig Hilberseimer, High-rise City, 1924; eastwest street
a ttem p ts to realize these requirem ents for a city

o f one m illion in h a b ita n ts in a purely th e o re ti
cal schem a w ith o u t any in ten tio n o f realization.
T he basis is a block 100 m eters deep and 600
m eters long th a t serves com m ercial functions in
its five low er stories and resid en tial functions in
The
exam ple
126
Fig. 19 Ludwig Hilberseimer, High-rise City, 1924; plans and sectid
127
128
Fig. 19
Suitcase
instead
o f the
moving
van
its upper fifteen stories. As shown in the floor

plan and cross section, the block is composed
of two longitudinal slabs, which in the lower,
com m ercial portion are linked by eight trans
verse wings. The upper residential sections
rem ain unconnected, that is, without court
yards. Each residential slab is served by stair?
and elevators and divided into seven units,
which perm its the organization of apartments
for any num ber of people on every floor. Everj
apartm ent includes a large living room, a num
ber of bedroom s, a bathroom , a pantry, an
entryway, and a balcony. Furtherm ore, each
floor contains two rooms for the service staff,
which, as in a hotel, is responsible for m aintain
ing the apartm ents. Individual apartm ents are
to be made more comfortable through techno
logical means and are to be fully equipped in
such a way that tables and chairs are the only
movable furniture an occupant requires. When
moving to a new apartm ent, one no longer has
to pack the moving van, but only ones suitcase.
The m odel of the dwelling is no longer the
detached house, which is inadequate as mass
housing, but the hotel, which is adapted to pro
vide all conveniences and the utm ost comfort.
The lowest story of the residential section,
which is set back in the cross section from
the wider, commercial portion, contains the
entrances to the commercial areas as well as to
the apartments. Restaurants and smaller stores
are also found here. By setting the residential
129
section back from the com m ercial section o f the

block, a pedestrian path is created, which,
although it is ten m eters wide, only projects
beyond the com m ercial portion o f the building
two meters. The elevation o f the pedestrian paths
requires bridges over the streets at intersections.
Through this elevation todays m ost dangerous
traffic calam ity can be elim inated, that is, the
crossing o f pedestrians and vehicles on the same
level. A sixty-m eter-w ide street for vehicular
traffic is located in the com m ercial city; increased
autom obile traffic can develop here w ithout
issue. M ost traffic m ust be served by the com
muter rail system , however. It can only be located
below ground. A system o f superim posed rings
that run in both directions along the main street
will accom m odate a system o f continuously run
ning shuttle trains. T he placem ent o f stations is
o f prim ary im portance. City blocks are deter
mined in their length by the distance from subway
stations, enabling the construction o f a superior
urban rail system , w hose stations are organized
in such a way th at they can be quickly reached
even from the m ost d istant point.
Long-distance trains also run through the
center o f the city in two directions. They are
located underground as well, beneath the subway.
A main train station in the center of the city, at the
intersection o f the two long-distance lines, enables
the connection w ith the subway in both directions.
T he schem a o f a city for circa one m illion
in h ab itants covering a surface o f 1,400 hectares
Elevated
footpaths
Circling
s u b terra
nean
trains
Long
distance
trains
130
was designed on the basis of a building with

fourteen residential floors that can house 9,000
people and contains circa 90,000 square meters
of office and commercial space (so that every
person is allotted ten square meters) on the com
mercial levels. If one enlarges this plan to cover
a city of four million inhabitants, the approxi
mate population of G reater Berlin, it would
require an area of 5,600 hectares, which roughly
corresponds to that of Old Berlin, where two
million people live on 6,600 hectares.17Although
the population density is m m v doubled, the
quality of the apartm entsR V H - w ^ g ^ d e c r e a s e s .
On the contrary, quality will be greatly"JtWnroved
since all room s receive sunlight, courtyar
elim inated, and residential slabs stand seventy
m eters apart. Thus these apartm ents are perfect
and hygienically flawless m etropolitan dwell
ings. They represent a solution to the
m etropolitan housing problem. Furtherm ore,
because the traffic problem has been more or
less solved by separating traffic types, but pri
marily by greatly reducing the traffic itself, it
turns out that the vertical city, in contrast to the
horizontal city, solves both of the mq^t esênti
problem s of urban planning.
m ^
The reduction of developed area achieved'
by building and population concentration also
17 [Old Berlin refers to the citys municipal boundaries
prior to the incorporation of outlying settlements into
the G reater Berlin m etropolitan region in 1920.]
131
enhances the benefits provided to urban dwellers j A dvan

by increasing the open and park spaces. All tages of
concen
schools, hospitals, and sanatoriums, as we/
tration
sports and leisure areas, are to be em be^
within these green spaces. A d d itio n a l^
trast to todays urban fragm entation, whrT
in hours of travel in order to reach t h j
side, the spatial concentration of this ciu
one to reach the countryside quickly wi
of a corresponding well-developed rail Sj
T hese p ro p o sals should be consi ^
ther as u rb an plans nof.
the city. B oth are \ ossibili
Luse there The city
Cities are as bdiis no such th in g |;
r W .r i H
viduality
in d iv id u alities
on the char,J
tions, and
life. T his is
schem atic
determination of the
^-dnfoose tbi
th ese elem ents an
ittem p t to eria&le a m ore efficient form a tio n of
in u rb an organisrii by reorganizing and reap5lying th e se elem ents. *
'
Urban planning i%not an abstraction but

ather the fulfillment and organization of real
leeds and purposes. Reality modifies every
ibstraction. Its conditions form the most essential
actors of urban planning and therefore cannot be
gnored when designing an urban organism.
In spite of each individual and unique charicteristic, a city is integrated both economically
132
Regional
planning
The
dissolu
tion
of cities
The
necessity
of centers
and, in term s of its political temperament, intel

lectually into the entire nation, and the latter in
turn into the entire world, wherein a citys
achievements determ ine its rank and value. Just
as the individual is only productive to society
when he is able to suit his thoughts and deeds to
fit societys objectives, so must the city, and even
the nation, cooperate with other nations harm o
niously in the building of the great human
society. From this point of view, urban planning
expands to become regional planning; urban
planning becomes national planning. With this,
Bruno T auts theory of the dissolution of cities
finally acquires actuality, especially as the pro
gress of technology perfects radio and television
and reduces traffic to a minimum.18
But as far as the theory of the dissolution of
cities can be taken, the national organism of the
centerthe metropolis determ ined by the struc
ture of the overall populationwill always be
required.
The economic, social, and political life o f a
people is that o f a tremendous suprapersonal
individual. Even he, therefore, requires an
instrument, which is continually exposed to all
stimuli and is also capable o f giving stimulus;
an instrument that plays a similar role to the
brain in the human body. The central city and
18 [See Bruno Taut, Die Auflosung der Stadte (Hagen:
Folkwang-Verlag, 1920).]
133
capital o f a national organism are naturally

predestined to be physiologically equipped with
this instrument. This city is the collector, gener
ator, and regulator o f all material and spiritual
forces o f a society (M artin M achler).19
O ur concept o f th e city is for the tim e being Historical
still founded on an ideology attached to the his burden
torical past. A lthough walls and gates have long
since fallen, th eir m em ory haunts our minds.
U rban projects, as they are currently being pro
posed for Paris and Tokyo, for nine m illion
people, or for N ew York, for thirty-five m illion
inhabitants, are based on prem ises entirely dis
tinct from those to w hich we were accustom ed
until now. They will therefore produce a new
type o f city th a t will do away w ith the concept o f
spatial cohesion, a concept we always used to
D ecen
im agine o u r cities. T h eir great expansion neces
sarily leads to decentralization, which will only tralization
and
be possible on the basis o f the m ost intensive concen
co n centration. Besides the housing problem , the
tration
traffic problem will becom e the A lpha and
O m ega o f u rb an planning.
O f course a distinct separation by purpose
m ust exist. O ne will system atically group indi
vidual centers o f w ork according to type, so
th a t industrial decentralization will take place
19 M artin M achler, D enkschrift betreffend eine Erganzung des G esetzentw urfes zur Bildung eines S tadtkreises
GroB-Berlin, Der Stadtebau 15, no. 1-2 (1920): 7.
134
alongside the establishment of concentrated

points of global economic import. Or, for exam
ple, the economic and spatial connection within
an industrial district will naturally grow together
to form an enorm ous organically linked city. But
this is extremely dependent on national plan
ning. The design of the nation of the future
depends on the form ation of great economic
complexes. It will depend on the merger of
nations and nationalities into economic units.
Thus, for us in particular, the unification of the
politically divided European continent into an
economic unit is the precondition for a produc
tive and exemplary politics of urban planning,
which will bring a solution to the as yet unre
solved problem of the metropolis.
Residential Buildings
U ntil the m iddle o f the nineteenth century,
urban dw ellings w ere in general the property of
their inhabitants. W ith the introduction o f free
dom o f m ovem ent laws and freedom o f trade, a
fundam ental change was introduced in nearly all
nations. The path to the city was suddenly opened
to innum erable m asses o f people. C ities experi
enced an unforeseeable and rapid population
grow th, prim arily in the num bers o f the w orking
class, bu t the num ber o f buildings could not
keep up. T he sudden need for a great num ber of The rise
o f the
dwellings led to the construction o f tenem ents.
Since this tim e, the tenem ent has been the p rin tenem ent
cipal u rban residential form , especially in
m etropolises. O ther residential form s such as
the sm all house and the cottage are o f lesser
im portance than the tenem ent.
This relatively sudden need for apartm ents
was as surprising for architects as it was for the
T he
respective public authorities. In a free play of
forces, building activity in m etropolises was left to e n tre p re
n eur as
entrepreneurial builders and oriented toward
builder
mass production. T he state and m unicipalities
were helpless before these tasks, which were the
results o f new dem ands. They failed to recognize
the social im portance o f housing and, in line with
contem porary views, granted entrepreneurs abso
lute freedom . In this way residential construction
became an object o f speculation, which brought
136
capitalists great returns to the detriment of social

health. Pretentious facades often shamefully con
cealed multiple bleak courtyards surrounded by
small apartments devoid of light and air. Pure
materialism determined building plans that were
mechanically designed and executed. Nobody
realized that the only things being created were
breeding grounds for sickness and discontent.
I f these urban planners and speculators had
even fo r one moment taken the somewhat higher
ground, if they had even once viewed the masses,
which were to be settled in these massive develop
ments, not as a conglomeration o f animals, but
as vessels o f spirit and soul, if they had but once
learned to consider the settlements they created
as one cell within a collective state, as an organic
part o f one great organism, ... then they would
have seen how narrow, limited, and without
insight or foresight their modes o f operation
actually were (Martin Machler).20
The
neglected
residen
tial
building
Residential construction has been neglected

as both a social problem and an architectural
problem. It has been considered a simple job
that can be taken care o f on the side; at most the
possibility of designing a facade was of interest.
Its actual importance has not been acknowl
edged. Yet the residential building is the building
20 Martin Machler, Das Siedelungsproblem," Sozialisti
R E S ID E N T IA L B U IL D IN G S
137
problem o f the present. It is the actual problem

of the architecture o f the m etropolis.
To date, the tenem ent has been built accord
ing to entirely false prem ises. M any have
m istakenly sought to derive the building type
from the individual house, w hich was above all
conditioned by the narrow plots o f land charac
teristic o f private land ow nership. D espite
having exploited the land m ost cleverly, archi
tects have attem p ted to m aintain the external
character o f the individual house. This en ter
prise has led to the m ost grotesque deform ations.
It was never clear th a t the tenem ent building
represents a new architectural problem , whose
solution goes hand in hand w ith the solution of
social problem s. O ne had neither the courage
nor the will to go to the source o f the housing
problem and tried instead to conceal the calcu
lated uniform ity o f the plan and structure by
uniquely designing the facade. Preoccupied by
the external a rt o f the facade, one forgot the
actual problem , w hich is no t one o f form , but
one o f organization. Yet one believed to have
exhausted the arch itectu ral problem in the
design o f the facade. T hus all attem pts at reform
have been d irected to the facade, the supposed
dom ain o f the architect. T he floor plan was to
be m o n ito red by the building inspectors, and
the speculators and entrepreneurs had control
o f the m ost im p o rtan t and fundam ental
facto rs the subdivision o f parcels and city
blocks. N ob o d y dared to intervene in this
138
Urban
plan and
building
plan
Narrow,
closed
court
yards
disorganized tripartite division of labor. Yet

only when this state of disorganization is
replaced by constructive organization can the
problem of the tenem ent really be corrected and
turned from a chaotic to an organic entity.
Since nobody truly grasped the object as
such, everyone deviated from the fundamental
principle of design, that is, that architectural law
is to be derived from the object itself. This mis
take was turned into an enduring principle. From
this point o f view the difference between the
norm al kitsch facade and a facade of tasteful
classicism is relatively meaningless. On the con
trary, the so-called art of facades is even worse
than absolute kitsch. It strives to give the impres
sion of culture and to turn a social problem into
a formal problem. Yet it is nothing other than a
tastefully executed artificial front.
The planning of residential buildings ac
cording to the blocks defined by the street system
is of decisive importance. The site plan is closely
related to the building plan. Only when both are
jointly conceived can the ultim ate goals of urban
planning and hygienic demands be met. The selfevident north-south orientation of residential
streets for low-rise settlements, which ensures
the dwellings ample light, has been completely
ignored when planning the layout of tenements.
The narrow, closed courtyard impedes air circu
lation, so that in a m etropolitan apartment that
which it most needs is lacking: sun, light, and air.
Thus the typical street block of today, which
139
uses buildings encircling num erous small court

yards, m ust be b arred from use. D ue to the
exploitation of lim ited space in com m ercial quar
ters, the am ple land found in residential districts
is also being restricted, simply for the sake of
g reater returns and out o f purely speculative
motives. T he speed of todays m eans o f transpor
tation can accom m odate low-density construction
in residential districts and their placem ent at
great distances from the center o f the city. Yet the
tenem ent does not yet need to be forgotten and
converted to a low-rise building. R esidential con
struction in the m etropolis will be able to do
w ithout cram ped spaces, but, for econom ic rea
sons, no t w ithout m ultistory buildings.
Ju st as a system o f streets and land subdivi
sion has been created according to a speculative
po int o f view, so m ust a system be created that
takes the needs o f the inhabitants into account in
every way; one th a t considers life and general
welfare. T he m ost im p o rtan t requirem ent is to The m ost
ensure th a t every dw elling, including the very im portant
needs
sm allest, has space, air, ventilation, and sun.
Dwellings facing only to the no rth are to be
avoided and th e floor plan is to be arranged so
th a t it m eets all requirem ents.
T he w ork o f the speculator and the en tre
preneur, executed w ithout thought to planning,
m ust be replaced by the system atic w ork o f the
consciously responsible architect, w hose task is
to take into account general needs as well as con
structive, technical, and hygienic conditions,
140
facts, and demands. Nevertheless one must not

deny the fact that residential construction is, in
large part, a question of production. It is depen
dent on economic factors, which cannot be
ignored without cultural consequences.
The
New ground must be broken both in the
politics
organization of the overall plan and in the hand
of land
ling of details. In the future tenements will not be
designed based on the arbitrary borders of pri
vate property. Instead, collective associations,
building societies, and unions must take initiative
in residential construction, or, as in the example
of Holland, cities and the state itself will be
involved by employing qualified architects.
It is imperative to exploit all of the advan
tages that arise from combining individual
parcels of land into one unified block, which
could contain a great number of the most ideal
dwellings. Combining numerous apartments
into one larger unit enables facilities to be estab
lished that are uneconomical for the standard
tenem ent, but required for life in the metropolis.
The entirety of m etropolitan life is cluttered
with facilities that arose to help accomplish basic
household tasks, yet are today completely sense
less. Just think of cooking in many individual
kitchens or of laundry being done in many indi
vidual sinks.
While all work is regulated by the principle
Orga
nized
o f the division of labor and the combination of
home eco
forces, at home the medieval form of solitary
nomics
labor has persisted. The solitary personthe
141
w om an has to perform the m ost diverse tasks,

w ithout ever really arriving at productive
achievem ents, so th at she is oppressed by the
diversity o f her w ork and her energies are dissi
pated. T he reason th a t new form s o f work are
required here is twofold.
On the one hand is the demand to bring home
economics, which is a great portion o f general
economics and includes the greatest portion o f
consumption, into harmony with the total econ
omy and to increase its productivity, and on the
other hand it is necessary to create conditions
that enable women to live fulfilling lives. That
means organizing household labor, that is, a sys
tematic dismantling o f the total work required
within a household, and reassembling it anew,
taking into account the imperatives o f time and
energy conservation, and, at the same time,
improving labor techniques by introducing
machines, which must be presupposed in the con
text o f such a reorganization (M eta C orssen).21
W ith a little know ledge and understanding
o f the restrictive factors o f petit bourgeois life,
which are ro o ted in the individual household,
the am algam ation o f these m any costly individ
ual tasks will n o t only save tim e and money but
will also, given truly productive labor, greatly
21 M eta C o rssen , H a u s a rb e it, Sozialistische Monatshefte
30, no. 1 (1924): 51.
142
simplify home life and significantly raise the

standard of living.
The
A comfortable and practical dwelling
residen should m eet all of its inhabitants needs while
tial
utilizing the minimum am ount of space. The
minimum
size and num ber of rooms depend on which
demands m ust absolutely be met. Rooms for liv
ing, eating, sleeping, washing, and cooking are
necessary and should be organized and arranged
in the floor plan so that residential needs are
met using the least possible amount of space. It
is very im portant for the small apartm ent to
be m eticulously designed because although this
is the type with the fewest means at its dis
posal, it is the most common form of dwelling in
the metropolis.
The smallest apartment for a family with
children of both sexes must have at least one liv
ing room, which is also used for meals, three
bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bathroom equipped
with a toilet. With an area of seventy square
m etersan area that corresponds to a normal
three-room apartment in Berlinthis spatial
requirem ent can be met if functions are strictly
separated. The most im portant requirement is
that this area be organized according to purpose.
The disorganization of the typical small apart
ment forces inhabitants to use every room for
sleeping so that no real living or dining space
remains. Meals must then be taken in the kitchen,
which is plagued by smoke and fumes from cook
ing. If one organizes this area according to
143
purpose and lim its the size o f the room s to a nec

essary m inim um , then a type o f dwelling can be
found that meets the minim um requirem ents o f a
family o f five to six people.
T he dim ensions o f a room can be reduced
only to a certain degree. But dim ensions are
defined by purpose, the num ber o f people who
are to use a room , and the type o f furniture
required. F u rn itu re in particular, which is closely
adapted to hum an dim ensions, will be a decisive
influence on the dim ensions o f room s. T he size
and placem ent o f furnishings m ust be m ost care
fully considered. A dditionally, at least one room
should be slightly larger than the others because
todays econom ic situ atio n lim its the space allot
ted to a sm all dwelling and living in narrow
room s becom es oppressive and cram ped, while
the co n trast betw een sm aller and larger room s
has an enlivening effect. In a sm all dw elling the
living and dining room , as a dual-purpose space,
m ust have the largest dim ensions, while the
rem aining room s can have the sm allest possible
dim ensions. N o po rtio n o f a room , even the
sm allest, can go unused. Even a very sm all room
can be com fortably furnished and m eet the
requirem ents o f developed living standards if it
is system atically organized. A b etter m odel than
B erlins uneconom ical apartm ents is the furnish
ing o f a sh ip s cabin, w hich contains all necessities
in the sm allest am ount o f space. O r consider the
efficiency o f the kitchen and furnishings in a
dining car, w here in the m ost com pact space, a
The
dim en
sions of
room s
144
Built-in
furnish
ings
great num ber of people work; this conveys the

incredible efficiency of which an apartment is
capable. Furtherm ore, living rooms in the rest of
the world are much smaller than those we are
used to in Germany.
In order for the dwelling to achieve such
efficiency, all cabinets and closets for clothes,
linens, luggage, dishes, etc., as well as all of the
kitchens furnishings must be built-in. When
even the smallest surface area matters, then
things can no longer be left to chance as was cus
tomary until now. For the cost of the space that
furniture requires, one can comfortably build
everything necessary in, so that in the future
beds, chairs, and tables will be the only movable
furniture to be dealt with.
The simplification and adaptation of inte
rior furnishings to their proper uses and the
elimination of everything unnecessary will sim
plify and ease domestic labor. First of all, in every
house heating stoves should be replaced by a cen
tral heating system connected to a water heater.
This will not only save a great amount of work,
which is especially crucial in a small, narrow
household, but will also be less expensive, since
less fuel will be needed. Furthermore, the unclean
fumes caused by stove heating will be eliminated.
The best apartm ent is without a doubt one
that contains all that is necessary, fulfills all
needs, and at the same time requires the least
am ount o f labor. The comfort of living depends
less on the size than on the functionality of the
145
room s in an apartm ent. T he tenem ent can and

must be designed in such a way, as it is unfortu
nately no t today, so as to becom e a perfect
organism com bining the greatest com fort with
the sm allest expenditure o f energy. Once it has
freed itse lf from the false m odel o f the individ
ual house, it will becom e increasingly akin to a
hotel ou tfitte d w ith all m odern conveniences,
which em bodies the m ost com fortable and freest
way o f living in to d a y s w orld.
A fundam ental change in the equipm ent
and furn ish in g o f a dw elling will be introduced
w ith this econom ization. T he o rn am en tal com
p lexity o f furnishings custom arily found in an
ap a rtm en t, especially in the prew ar years, no
longer co rresp o n d s to ou r way o f life. T hese
stucco ceilings, richly carved furniture, and
costly w all paneling are in d icato rs o f poverty,
n o t w ealth. They co rresp o n d to the stuccokitsch o f facades and fulfill sim ilar functions:
they serve to conceal unsolved spatial problem s.
T he design o f th e room can only proceed using
the com ponents o f th e room . W alls, floors, ceil
ings, doors, and w indow s are its m ost essential
elem ents w hose unresolved ch a ra cte r one tries
to conceal w ith p reten tio u s luxury furniture
and d ecorative w orks o f art. T he room and fur
n itu re are to be d efined by th e ir functions as
b asic com m odities. T h e ir system atic co n stru c
tio n and design will lead to th a t sim plification
w hich d istin g u ish es every strictly and objec
tively executed object.
F u rn ish
ings
146
The room and furnishings must be designed

with an architectonic sensibility. Spatial rela
tionships, illumination, and color determine a
room s formal character and must produce its
unity. The room is to be as neutral as possible,
even in its coloration, because it is not a means
unto itself but a means to meet very specific
demands. It is only good when it completely ful
fills those demands.
Fixed and
By installing all cabinets and closets, furni
movable ture will be practically reduced to beds, chairs,
furniture
and tables. By eliminating decorative furniture,
which piles up in our present dwellings as if they
were junk shops, space will suddenly be created
in the smallest rooms, so that, in spite of its
diminished size, the new apartm ent will have
much more usable space than a larger standard
apartm ent, which is however stuffed like a furni
ture storehouse.
Thus one will have to devote full attention
to these few remaining types of furniture. Their
small num ber will make them meaningful once
more, and their full value and purpose will again
be acknowledged. After all, furnishings should
not be useless decorations but perfect, func
tional objects.
But functional organization is not enough
to reduce the cost of residential construction.
The uneconomical waste of space corresponds
to uneconomical working m ethods and the
uneconomical use of materials. In the future
great attention will have to be devoted to both
RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
147
because m aterial costs and wages determ ine

construction costs. M artin W agner has deter Reducing
m ined th at by reducing the tasks carried out on construc
the building site to a m inim um and by thoroughly tion costs
planning the w orking process, that is, by the
im proved organization o f w ork, building costs
can be reduced by 50 p ercen t.22 I f one also calcu
lates the reduction o f costs offered by the
industrial production o f individual building ele
m ents, then it is in no way a utopian assum ption
th at in the future building costs will am ount to
but a fraction o f cu rren t and past am ounts.
New
A lthough the problem o f new materials is
being investigated everywhere, we still do not have m aterials
these new m aterials. We need an independent
research institute to conduct the necessary experi
m ents and analyze the results. This new material
should by no m eans be a sub-standard substitute
m aterial. On the contrary: it m ust be superior to
current building m aterials. It m ust perform its
tasks with greater perfection. C onstruction itself
will have to be given new foundations. As in the
construction o f com m ercial buildings, in housing
construction one will also have to separate loadbearing elem ents from those that merely enclose,
that is the supported elements, as Auguste Perret
attem pted decades ago in his apartm ent house on
the Rue Franklin in Paris. The problem o f the
22 M artin W agner, Probleme der Baukostenverbilligung:
Ein Beitrag zur Verbilligung des Wohnungsbaues (Berlin:
Verband S ozialer B aubetriebe, 1924).
148
Fig. 50
load-bearing frame has been immaculately solved

in iron and reinforced concrete in Ludwig Mies
van der Rohes exemplary and systematic applicaof this system of construction to the
jitial building.
; material problem of the wall needs to
^<prding to these structural premises.
|is at least recognized today. It is
tfis requires a light material so as to
s^ irden the load-bearing structure.
attention has been paid to the
l ing properties of walls because
j thickness of brick walls, which is
m is structurally required, offers
Sbtion. Todays conditions forbid
ient waste of materials. Therefore
J to search for materials that are
factor of heat conduction, allow
^production, and further simplify
no longer requiring a coat of
aterials that are weather resislightness, reduce
lation.
sntirety of intecarpentry.
, which are
mly based
>, doors,
led
149
that allow for com plete industrialization. Per

haps windows, doors, closets, and cabinets will
be m olded out of m etal or out of another m ate
rial that can be m olded in a sim ilar fashion.
The industrialization o f construction
requires th a t all building elem ents be strictly
typified and all details standardized. The resi
dential building, especially one that houses a
great num ber o f inhabitants, requires a design
oriented not tow ard the individual but tow ard
the collective. D ue to its production methods,
the entire construction industry is calling for
typification. In contrast to the unique product
delivered by handw ork, industry produces seri
ally and is therefore
oriented tow ard
standardization and the benefits this process
provides. As in the autom obile industry, indus
trial housing construction will achieve ever
refined form s and m ore perfect designs
result of standardization and its
Even the developm ent of
details by architects requires
unnecessary w ork th at is of
co nstruction, w hich is the
field also requires a
th at applies no t only to
entire organism o f a
Type and
norm
150
their apparent exhaustion, become something

completely new in the hands of a creative person.
W hether one wills it or not, todays condi
tions demand that the entire field of construction
be thoroughly industrialized. Also, the number
o f young professionals in specialized building
trades is insufficient. This is apparent even now
when very little is being built and it will be even
m ore so when construction once again proceeds
at a norm al pace. Then the conditions them
selves will inspire new methods, preparing the
way for the industrialization of residential con
struction. Then houses will no longer be built,
but put together from ready-to-assemble compo
nents and made suitable for habitation in the
shortest time.
The Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright
Funda
mental
is among the first to have attem pted to funda
solutions
mentally solve the tenem ent problem. His
designs for the Lexington Terraces, which are
Fig. 20
based on the Francisco Terraces built in 1894 in
Chicago, seek to solve the problem of the rental
apartm ent through centralization. Three-, four-,
The
American and five-room apartm ents are brought together
tenement
in the form of a unified block that is composed
of internal and external groups of apartments.
The internal group of apartments is separated
from the external group by a narrow courtyard.
The streetside group has three stories, while the
courtyard group has two. Every apartment has
two entrances, one from the street and another
from the courtyard for service, which is provided
151
Fig. 20 Frank L loyd Wright, Lexington Terrace Apartments,

1901; birds-eye view
by building staff. The narrow courtyard onto

which the bedrooms look must be considered a
deficiency, yet it is determined by the peculiarity
of American conditions.
Wrights smaller apartment buildings are
distinguished by courtyards that open onto the
Fig. 21 J. J. P. Oud, Tusschendijken Apartments, Rotterdam,

1920-21
152
street, a typical feature of American apartment

buildings that improves ventilation. W rights
apartm ents are oriented toward extreme econ
omy. Rooms are differentiated according to
functions. All cabinets and closets are built-in to
save space. The complete renunciation of stylis
tic imitation, which has had disastrous effefl
Europe and America, has here produced, J
the task of building itself, exemplary work<^j
ain perfection.
Bmtafaman J. J
in attempting to design a block of a|>ar|ij>
an integral unity. His apartment blocks nrclbtterdam contain small dwellings and a systematically
executed economization of living area. The floor
plan is organized so as to allow variation in the
size of apartments. A dwelling is composed of a
living room, a kitchen, and, according to need,
two to five bedrooms. The construction of these
blocks is distinguished by architectural purity
and unambiguitythrough precision and clarity.
Neither arbitrary interruption nor unmotivated
arrangement is present. Only the windows,
arranged on each floor-level and in the stairway as
perfectly cut-out recesses, affect the undisturbed
cubic mass of the block. This economical and
functional use of space and distribution, which
express securely defined living habits, stands in
contrast to the arbitrariness of German spatial
order and application, which necessarily leads to
wasted space and fails to make dwellings more
comfortable or livable. The scarcity of funds and
1
153
the general decline in prosperity of the postwar

years have, however, led to extensive efforts at
economy, which have greatly reduced the am ount
o f living space allotted to a single person, indeed
making it seem insufficient.
F or exam ple, the city o f V ienna has prehX-Jq^Ml
T -t ei iM
H >vmtieters for
scribed an a r &
h iri ty
g h tKsqu
a small apartm ent, w hich is far too 1 ttle for a
nner was
large family. Neverthelesi
b u tio n o f
this small area using extre
living space to a m in im u i
com pression led to m e:
ing room area from ea
becom e far too sm all, t:
in h abitant w ould have t<
only the t
ing and pr<
reserved for him and him ;
neijt, which
vine the inh;
it. Twao tljii
as space
ding^has >
154
shown that the floor plan of a standard six-bedroom apartm ent can be divided into three
apartm ents of two bedrooms each, of which
only one would be equipped with a small kitch
enette while the second would have a sleeping
alcove and at least a small section of living space;
the final apartm ent has only a space for sleeping.
But, in exchange, the inhabitants have numerous
communal rooms at their disposala central
kitchen, dining room, recreation room, a parlor,
music room, and reading room and as a result,
life would be conducted as if in a hotel.
Yet these attempts to conserve living space
Excessive
spatial
have gone too far. They are only valid as tempo
demands
rary emergency measures. The means to a true
economization is to be found not in the shrinking
of rooms, which makes both the apartment and
the inhabitant suffer, but primarily in a reasonable
economy of finance and real estate and in
155
OETAIL-GRUNORlSS Einr WOHNUNG wj * BETTEN.
Fig. 23 Ludwig Hilberseimer,

1923; flo o r plan
Four-bedroom
apartment,
a systematically executed process of typification, which would enable the industrialization of

residential construction. Only here can true sav
ings be made and a great reduction of total costs
achieved without detriment to the apartment as
such. For it is precisely the metropolitan small
apartment which requires, in the interest of social
health, the most perfect design and especially the
separation of rooms according to function.
Guided by these demands, Ludwig Hilber
seimer has attempted to design a small dwelling
and to create a typology of rooms for a tenement.
His plan variations for three, four, five, six, and
seven inhabitants are each based on identical
spatial elements and satisfy the corresponding
spatial requirements. The fundamental elements
F loorplan
variations
Figs.
23-24
158
are entryway, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom,

sleeping alcove, and balcony, which appear in the
same dimensions in all apartments. Only the
largest room, the living and dining room,
changes its size according to the number of
inhabitants. The m ost efficient use of space is
achieved through built-in cabinets, closets, and
kitchen furnishings. All rooms, even the sleep
ing alcove and the entryway, have their own
source of natural light and allow cross ventila
tion. The two-story buildings at the northern
1H i T 5
nil-
mSilife
1
1
llm3
Fig. 26 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Residential City, 1923; perspective
Fig. 27 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Residential City, 1923; view

o f street
159
and so uthern ends o f the block th a t contain

stores lend the o therw ise unform ed mass a cubic
form. They provide an anim ated contrast to the
residential wings, open the block structure, and
reveal its three-dim ensional character. The
arrangem ent o f the block front is augm ented by
the slightly p ro tru d in g stairw ells as well as the
balconies, w hich are deeply recessed, and this
feature, in conjunction w ith the stairw ells ju t
ting out, creates ta u t three-dim ensional accents.
In the co rresponding schem atic plan o f a residential city these elem ents are used to organize
an entire city (satellite city) o f circa 125,000
inhabitants, com posed o f large, open, and ventilated blocks. T he n o rth -so u th streets are
resid ential streets, w hile the few east-w est
streets are in ten d ed for com m erce and traffic.
The two tra in statio n s th a t connect to the city
center are located so th a t they may be rapidly
reached from any po in t in the residential
settlem ent w ith o u t requiring any o ther m eans
o f tra n sp o rtatio n .
In co n trast to these attem pts to organize
the room s o f an ap artm en t according to their
respective p urposes and to perm anently define
the d istrib u tio n o f functions, there is also the
possibility o f allow ing the ten an t to divide the
available space according to his own needs. This
is m ade possible by introducing m ovable p arti
tion walls, or rath er wall com ponents, which can
easily be fastened to the ceiling and floor and
which, as a resu lt o f th e ir m aneuverability, will
Sche-
matic
riskien3
tiai cjty
rigs.
25-27
Flexible
layout of
160
Figs.
28-29
allow rooms to be divided up in any way at any

time without issue.
Mies van der Rohe realized these ideas for
the first time in the apartm ent house he built for
the Stuttgart Werkbund exhibition.23 The floor
plan of this apartm ent building is based on a sys-
Fig. 28 Mies van der Rohe, Apartment building, Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, 1927
Fig. 29 Mies van der Rohe, Apartment building, Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, 1927; floor plan variations: left, enclosed
rooms; right, open rooms
23 [Hilberseimer refers to the building exhibition Die
Wohnung (The Dwelling) at the Weissenhofsiedlung in
Stuttgart in 1927.]
161
Fig. 30 A d o lf Loos, Terraced apartment building, 1924
tem of pillars and party walls between the

individual apartments. The walls surrounding
the kitchen, bathroom, and stairwell are the only
fixed walls. All other subdivisions are made
according to the wishes of the tenant through
movable wall components. With six to nine such
wall components every spatial variation is pos
sible, as the floor plans demonstrate, without
thereby exhausting the variety of possibilities.
Tenements that provide each apartment
with direct access to the street, in spite of the
high number of individual dwellings, represent a
special type. The gallery structure of Michiel
Brinkman in Rotterdam includes 262 living units
that are arranged in a four-story block in such a
way that each individual apartment has its own
entry. The apartments of the ground floor and
the first floor have direct access to the street. The
Direct
street
entry
162
Fig. 31 Heinrich de Fries, Apartment building with split-level

apartments, 1919; section and plan
upper apartm ents are reached by a second-story

gallery. These upper apartm ents are of two sto
ries. A living room and a kitchen occupy their
lower quarters, while the upper story contains
three bedrooms.
Two-story
The Stepney House in London by Harry
apart
Barnes and W. R. Davidge is an arrangement of
ments in
enclosed two-story apartments (maisonettes)
England
within one large block. Its ten floors contain five
vertically stacked two-story living units, which are
each accessible from a gallery running the entirety
of each floor. Each apartment has a hallway with a
stair leading up, a living room, a kitchen, and a
balcony in the lower portion. The upper story has
three bedrooms and a bathroom. The very func
tional distribution of minimal space shows that
163
even in mass housing the best elements of English

residential culture can be maintained.
H einrich de Fries has further developed this Two-story
idea of the tw o-story apartm ent.24 By differentiapartating between the heights o f the floors, he exploits ents ,n
space effectively and achieves strong spatial conermany
trasts. H is fundam ental theory is as follows: a
Flg 31
cubic, relatively tall apartm ent structure is verti
cally cut into two parts widthwise. The wider
front section takes up the entire height and con
tains the living room , or rather, the kitchen,
which includes dining and living facilities. The
shallower rear portion is divided into two halfstories containing bedroom s and other rooms.
The upper p ortion o f the living room has a gal
lery connecting it to the buildings m ain stairwells,
which, as a result o f this design, are only required
at g reat intervals, m eaning th at m any apartm ents
can be accessed by one or two staircases. E nter
ing the apartm ent from the naturally lighted and
w ell-ventilated corridor, one steps onto the inte
rior gallery, passing two doors to the upper
bedroom s and then using a small stairway to
reach the large living room . T he living room is
equipped w ith an alcove for the stove, a window
seat, and a balcony. F rom this level one enters the
room s of the low er half-story: the third bedroom ,
a room for w ashing dishes and laundry, and the
24 [See H einrich de F ries, Wohnstadte der Zukunft: Neugestaltung der Kleinwohnungen im Hochbau der Grofistadt
(Berlin: V e rlag d er B auw elt, 1919).]
164
bathroom. The disadvantage of this distribution

is that the cooking facilities are in the living
space. It is a shame that the large living room
must also serve as a kitchen. If the room for
washing dishes were enlarged slightly, cooking
could take place there too. De Fries did actually
incorporate this idea into a later proposal.
Two-story
Le Corbusier proposes a similar distribu
apart
tion, which, like de Friess system of full and
ments in
half-stories, is also based on the differentiation
France
of ceiling heights. But in contrast to de Fries,
who reacted to the demands posed by a small
apartm ent, Le Corbusiers designs are based on
more extensive requirements. Le Corbusier
attem pts to give the tenement some of the advan
tages of the hotel and at least a few of the merits
of the villa. Each apartm ent is to have the advan
tages of a communal dwelling: common domestic
servants, common social rooms, and a central
kitchen, all of which provide the same freedom
as a good hotel; that is, generally applying the
hotel system of maintenance, meal services, and
management to the private dwelling.
His design for a building is composed of
Figs.
32-33
two residential wings that are connected by two
transverse structures containing rooms for com
munal purposes. In total, the block houses 120
private apartm ents stacked in five layers. The
floor plan organizes rooms according to need
and purpose. Each apartm ent has two stories;
the living room takes up the entire two-story
space, the single-story spaces contain the
165
Fig. 32 L e Corbusier, Immeubles-VUIas, 1922; perspective
kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and bedrooms.

Each apartment also has a large balcony extend
ing to both stories, which is to be used as a private
garden. The deep recesses of the large balconies
166
Ludwig Hilberseimer, Boardinghouse, 1926; perspective
TT
Fig. 35 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Boardinghouse, 1926; floor plans
167
create the strong three-dim ensional character of

the building, lending this apartm ent house its
unique form.
H igh-rises will also becom e a possibility for
The
the new way o f life. In A m erica buildings of ten apartm ent
house
to fifteen stories already exist, the so-called
apartm ent houses. They com bine every im agin
able service and supply every com fort in the
smallest am ount o f space. A m erican apartm ent
houses are furnished practically and are occu
pied especially by single people and couples
w ithout children w here both m em bers o f the
couple are em ployed. In general they com prise a
living room th a t is equipped w ith a bed that folds
away into a ventilated storage space, making it
possible to use the space as a bedroom at night, a
dressing room , a bathroom , and a small dining
room w ith an attached cooking alcove. This cook
ing alcove is a furnished meticulously. It has a gas
stove w ith an oven and a range, counter space for
washing dishes, an icebox, a garbage chute, and
all o f the labor-saving dom estic appliances.
A n exam ple o f such an apartm ent house is
the S urf A partm ent H otel in Chicago. It has
nineteen separate very com fortable apartm ents
on each o f its nine floors. T he ground floor con
tains the com m on social room s. Service is
Figs.
conducted as in a hotel by building staff. In con
34-35
tra st to these ap artm en t houses, which are
The
designed for long-term occupancy and w hich are
probably the future m etropolitan way o f life, are A m erican
hotel
the actual hotels. A m erica has also developed
168
exemplary models of the hotel in terms of over

all organization as well as in the design of
individual rooms.
The tasks to be fulfilled by such a hotel are
far more numerous and encompassing than any
European variant. Its grand foyer is a sort of
public leisure space, which is also used by visi
tors who are not guests at the hotel. Hundreds do
business, read newspapers, use rooms for dicta
tion and writing, and take advantage of
telephones, telegraphs, inform ation desks, bar
bershops, shoe cleaners, and cafes found here.
Single rooms and entire suites can also be used
for exhibitions. Traveling doctors and other pri
vately employed individuals schedule their
visiting hours to be held in hotels for weeks at a
time and use certain hotel employees as if they
were their private secretaries and personal staff.
The lower portions of the building serve
these various functions while the upper portions
contain guest rooms. Guest rooms are all quite
similar in their dimensions and furnishings. They
consist of a bedroom, a bathroom with a toilet,
and a dressing room. The number of guests in
large hotels can reach the thousands. The Palmer
House hotel in Chicago by Holabird & Roche can
hold 4,000 guests in nineteen stories, while the
five lower stories of the twenty-four-story build
ing serve other purposes.25
25 [Hilberseimer drew on Richard N eutras detailed
descriDtion of the Palmer House; see Richard Neutra,
169
The conditions o f the m etropolis have T he small

house
given rise to the sm all urban house as well as the
tenem ent. T he urban h ouses small scale seldom
perm its its construction as a freestanding build
ing. F or econom ic reasons, they are often built in
pairs, groups, or in rows as local site conditions
and the need for garden space perm it. This form
first appeared in English and A m erican settle
m ents intended for w orkers and civil servants in
large industrial centers. Since they usually are
the p roducts o f an individual or o f a private,
defined group, they always display a certain
com pleteness and uniform ity th at is usually
absent in tenem ents.
The first projects o f this sort were, like m ost
m etropolitan undertakings, unsystematically exe
cuted. As in tenem ent blocks the crucial factor
was always the pressing daily need, that is, the
creation o f the greatest num ber o f buildings. In
this way bare, long, dingy rows o f houses emerged
as can be seen in London and in G erm an and Bel
T he
gian industrial centers. Ebenezer Howard sought
to im prove this situation through the G arden City English
garden
movement.
city
With the smallest amount o f money possible for
obtaining plots o f land and erecting houses, a
great number o f reasonably sized apartments are
to be created on a defined area, which must neverWie baut Amerika?, D ie B aubiicher, Bd. 1 (S tuttgart: J.
H offm ann, 1927), 24-43.]
170
theless remain undeveloped to such an extent that

it can still meet all requirements o f modern
hygiene for air and light, enable a certain joy o f
life and leisure, andprovide individualprivate gar
dens andaparcel o f arable land to all inhabitants.26
Port Sunlight near Liverpool provided a model.
A certain perfection was achieved at Letchworth
and Ham pstead. Architects such as Lutyens,
Parker, Unwin, and Scott have played a great
role in the design of garden cities.
English projects maintain a certain strict
ness of architectural design in spite of their
adaptation to site conditions, while German set
tlements are more picturesque but lack an
architectural design. More exemplary in the latter
respect are the projects by Danish, Belgian, and
especially Dutch architects, which are based on a
more fundamental understanding of the problem
of the garden city than are the German projects.
Together with Heinrich de Fries, Peter Beh
rens made an im portant contribution to the
problem of the settlement in a work titled Vom
sparsamen Bauen (On Economical Building), in
which they attem pted to fundamentally solve the
issue.27 It is clear that any such attem pt must
26 [Citation from an unidentified source. Howards book
To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Reform (1898), which
inspired the English G arden City movement, was trans
lated into German in 1907; see Gartenstadte in Sicht, trans.
Maria Wallroth-Unterlip (Jena: Diederichs, 1907).]
27 Peter Behrens and Heinrich de Fries, Vom sparsamen
171
Fig. 36 Heinrich de Fries and Peter Behrens, Clustered row

houses, 1918; floor plans
focus first on the question of economics. The

factor that increases the cost of small house con
struction, excluding labor costs and land prices,
is the cost of installing streets, sewers, and other
utility lines, which is more expensive due to the
yard space required for a single home. To econo
mize the latter costs, de Fries and Behrens
propose constructing houses in groups. Six or
seven houses, according to the size of the hous
ing types, are to be grouped in pairs, one behind
another, so that the street frontage will only be
used by four or five buildings. Using this layout
in the development of an eleven-hectare area
allows the construction of thirty-eight more
houses on the same amount of developed area
Bauen: Ein Beitragzur Siedlungsfrage (Berlin: Bauwelt, 1918).
Building
in groups
not
in rows
Fig. 36
172
than would have been possible using simple

row housing. F urtherm ore, this method also
requires significantly less street frontage due to
the relatively narrow space required for each
house, thus resulting in a great reduction in the
costs of utilities installation and other related
ancillary costs. The architectural advantages of
this m ethod are also superior to those of simple
row housing.
Common row houses have an amorphous,
completely flat character, which architects have
tried to counter with borrowed, purely decora
Plastic
tive motifs such as oriels and gables. By gathering
organiza individual houses into groups, a three-dim en
tion
sional arrangem ent of masses emerges as a result
of the projection and recession of the houses
themselves; that is, a powerfully accentuated
corporeality becomes possible. Thus, by system
atically fulfilling economic requirements, not
only is money saved, but also the product of such
systematically executed typification is a form
that, as the embodim ent of an organism, allows
borrowed decorative motifs to be eliminated.
Until now settlements have been designed
primarily with linear perspectives in mind. Rows
of houses form narrow strips of buildings along
the street, emphasizing its linear quality. In order
to create contrasts, squares were added and
streets were widened. These were often the result
of a misguided reliance on urban forms of the
medieval period; like oriels and gables, these
designs were also used as decorative motifs
173
intended to break up the m onotony o f the street

and to lend corporeality to the linear, tw o-dim en
sional street form. In contrast, the m ethod of
building houses in groups also leads to an altered
concept o f the effects o f streets and space. Space
no longer translates into w idening roads and
sidewalks; rather, space signifies the open room
between structures regardless o f w hether it is
also being used as a place o f traffic. O ur old con
cepts o f the street and space m ust thus be
definitively reevaluated. By moving a portion of
a housing g ro u p s allotted garden space to the
front yard o f the buildings, a spaciousness
between individual housing groups is achieved,
which puts an end to the uncom fortable close
ness o f m ulti-fam ily housing arrangem ents and
offers the advantage o f m aking the area of the
entire developm ent available for useful purposes.
Jan Wils produced an excellent example of
the relaxed block front in his D aal en Berg settle
ment through the skillful m anner in which he
interlocked the individual houses. By employing
projections and recessions across the entire build
ing mass he creates an extrem ely anim ated cubic
design and produces a strong contrasting effect.
V ictor B ourgeois successfully relaxed the
building stru ctu re in a different way. In order of
avoid the n o rth -so u th o rientation o f houses in
an east-w est stree t o f the C ite M oderne in Brus
sels, he sets them on an axis o f forty-five degrees
to th at o f the street, thereby creating a serrated
developm ent w hich receives sunlight from the
A change
in the
concept
of space
Relaxing
the block
structure
Figs.
37-38
Sunlight
in an
east-west
street
Fig. 39
174
m e t r o p o l is a r c h it e c t u r e
-..... ) l' - '
Fig. 38 Jan
1919-22
Wils.
----
Papaverhof. en Berg.
The Hague.
175
northern east-west and the southern east-west

sides; at the same time, this design eliminates the
rigid form of the street.
Ludwig Hilberseimer has also applied his
typification and functional separation of rooms
to designs for row housing and the small house.
The floor plan is organized so that smaller rooms
are arranged in the shape of an L and occupy
one story, wrapping around the open two-story
living room. The main floor contains the office,
dining room, kitchen, and entryway. On the upper
floor, which has a terrace above the living room,
Fig. 39 Victor Bourgeois, Cite Moderne, Brussels. 1922-25;

floor plans
Typifica
tion of
spaces
Figs.
40-41
176
Fig. 40 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Row houses, 1924; perspective
Fig. 41 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Row houses, 1924; floor plans
are the bedroom, three sleeping alcoves, and the

bathroom. The flexibility of vertical develop
ment allowed by the single-family house enables
the differentiation of spaces according to height.
The living room has not only the largest area, but
also the greatest height. The alternating of
Fig. 42 J. J. P. Oud, Hoek van Holland workers' housing, 1924
177
one- and tw o-story spaces produces a decisively

three-dim ensional construction, which is em pha
sized when arranged in rows.
In H oek van H olland, J. J. R O ud built a
Fig. 42
group o f row houses particularly distinguished
by its rem arkable floor plan. This floor plan rep
resents the perfect solution for the tenem ent. By
exchanging narrow and broad room com ponents, Changing
the apartm ent size can be altered in any way. apartm ent
sizes
A partm ents are m ade up o f one large living
room, a kitchen, and, depending on their size,
one to three bedroom s. A t the corners of the
blocks and in the courtyard-like recessions of
the buildings are shops, w hose special design
lends a lively co n trast o f space and m aterials to
the sim ple form o f the block.
Le C orbusier has m ade many attem pts at
perfecting the form o f the sm all house. H is m ost
rem arkable is the M aison C itro h an , which in
spite o f its sm all area provides a very com fort
able dwelling. T he m ain living room has a double
ceiling height; the dining room , kitchen, and the
bedroom s, etc., are vertically stacked in three
Spatial
stories. T hus a strict differentiation o f spaces
emerges, no t only in the room s them selves, but differen
tiation
also in th e ir organization. Le C orbusier has
devoted special atten tio n to the problem o f the
typification and serial production o f the small
Fig. 43
house. In the Pessac settlem ent near Bordeaux
he had the o p p o rtu n ity to realize his proposals
for th e sm all house. T his settlem ent is com posed
o f single, double, triple, and row houses with
178
Fig. 43 L e C orbusier, M o d e rn F ruges Quarter, Pessac, 1 9 2 4 26 ; g eneral a xo n o m etric view
179
small apartments. All of the buildings use the

flat roof as a garden. Stairs are located on the
exteriors of the single and double houses. The
relatively narrow apartments, which extend back
rather deeply, contain a kitchen, living room, a
small and a large bedroom, and a bathroom. At
the ground level, space is often left mostly open
and undeveloped. This feature and the long
strips of windows cause the houses to assume an
ethereal quality, producing a light, almost float
ing effect. All of the houses are constructed with
reinforced concrete and completed using serially
produced building elements.
The Pessac settlement by Le Corbusier,
the Torten settlement near Dessau by Walter
Fig. 44 Walter Gropius, Torten Settlement, Dessau, 1926-28;

general axonometric view
180
An
attempt
to indus
trialize
construc
tion
Fig. 44
Gropius, and Praunheim near Frankfurt am

Main by Ernst May are the first general attempts
to industrialize construction.
In order to avoid the danger of uniformity,
which can be seen in English suburban housing,
W alter Gropius has attem pted to typify individ
ual building elements, not entire buildings.
Various house forms can then be developed from
these elements. Gropius believes that repressing
individualism is wrong and shortsighted. His
Fig. 45 Walter Gropius, "Life-size building blocks," 1923;

building components
181
life-size building blocks can be put together

into various types o f houses, accom m odating
even the sm allest details o f building plans and
any num ber o f inhabitants and their various
needs. Individual houses can thus be adapted to
every need and allow infinite variations, while
the construction itself, in spite o f being made
out o f serialized elem ents, allow s a rich diversity
of appearance.
By investigating functions th a t until now
have b een asso cia ted w ith the w indow illum i
n ation, v en tila tio n , and views H ugo H aring
has achieved a fu n ctio n al sep aratio n o f these
three purposes. A room is b est illum inated by
a skylight, w hile cross v en tila tio n , occurring
directly below the ceiling, is the m ost efficient
v en tilation technique. Views are b est provided
through clear sin g le-sh eet sliding panes of
glass; th a t is panes w ith o u t grilles, as in a P ull
man rail car. W hen illu m in atio n com es from a
skylight and w hen only a few w indow s are
req u ired for looking ou tsid e, the design o f the
floor plan o b ta in s a g reat flexibility. However,
illu m ination by m eans o f a skylight requires
th at a b u ilding be only one story, bu t this does
allow expansion on th re e sides, p erm ittin g a
com pact form o f developm ent. T his is a signif
icant resu lt th a t en su res sm all and individual
houses an existence in th e im m ediate vicinity
o f a m etropolis. O ne w ill perhaps raise the
o b jection th a t th e only room s w ith a view are
the living room s, a p reju d ice th a t is based
Building
blocks
Fig. 45
Light
from
above for
living
room s
182
Fig. 46 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Single-family house, Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, 1927; general view
The
country
house
purely on ignorance. On the contrary, bed

room s require no view, and secondary rooms
m ost definitely do not; rather they need venti
lation and light, both of which will be provided
to a g reater degree than before.
Villas and country houses have always
displayed more architectural value than the
tenem ent, yet here even greater absurdities led
to disasters in design. The villa and the country
house are m ore or less luxury buildings. Their
respective characters are influenced by individ
ual desires, and thus they are not to be developed
as types, but rather given a distinctly subjective
183
Fig. 47 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Single-family house, Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, 1927; floor plans
character. The old private house has served as

the model for the villa and the country house,
and the traditional mode of building has pro
duced valuable examples everywhere. This is
true above all in the northern countries, espe
cially England, where a distinct bourgeois
residential culture has been developed, which
is clearly demonstrated by the design of the
floor plan. In the buildings of Lutyens, Scott,
English
residen
tial
culture
184
Unwin, and Wood a valuable building trad^f

is still alive. These architects have also exen
a great influence on Germany, particul^
through their interm ediary H erm ann Muth
g, who attem pted to realize sim ilar projeg
SV^gfflost o f th e s e b u ild in g s
irate a
dispassionate character of schematic abstraction i
and rigidity, and they rarely display a trace of con- '
temporary vibrancy. The impression and influence
of traditional models have been so great that only |
a few architects have dared to take the leap into the
present and to tackle the problem at its roots. The
contemporary country house distinguishes itself
L- from that of the past through an entirely new
mode of use. While in the past it was essentially
determined by its opulent character, today it is
more oriented toward functionality and providing
comfort to its inhabitants. Thus it renounces in the
first place any imposing axial arrangements,
which place great restrictions on the spatial orga
nization of a small building, and attempts, rather,
to render the internal spatial organization legible
on the exterior of the building.
The country house is unsuited for an
arrangem ent in consecutive rows, in contrast to
the tenement, whose isolation, even when it is
28 [Hilberseimer refers to the English architects Edwin
Lutyens, M. H. Baille-Scott, Raymond Unwin, and Edgar
Wood. Hermann M uthesius popularized English domes
tic design in his influential work Das englische Haus (The
English House); see Hermann Muthesius, Das englische
Haus 3 vols. (Berlin: Ernst Wasmuth, 1904-05).]
185
is countered by the dynamics of the

C o u n try houses have an organic
ipnship to the surrounding garden;
gJtip to the street is only secondary,
g s e buildings are well suited to
ra ity ; their relationships and spatial
^ S t& L j/^ n o d ifie d by the unique^ p j K & l U ^ h a t t h e country
Figs.
48-49
186
Fig. 48 Frank Lloyd Wright, Martin House, Buffalo, 1905;

floor plan
Fig. 49 Frank Lloyd Wright, Martin House, Buffalo, 1905;

general view
Emphasis
on the
horizontal
organization of the structure. While American

architecture, like G erm an architecture, is gener
ally vertical, Wright emphasizes the horizontal.
He extends the flat roofs of his houses as well as
187
balconies and terraces, creating contiguous, hor

izontal divisions, and he uses the horizontal to
strengthen the vertical progression o f his
distinctly terrace-like houses. H e also incorpo
rates the environm ent o f his buildings into the
architectural design. T he surrounding footpaths
run parallel to the horizontals o f the structure.
The projections o f the roof, the terraces, and
other elem ents produce partially corporeal enti
ties that effectively transition the indifferent
quality o f the air space into the corporeal determinacy of the building, whose weight is however
simultaneously nullified optically. The influence
that Wright has exerted can hardly be measured.
Nearly all m odern European architects are under
his influence. In particular, H ollands vibrant archi
tecture is unthinkable w ithout W rights example.
By exploiting the constructive possibilities
o f reinforced concrete, M ies van der Rohe also
broke new ground in country house construc
tion. A ttem pts to use reinforced concrete as a
m aterial for residential construction have been
made many times, but for the m ost part they have
been m isguided. In general, architects simply
tried to create stone buildings out of concrete.
The advantages o f the m aterial were not re
cognized and its disadvantages not avoided.
The principal advantage o f reinforced concrete
construction is found in its m aterial economy,
which is made possible by strictly separating loadbearing from non-load-bearing elements. Mies
van der Rohe attem pted to solve the problem of
New
paths
Fig. 50
188
Fig. 50 Mies van der Rohe, Concrete country house, 1923
Fig. 51 Mies van der Rohe, Brick country house, 1924
190
the reinforced-concrete house in a design for a

country house. The main residential portion is
supported by a double-stem truss system. This
system is enclosed by a thin layer of reinforced
concrete forming both the walls and the ceiling.
Openings are cut in the walls where required for
lighting and views. The fact that the wall is freed
from its former load-bearing function allows
openings to be placed anywhere, creating stun
ning effects. The heavy corporeality of the
building mass is dissolved and a floating lightness
is achieved.
Games of
W hile Mies van der Rohe systematically
form
developed this effect from the mode of construc
tion itself, many have tried to outwardly imitate
these forms at great cost without, however,
grasping the constructive sense of the new pos
sibilities of form or the new organism. Mies van
der Rohes distance from such games of form is
Fig. 51
clearly shown in his brick country house. While
it is a great departure from standard models, it
also complies with its own constructive princi
ples and the materials used. It is a new formation,
created by a new spatial organism, not by a mis
use of materials.
Commercial Buildings
C entralization is one o f the principal require
ments o f circulation in the m etropolis. The need
to be able to m anage various business m atters
within a lim ited space gave rise to the principle
of the city center.29 T he new form o f centralized
business operations led to the em ergence o f new
building types: d ep artm en t stores, com m ercial
buildings, and office buildings. T hese building
types require w ell-lighted w orking and sales
spaces, the ability to change the size and form ats
of rooms, an unhindered flow o f traffic, and the
com plete exploitation o f the building site. The
organization o f these requirem ents produced a
new building type, in w hich the typically loadbearing w alls w ere reduced to pillars and the
building enclosed by walls was transform ed into
a skeletal structure. Two possibilities for archi
tectural design em erged: em phasizing the
vertical by turning the w alls betw een the pillars
into plate glass or em phasizing the horizontal by
installing contiguous bands, betw een which win
dows are stretched, to strongly dem arcate the
separate floors.
T he d ep a rtm en t store in particular, which is
the organizational form o f a new business con
cept, has developed b oth vertical and horizontal
29 [H ilberseim er uses the English w ord C ity in the origi
nal; see n ote 2, p. 89.]
A new
building
type
192
Fig. 52 Alfred Messel, Wertheim department store, Berlin,
C O M M E R C IA L B U IL D IN G S
1896-1912
193
194
V ertically
Fig. 52
types. Alfred M essels Wertheim department

store in Berlin consciously emphasizes the verti
cal quality of the pillar system. It is a unique mix
of daring construction and standard conven
tions: the new constructive principle is subtly
framed by historical reminiscences. Established
concepts of form are schematically applied and
ornam entally exaggerated in the corner arcade
building with its cathedral-like tapestry room.
All of this betrays a certain tentative lack of con
fidence. Messel sensed rather than acknowledged
the architectural consequences of the construc
tive principles he applied. This corner building,
with its tall, narrow windows, has produced
innumerable variations. See for example the
Tietz store buildings designed by Olbrich in
Diisseldorf or by Kreis in Cologne. Both still
employ steep ornam ental gables, required by
such an emphasis on the vertical, to break up the
crowning horizontal component; they overem
phasize disjointed and disconnected qualities
and signify a further vertical disintegration of
the building mass.
Peter Behrens applied this principle with
relative success to the small engine factory of
AEG in Berlin. This factory building is essen
tially modeled after the Wertheim building. After
everything superfluous was removed and the most
essential qualities emphasized, the same basic
rhythmic idea emerged: a simple arrangement in
rows. This was executed with clarity, strength,
and precision and the rows were architectonically
195
connected. These exem plary characteristics are

apparent despite the inorganic roof, required for
usage and to com ply w ith building ordinances,
and despite the frieze that connects the pillars and
the references to classicism.
Fig. 53 V. A . and A . A . Vesnin, M ostorg department store,

Moscow, 1925
196
Emphasizing horizontally offers more per

fect solutions. The easily attainable cubic
corporeality avoids the danger of dissolving the
cubic component into pure linearity, which is
what occurs when the vertical quality is overem
phasized. The horizontal articulation of floors
allows the expression of self-supporting, verti
cally stacked cubes. Such a design, which alludes
to the principle of weight, does not contain the
danger inherent in the systematic application of
the vertical component, which is that the form
itself will be disrupted. In addition, horizontal
organization corresponds to the vertical stack
French
ing of floors. This is why, despite their historical
depart
reminiscences, the Louvres, Printemps, and Bon
ment
Marche stores in Paris produce greater architec
stores
tonic effects than the vertically oriented German
American departm ent stores. The same is true of such
depart
American departm ent stores as Daniel Burn
ment
ham s building for Butler Brothers or George
stores
N im m onss for Sears, Roebuck & Co. in Chicago,
both of which are based on a principle of hori
zontal design but are nevertheless completely
rom antic in an architectural sense. In contrast,
Louis Sullivans Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co.
departm ent store in Chicago and Otto Wagners
Neum ann departm ent store in Vienna, in which
the horizontal stacking of stories is clearly
expressed architectonically, are executed with
greater consequence. Wagners departm ent store
has the special characteristic that in his building,
like the Tietz departm ent store in Berlin designed
Horizontality
COMM ERCIAL BUILDINGS
197
Bernhard Sehring, stories are defined by large

contiguous panes o f p late glass. These buildings
were the first to realize the new structural pos
sibilities offered by steel construction, which,
just like reinforced concrete, allows pillars on
the building front to be entirely elim inated by
using instead projected horizontal constructive
elements as load-bearing com ponents. Thus, in
place o f an exterior w all pierced by windows or a
front divided by pillars, there em erges a great
plate-glass surface subdivided horizontally by
metal strips. T he sam e constructive principle
was applied to a d ep artm en t store in M oscow
Fig. 53
designed by the architects V. A. and A. A. Vesnin.
In this instance as w ell the front, w ithout pillars,
is com posed o f plate glass set in m etal frames.
Yet in the end these enorm ous plate-glass M aterial
panes are nothing o th e r than a new m aterial ro rom anti
cism
manticism. Shelves for goods are placed directly
behind the panes o f glass, so th a t their true func
tion o f providing b e tte r illum ination for the
rooms inside is partially nullified.
In contrast, E rich M endelsohn has taken
account o f this fact in his Schocken departm ent
store in N urem berg by placing the bands of win
dows above the shelving units.
Office and com m ercial buildings have de The office
and com
veloped m ore slowly but w ith greater architec m ercial
tural logic, leading ultim ately to the high-rise. building
Thus M essels com m ercial buildings in Berlin
are in great p art based on the floor plans and con
struction o f R enaissance palaces. N evertheless
198
Messel has given windows and pillars equal

weight by reducing the size of the pillars. The
opposite is true of Ludwig H offm anns entirely
decorative governmental buildings, where win
dows are relatively small and offices receive
insufficient light due to H offm anns emphasis
on historical architectural forms.30
Despite the presence of historical forms, in
Richardsons and Sullivans buildings the win
dow becomes the m ost im portant element,
thereby allowing the need for light to greatly
influence the design o f the building.
Reorgani
The floor plan of the administrative build
zation of ing of the Mannesmann-Werke in Dusseldorf
the floor
designed by Peter Behrens is organized accord
plan
ing to the requirem ents of business operations.
Fig. 54
With this he achieves new possibilities for archi
tectural design, which are, however, nullified by
his classical orientation. In order to facilitate
universal functionality, he has avoided perm a
nently separating central working spaces. The
main walls of these workrooms are subdivided
by numerous identically shaped and narrowly
spaced pillars. Through easily removable,
30 [Ludwig Hoffmann was the Stadtbaurat (City Building
Councilor) for Berlin from 1896 to 1924. Hilberseimers
remark reflects the opinion, which was shared by a num
ber of progressive architects, that Hoffmann directed a
conservative building department during his tenure; pro
test against his influence led indirectly to the foundation
of the Ring of modern architects. See Dorte Dohl, Lud
wig Hoffmann: Bauen fiir Berlin 1896-1924 (Tubingen:
Ernst Wasmuth, 2004), 177-82.]
COMM ERCIAL BUILDINGS
199
Fig. 54 Peter Behrens. Office building o f the Mannesmannrohren-Werke, Diisseldorf 1910-12; floor plan
double-layer, so u n d p ro o f p artitions the size of

the room s can be altered at any tim e according to
need. Thus room s can range from the small twowindow room to enorm ous halls accom m odating
many w orkers and w ith as many windows as
desired. B uilt-in filing cabinets in the walls of
the corridors perfect this practical usage.
Frank Lloyd W right took into account the
business operations o f large organizations even
more system atically. H is adm inistrative building
for the Larkin C om pany in Buffalo is com prised
of one single light-flooded space. O pen w ork
spaces on each floor surro u n d the central light
court. N o p artitio n w alls hinder supervision and
com m unication. E verything is functionally
equipped. A unique form was logically devel
oped based on w hat was needed.
Open
work
spaces
200
The systematic design of the commercial

building utilizing the constructive potential of
steel and reinforced concrete has paved the way for
Skeleton entirely new architectural possibilities. As in the
construc department store, skeleton construction has over
tion
taken wall construction in the commercial building.
Ensuring maximal illumination has decisively
conditioned the form and purpose of the building,
thus creating a new building structure.
Beyond that, the tectonic character of con
Overcom
ing the
struction has changed in its essence. Steel and
old sys
reinforced-concrete constructions have sur
tem of
load and mounted the old load and support system. Both
enable the building mass to protrude beyond its
support
supporting pillars. Thus, recalling medieval
wooden construction, Hans Poelzig built his Bre
slau (Wroclaw) commercial building in such a way
that each story juts out beyond the one below it.
Erich Mendelsohn has devoted his atten
tion to the same problem, particularly in his
expansion o f the Mosse building in Berlin,
though he addresses the issue indirectly rather
than pointedly, and, to an extent, paraphrases it
symbolically. He strives to articulate his inde
pendence from load-bearing vertical elements
through the lateral and diagonal cantilevering of
individual stories.
Mies van der Rohe has recognized the
design possibilities of the new constructive the
ories with unique consistency; his design for an
office building represents their architectural
solution. A double-stem frame measuring eight
201
Fig. 55 Mies van der Rohe, Concrete office building, 1923
meters w ide w ith a peripheral cantilever o f four

The
meters was established as the m ost economical efficient
system of
construction system . This fram e carries the ceil
construc
ing panel, w hich at the end o f the cantilevered
tion
section form s an upw ard right angle and becomes
Fig. 55
the interior wall, serving as the back wall for the
shelving units, w hich have been rem oved from
the central space and placed on the peripheral
walls for the sake o f clarity. Above the shelves is
a strip o f w indow s th a t runs to the ceiling unbro
ken by visible w alls or supports. T he horizontal
stacking o f the m ultistory building is thus
dynamically em phasized and m ade a defining
principle o f the design. T he design o f the build
ing is based on the essence o f the task and it
employs the m eans o f o u r time. F orm and con
struction have becom e an im m ediate unity.
High-rises
The
develop
ment
o f the
high-rise
The steadily increasing concentration of busi

ness life in America has logically led to the
high-rise. With the high-rise, America has pro
duced a building type whose daring construction
contains the kernel of a new form of architecture.
The first high-rises appeared in the 1880s in the
commercial district of Chicago, a small area
bounded by Lake Michigan, the Chicago River,
and the terminal train stations of the central rail
lines. Business operations that were concentrated
in this small area took on ever-greater dimen
sions. Nobody wanted to forsake the economic
advantages that resulted from such concentra
tion. Increasing the number of stories in a
building became the only way to accommodate
the pressing need for space. At first additional
stories were added to existing buildings; eventu
ally high-rises were built and their advantages
soon recognized. High-rises were therefore
erected not only where space was scarce but also
where the technical and economic advantages of
concentration were found. They soon appeared in
great numbers in nearly all larger American cit
ies. They rose completely haphazardly and
without consideration for urban planning per
spectives; one-sided, ephemeral interests reigned.
The physiognomy of these cities was quickly
and fundamentally transformed. In place of
the extended, moderately contoured horizontal
H IG H -R IS E S
203
character, w hich still defines the silhouettes of

European m etropolises, richly form ed urban sil
houettes w ith p o te n t accents appeared in
A m erica tow ering m asses separated by deep
ravine-like gaps.
But the effects o f these high-rise cities are
based on pure happenstance; they lack a con
sciously planned design. A ttem pts at conscious
planning have been m ade repeatedly w ithout
success. T he problem o f the individual building
can only ever be solved in conjunction with the
problem o f the city. W ith regard to the high-rise,
which exerts such g reat influence on the plan of
an urban area, the la tte r is o f great im portance.
Like every building, the high-rise is but a cell, a
com ponent o f the u rb an organism , and it m ust
be system atically connected to the latter.
A lack o f planning, however, is one o f the
characteristic features o f the capitalist econom ic
form. This is also naturally expressed in the
urban form th a t capitalism has produced, that is,
in the m etropolis.
In A m erica, the classic nation o f the liberal
capitalist economy, this disorganization has been
pushed beyond all bounds. In the m ountain
ranges o f buildings in N ew York the material
convictions o f our tim e have found their m ost
powerful expression. W hile in Europe this excess
remains lim ited, in A m erica the drive of specula
tion has functioned unchecked and produced
total urban disorganization. Elim inating this situ
ation has becom e a pressing question o f survival.
Lack of
planning
Fig. 10
204
Fig. 56 Cass Gilbert, Woolworth Building, New York, 1913
H IG H -R IS E S
205
Fig. 57 M cKim, M ead & White. Pennsylvania Hotel. New

York. 1919
206
The inability to recognize the new in its early

development also led to grotesque deformations
in the construction of high-rises. Architects
attem pted to neutralize the unusual appearance
of high-rises by decorating them with stylistic
features derived from past ages, degrading them
to the level of an Italian pseudo-palazzo. Th<
Aggrega aggregation of forms, instead of conscious for
tion
mation, became the principle of design. Yet the
instead of
inherent elemental characteristics of these build
formation
ings survived such clever mock architecture.
Architecture is based primarily on the form
o f construction that makes its existence possi
ble. Recent architecture in particular has nearly
achieved a state of pure construction as a result
o f its founding principle of rationalism; in the
architecture of the past, sacred and religious
requirem ents outweighed rational purposes.
The first high-rises were originally built like
all residential buildings since antiquity. They
were composed of perim eter load-bearing walls
and pillars. Yet with the increasing number of
stories, the disadvantages of this form of con
struction became increasingly clear and its
unsuitability increasingly apparent. The thick
ness of the walls grew with the number of stories,
swallowing up space. The load-bearing limits of
the land were quickly surpassed by the monstrous
masses of material required. At first builders
separated the ceilings from the walls, supporting
the former with steel support beams. From here it
was only a short step to an independent system of
H IG H -R IS E S
207
steel supports able to bear great loads and forces Separat

with relatively sm all cross sections and enabling ing loadthe separation o f load-bearing and non-load- bearing
and
bearing elem ents. T his reduces the perm anent non-loadload, allowing b oth a greater num ber o f stories bearing
and faster construction.
elements
It is characteristic o f A m erican architec Disregard
for the
ture that, ap a rt from a sm all num ber of
exceptions, the stru ctu ral support system has support
system
been entirely ignored in form al design. The con
structive im plications w ere understood, but not
the im plications for form . T he structural skele
ton was covered in various m ock architectural
styles; m em ories o f w hat A m ericans saw on
European to u rs w ere grotesquely distorted.
Mock
Renaissance form s had the m ost prestige, but
medieval form s were also used. F or instance, architec
ture
Cass G ilbert succeeded in destroying the ele
Fig. 56
mental greatness o f his W oolw orth Building, the
tallest building in the w orld, by adding G othic
stylistic elem ents o f pressed m etal.
A m erican arch itectu re is strongly influ
enced by the academ icism o f the French
Renaissance. N evertheless, it m ust be recog
nized that form s are applied w ith taste and logic
to the extent possible. T he architects of these
buildings have delivered p ro o f th a t antique
forms, w hich until now have been adapted to
every form o f building, o r rather, have controlled
every shift in constructive principles, are also
suitable as decorative elem ents for the high-rise.
Despite the im portance o f such buildings as
208
Ernest R. G raham s Equitable Building, McKim,

Mead & W hites Pennsylvania H otel in New
Fig. 56
York, and even Albert K ahns General Motors
Building in Detroit, they are still only academi:
achievements that carry no value for the future.
The design of their masses is their only valuable
and new element. They are based on a floor pla:
employing wings that places courtyards and light
wells on the street side of buildings, thus allow
ing a cubic vertical organization of the buildin;,
and favorable lighting conditions.
However, the vast majority of other highrises depart from these and similarly tasteful
The do
buildings. American high-rises do, in general,
minance still exhibit the same constructive principles,
of the
which, however are greatly modified as a result
functional
of the unbridled sway of the elementary concept
concept
of function; indeed these constructive principles
are m anipulated ad absurdum. In these buildings
no consideration is given to the decorative ele
m ents found in the wealth of classical forms. The
forms used are applied only out of pure conven
tion. Their removal would reveal a naked
functional building. This is surely an advantage
but still not a solution. Yet these are precisely
the buildings that have contributed most to the
realization that details based on the dimensions
of norm al rooms become absurd in a high-rise.
They have made it clear that a systematic appli
cation of the concept of function also creates
new architectural forms that no longer require a
decorative shell. Decisive for the design of a
Academi
cism
H IG H -R IS E S
209
high-rise are only the new needs and require

ments related to technology and spatial
relationships, as well as the new m aterials: steel,
reinforced concrete, and glass, which have all
proved to be very effective for high-rises.
The only A m erican architect to recognize
and grasp these facts, besides Sullivan, was John
Root, who im plem ented them in his M onadnock
Building in Chicago constructed in 1891. It is
astounding th a t this high-rise, which is one of
the earliest high-rises ever built, has yet to
be surpassed by an o th er in its correctness.
Though it does belong to an era in which the sup
port system had n o t yet been invented, what
distinguishes this b uilding is th a t it revealed that
the problem plaguing all architecture is a cubic
and rhythm ic problem ; th a t it revealed this in a
new way and took contem porary conditions into
consideration. T he desire to replace creative
inability w ith overblow n m aterial accum ulation,
that is, the em barrassing p ath taken for m ost
later buildings, was here instinctively avoided.
An unm istakable sense o f pro p o rtio n gives this
building an inner consistency and logical form.
Root abandoned m etered design, axial em pha
sis, and the com bination o f separate elem ents
into higher-order form al com positions. The
mass was successfully designed as an organism .
A rchitecture ceased to be an ill-fitted mask.
Root gave A m erican architecture a foundation
and a goal w ith this building: he attained libera
tion from E uropean taste; he form ulated the
The
design
The first
experi
ment
Fig. 58
210
Fig. 58 Burnham & Root, Monadnock Building, Chicago, 1891
H IG H -R IS E S
211
American principle o f style that Frank Lloyd

Wright universally outlined. T he new that has
arisen in this way has nothing to do with banal
functionality; rath er it is sim ultaneously the
greatest coherence and concentration. Root has
shown that new types o f expressive forms must
be found to satisfy the conditions o f his country
and the requirem ents o f the present.
T here has been no lack o f a ttem p ts to alter
the u nsustainable c o n d itio n s resu ltin g from the
haphazard erec tio n o f high-rises in A m ericas
high-rise cities. A new building law, the zon
ing law, the fu n d am en tal principles o f which
were already assum ed by Sullivan in his C hi
cago high-rises, atte m p ts to im prove the am ount
of light received in in d iv id u al h igh-rises.31 P ro
visions vary from u rb a n d istrict to urban
district. T hus, in som e d istricts the first setback
m ust occur at a h eig h t o f tw o and a h alf tim es
the w idth o f th e stree t; in o th e r districts, it m ust
take place lower, at a h eight o f tw o tim es the
width of th e stree t. A tow er may only be erected
when it covers no m ore th a n one q u arter o f the
total area to be developed. T he S helton H otel
in N ew York was b u ilt by A. L. H arm o n accord
ing to these principles. A design by H ugh
Ferriss shows how an en tire city block can be
designed according to these regulations; New
York, an in ten se upw ard d issolving o f building
masses. T his is surely a g re a t im provem ent but
51 [See n ote 10, p. 106.]
The new
form
Zoning
Fig. 59
212
Fig. 59 Hugh Ferriss, Proposalfor the development o f ablocl

according to the zoning law, 1925
High-rise
and
traffic
Fig. 14
it does not provide any advantages for the flou

of traffic.
Le Corbusier attem pted to solve the traffic
problem by placing high-rises at large intervals
from each other. This proposal had already been
made by Perret.32 Raymond Hood, the designer
32 [Hilberseimer refers to Auguste P errets projects
for a city of towers of 1921-22. See J. Labadie, Les
cathdrales de la cit moderne, L Illustration, 12 August
1922, 129-36.]
H IG H -R IS E S
213
of the Chicago T ribune Tower, has recently

revisited this problem in a design for high-rises
that expand only in the u pper stories and occupy
a relatively sm all area .33 But the broad, open
spaces foreseen by these proposals are at odds
with the concept o f the high-rise because if the
interstitial te rrain were developed at regular
building heights, it w ould provide the same
amount o f usable space.
The high-rise is ou td a ted in its contem po
rary form, especially w hen it appears as a row
house, as it does in m ost A m erican metropolises.
That which has already been proved to be inad
equate for the tenem ent, th a t is, an unsuitable
urban plan, applies even m ore to existing highrise cities. T he u rb an plan is not an abstraction:
it depends fundam entally on the type of constructive developm ent. A ll existing m etropolises
are based on the m edieval system o f the individual house. But the individual house has in the
meantime becom e a house for the masses. The
urban plan, conditioned by the relationships of
private ow nership, has yet to overcom e the stage
of the individual house. T his is an im pedim ent
to the system atic design o f housing for the
masses because the la tte r depends entirely on
the design o f the u rb an p la n they are m utually
[H ilberseim er refers to R aym ond H o o d s proposal for
a series o f skyscrapers w ith sm all b uilding footprints. See
Raymond H ood, Tow er B uildings and W ider Streets: A
Suggested R elief for T ra ffic C o n g estio n , American
Architect 132, 5 July 1927, 67-68.]
Develop-
ment and
Upian"
^
F,g 1
212
Fig. 59 Hugh Ferriss, Proposalfor the development o f a block

according to the zoning law, 1925
High-rise
and
traffic
Fig. 14
it does not provide any advantages for the flow

o f traffic.
Le Corbusier attem pted to solve the traffic
problem by placing high-rises at large intervals
from each other. This proposal had already been
made by Perret.32 Raymond Hood, the designer
32 [Hilberseimer refers to Auguste Perrets projects
for a city of towers of 1921-22. See J. Labadie, Les
cathdrales de la cit moderne, L Illustration, 12 August
1922, 129-36.]
H IG H -R IS E S
213
of the Chicago T ribune Tower, has recently

revisited this problem in a design for high-rises
that expand only in the upper stories and occupy
a relatively sm all area .33 But the broad, open
spaces foreseen by these proposals are at odds
with the concept o f the high-rise because if the
in terstitial te rrain w ere developed at regular
building heights, it w ould provide the same
am ount o f usable space.
T he high-rise is o u tdated in its contem po
rary form , especially w hen it appears as a row
house, as it does in m ost A m erican m etropolises.
That which has already been proved to be inad
equate for the tenem ent, th a t is, an unsuitable
urban plan, applies even m ore to existing highrise cities. T he u rban plan is no t an abstraction:
it depends fundam entally on the type o f con
structive developm ent. A ll existing m etropolises
are based on the m edieval system o f the indi
vidual house. B ut the individual house has in the
m eantim e becom e a house for the masses. The
urban plan, conditioned by the relationships of
private ow nership, has yet to overcom e the stage
of the individual house. This is an im pedim ent
to the system atic design o f housing for the
m asses because the la tte r depends entirely on
the design o f the u rb an p la n they are m utually
33 [H ilberseim er refers to R aym ond H o o d s proposal for
a series o f skyscrapers w ith sm all building footprints. See
R aym ond H ood, Tow er B uildings and W ider Streets: A
Suggested R elief for T raffic C o n g estio n , American
Architect 132, 5 July 1927, 67-68.]
D evelop
m ent and
urban
plan
Fig. 10
214
dependent. This is why, as a result of an insuffi

ciently organized urban plan, the advantages
offered by the high-rise are for the most part nul
lified. As a solitary building, the high-rise should
only be constructed at certain points in the urban
plan, at points with sufficient light and air.
The
Where it appears as a row house, the high-rise
high-rise must be systematically designed as such, as Lud
as row
wig H ilberseim er has done in his schema for a
house
High-rise City. Here the high-rise is applied in a
Figs.
completely new way; it is integrally bound to the
17-19
urban plan, thereby creating an organic entity
from the chaotic disadvantages of past highrises with regard to traffic, hygiene, and lighting.
In Europe the question of the construction
of high-rises has also recently been raised.
Indeed, architects already considered the possi
bility of high-rise construction before the war,
especially in Berlin, where the constantly grow
ing need for commercial space and timesaving
concentration made the high-rise a necessity.
Building ordinances, however, did not permit
their construction. Building ordinances have
The
schematic been treated blandly and schematically, turning
treatm ent
Berlin into a faceless city. The citys overex
of build
ing ordi tended horizontal character demands compact
vertical elements and calls for the vibrancy pro
nances
duced by alternating building masses, which, in a
metropolis, is only to be achieved by high-rises.
If, for this reason, European cities are to build
high-rises, the only suitable sites are those
required by need and perm itted by the
H IG H -R IS E S
215
considerations o f urban planning, because the

European high-rise has a com pletely different
urban function from the A m erican variant,
whose narrow arrangem ent has led to a com plete
lack o f light in offices and thus practically
destroyed the tru e advantages o f the high-rise.
The A m erican high-rise is inherently a row
house, w ithout how ever being properly designed
as such. In spite o f all its stylistic m asquerades it
retains no individual effect. In order to achieve
such an effect, its location would need to be iso
lated; the location w ould have to dom inate
certain streets and squares and bring order and
sim plicity to the street system . T he European
high-rise can to a great degree fulfill these
False
requirem ents. T he high-rise is therefore to be
m onu
purposefully erected w here it accentuates and
m entality
focuses the dynam ics o f a street or square, giving
movem ent an aim and direction. Yet it should
not strive for false m onum entality, such as that
seen in the building proposed by O tto K ohtz for
the R eichshaus on the P latz der R epublik in Ber
lin, w hose pathos recalls far too distinctly the
happily conquered past, or even the pseudom onum entality o f Bruno M ohrings designs.34
34 [H ilberseim er refers to the proposals m ade by Kohtz
and M ohring from 1920 on. See O tto Kohtz, D as Reich
shaus am K onigsplatz in B erlin, Stadtbaukunst alter und
neuer Zeit 1 (1920): 241-45; B runo M ohring, U ber die
Vorziige d er T u rm hauser und die Voraussetzungen, unter
denen sie in Berlin gebaut w erden konnen, Stadtbaukunst
alter und neuer Z eit 1 (1920): 353-57, 370-76, 385-91.]
216
' S i*1" 1
t*M
* * * * "
r* i > ***
* ilife * .
| * *
fi* * !
yUi>
|f |ti4itc.
f* lllHU;
r M ili k
r M ls if tl
i " tm *
riliaii
titflltfL
Fig. 60 Mies van der Rohe, High-rise in iron and glass, 1922
H IG H -R IS E S
217
The floor plans o f these designs are characteris

tic. In o rder to achieve the m ost com pact building
mass, they enclose narrow , entirely surrounded
co u rtyards com plete nonsense in a high-rise.
In contrast to these decoratively oriented
designs, such proposals as R ichard D ockers for
Stuttgart proceed from the considerations of
urban planning. In ord er to lend the m uddled
urban silhouette o f S tu ttg art som e character,
D ocker proposes high-rises in the valley (which
correspond to existing tow ers in their height)
and a continuous developm ent o f the ridge
vertical developm ent by em bedding building
masses, n o t elevating th e m .3S
W ith his high-rise o f iron and glass, Mies
van der R ohe attem pted to tu rn the daring struc
tural concepts th a t are explicitly expressed in
typical high-rises into the foundation o f artistic
design. R elinquishing tra d itio n al form s entirely,
he sought to design the object from the very
essence o f the new task. T he peculiar form of
the floor plan is based on the recognition th at the
glass house is not dependent on the interaction
of light and shadow, b u t on the rich interplay of
reflected light. T he curves o f the floor plan were
d eterm ined according to the needs o f interior
lighting, the effect o f the building mass on the
street, and the interplay o f reflected light.
35 [See R ichard H erre, H o c h h au ser fiir S tu ttg a rt, Wasmuths Monatshefte fiir Baukunst 6, nos. 11-12 (1921-22):
375-90.]
The
high-rise
in iron
and glass
Fig. 60
Halls and Theaters

Extrava
gance of
form
The need for halls and theaters in metropolises

offered the architects of the nineteenth century,
who erringly strove for false monumentality, the
opportunity for the most luxurious extravagance
of form. Exterior wealth was required to conceal
inner poverty. The uncomfortable impression of
these magnificent buildings is caused primarily
by the senseless use of historical stylistic ele
ments. Travel and historical research enriched
stylistic eclecticism with exoticisms, fusing clas
sical principles with ornam ental elements of all
peoples and periods. Joseph Poelaerts Palace of
Justice in Brussels; Charles G arniers Grand
Opera in Paris; Gottfried Sempers museums
and theaters in Vienna and Dresden; Paul Wallo tsReichstaginBerlin;Henri-Adolphe-Auguste
D eglanes G rand and Charles-Louis G iraults
Small Palais in the Champs-Elysees; Gabriel
Davioud and Jules Bourdaiss Trocadero in
Paris; and Friedrich von Thierschs Festival Hall
in Frankfurt am Main are all spirited character
istic examples of the extreme ornamental
orientation of the time. An uncertain will and
arbitrary games of form disturbed the clarity of
building principles, which, in the end, in the
hands of imitators, were fully nullified by bom
bastic monumentality.
And yet, with their distinct differentiation of
rooms and rich shifts in cubic construction, these
HALLS A N D THEATERS
219
are precisely the types of buildings that could lead

to an architecture internally form ed according to
its inherent characteristics, to the creation o f spa
tial organisms, whose exterior is purposefully
defined by the internal organization of spaces. J.
P. Berlages stock exchange building is a clear
dem onstration o f this.
F o r events such as concerts, exhibitions,
gatherings, and celeb ratio n s a b uilding type has
developed th a t is usually com posed o f two
in terconnected halls, b o th su rro u n d ed by foy
ers, checkroom s, and stairs. E arlier building
techniques w ere generally sufficient for their
co n struction. T hus th e ir a rch itec tu ral ap p ear
ances w ere influenced by the corresponding
eclectic form s o f p ast ages. Even in the applica
tion o f the new est co n stru ctiv e tools, th a t is,
steel and reinforced concrete, one was never far
rem oved from eclecticism , n o t even in the case
of large halls such as th e A lb ert H all in L on
don, the T ro cad ero or the G ran d Palais in Paris,
or the F estival H all in F ran k fu rt, to nam e but a
few exam ples.
T hough the new m ode o f construction
allowed large-dim ensioned room s, it was for the
m ost p a rt applied in a m ost antiquarian fashion,
for exam ple to im itate historical vaulted form s in
iron and glass. A rchitects sought to im pede the
form -shaping capabilities offered by the new
constructive options w ith any m eans necessary.
Sim ilar to w hat happened in the construction of
train station halls, here the elem entary pow er of
Halls
220
The
Crystal
Palace in
London
form inherent in the construction is often con

cealed behind poorly executed historicisms. The
immediacy of this elementary power has been
inhibited; the direct unity of structure and form
has been ignored.
However, at the beginning of this line of
development is a work that intentionally
departed from the practices of stone construc
tion: an exhibition hall in London, a building of
iron and glass that was the ingenious work of the
gardener Joseph Paxton. It was constructed for
the international industrial exhibition in Lon
don in 1850.36 In 1852 it was dismantled and
re-erected in 1854 with even greater dimensions
in Sydenham near London as the Crystal Palace.
It is composed of an extended structure
interrupted by lateral pavilions that contain
entrances and provide architectural accentua
tion. The continuous half-cylinder ceiling forms
a welcome contrast to the otherwise common
rectilinear forms employed. The Crystal Palace
is a building of glass and iron of the most primi
tive type that has nevertheless clearly and purely
become form. It is a building of glazed iron
latticew orka pure pattern of lines and sur
facesthat dissolves the structures true weight.
The traditional contrasts of light and shadow
that affected proportions of form in past archi
tecture have disappeared here, making way for
36 [Hilberseimer refers to the G reat Exhibition of the
Works of Industry of all Nations.]
HALLS A N D THEATERS
221
evenly distributed light and creating a space of

shadowless lum inosity.
M ax Berg and the reinforced-concrete com
The
pany D yckerhoff and W idm ann constructed the C enten
nial
Hall
C entennial H all in Breslau (W roclaw) exclu
in Breslau
sively o f reinforced concrete. This building has
Figs.
the g reatest unsu p p o rted span o f any solid con
61-62
struction to date. Its construction is rem iniscent
of the P antheon in Rome, w hose dom e is also
constructed o f load-bearing ribs and rests on a
cylindrical base. T he h alls low er portion is
pierced by four large load-bearing arches to
which apsidal extensions are attached, expand
ing the space. T he challenge in the construction
was to strike a balance betw een the play o f forces
in the supporting arches o f the cylindrical drum
and the flying buttresses o f the apses. As flying
b uttresses o f a G o th ic cathedral divert the loads
of the vaulting, so here the flying buttresses of
Fig. 61 Max Berg, Centennial Hall, Breslau (Wroclaw),

1911-13
222
Fig. 62 Max Berg, Centennial Hall, Breslau (Wroclaw),
H A L LS A N D TH E A T E R S
1911-13: interior
223
224
the apses divert the load of the four large arches

that support the central dom ea spatial con
struction o f rare daring and powerful energy.
Wooden construction, like steel and rein
forced concrete, has also been subject to designs
emphasizing economization and proper engi
Engi
neering. In contrast to older primitive modes of
neered
building, which were based on the beam struc
timber
tures used by carpenters, new methods of
construc
building in wood are based on the flow of forces.
tion
This enables even wooden construction to span
large spaces w ithout intermediary supports and
to thereby fulfill new spatial requirem ents in a
m anner not unlike that of iron construction.
Among the many attem pts that have been
undertaken in this field, those of Carl Tuchscherer and Company are the most remarkable.
The trade fair hall in Breslau (Wroclaw) and
Westfalenhalle above all the Westfalenhalle in Dortmund are
in D ort
massive constructions of rare daring and novel
mund
spatial effects.
The floor plan of the Westfalenhalle is
elliptical, corresponding to athletic require
ments. The distance between supports is
seventy-eight meters and the trusses are placed
at twenty-meter intervals. The trusses them
selves are made of a pressed wooden band with
wooden relieving supports above these. The
weight of the roof of the elliptical space is car
ried by a continuous band of purlins that run
parallel to the long axis at both narrow ends.
Thus a constructive and satisfactory spatial
H A L LS A N D T H E A T E R S
225
effect was achieved. T he light provided by rows

of windows set above the trusses gives the space
the daylight required for sporting events.
In addition to arranging the floor plan, the
architectural challenge in th eater construction is
to uniform ly align the contradictory constructive
spaces o f the stage and auditorium , which are
determ ined by the interior organism ; that is, to
design spaces, w hose disparity is continuously
augm ented due to the increasing technical
dem ands o f the stage, as one unit. T he traditional
theater contained both the stage and audience
hall beneath one roof. G eorg M oller m ust have
been the first to attem p t to arrange the building
masses o f a th eater according to their actual
requirem ents. In his City T heater in M ainz the
audience hall, a h alf cylinder, is placed in front of
the cubic stage portion. T he building was clearly
and unam biguously given the character o f a th e
ater. In spite o f an excess o f details, the exterior
o f G arn iers G ran d O pera in Paris expresses the
purpose o f the building as well as its interior
organization. T he foyer, audience hall, and stage
are clearly em phasized; the stage is powerfully
sum m arized by an enorm ous gable. G ottfried
Semper developed the essential form o f the th e
ater even m ore purposefully. In the O pera H ouse
in D resden and in the C o u rt T heater in V ienna he
m aintained the cylindrical form o f the audience
hall for the surrounding foyer as well, creating
stark contrasts in the building m ass by placing
the entry pavilions and approaches laterally.
The tra
ditional
theater
226
Despite his elemental creative energy, Semper

was not able to escape eclecticism. Though he
fought against the impotence of half-bankrupt
architecture, he nevertheless fell victim himself
to this bankruptcy with his ornamental motifs.37
Certain concepts of form and reminiscences of
art history seemed indispensable to him.
Technical
The theater progressed further on the path
perfection to technical perfection in the buildings of Max
Littm ann and Heinrich Seeling, though it was
still restrained by the straitjacket of stylistic lim
itation. In line with contemporary taste, the
decorative arts were applied to theater build
ings: a different way to avoid pure design by
employing a novel ornamentality; see, for exam
ple, M artin Diilfers and Oskar Kaufmanns
theaters in D ortm und and Berlin.
The Cologne Werkbund Theater by
Henri van der Velde is architecturally more
37 [Semper did not use this precise phrase. Hilberseimer
cites a popular misquotation of Sempers preliminary
remarks of 1834 on polychrome architecture in anti
quity. The half-bankrupt architecture Semper had in
mind came from the students of the Schachbrettkanzler
(chessboard chancellor) Jean-Nicholas-Louis Durand at
the Ecole Polytechnique and the students of the Ecole
des Beaux-Arts. See G ottfried Semper, Vorlaufige
Bemerkungen iiber bemalte A rchitektur und Plastik bei
den A lten, in Kleine Schriften, eds. Manfred Semper and
Hans Semper (Berlin, W. Spemann, 1884), 216-17; trans
lation in The Four Elements o f Architecture and Other
Writings, trans. Harry Francis Mallgrave and Wolfgang
H ermann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1989), 45-46.]
H A L LS A N D TH E A T E R S
227
Fig. 63 Henri van de Velde, Werkbund Theater, Cologne, 1914;

floor plan
Fig. 64 Henri van de Velde, Werkbund Theater, Cologne, 1914
228
The
Werk
bund
theater in
Cologne
Figs.
63-64
Court
theater
and
peoples
theater
purposeful. It is a small building and yet it is one

of the most unique creations of contemporary
architecture. It is free of reminiscences and historicisms and is designed as a most suitable
solution to the requirements of space. With
this a spatial fantasy becomes creative; a fan
tastically animated building has come into
being; the dead building mass has been revived by
rhythmic motion, assembled into three-dimen
sional masses.
All of these theaters, with the exception of
van der Veldes, are based more or less on the
courtly hierarchical theater. This explains the
historicism of their architecture. Architects
attem pted to democratize the theater originally
created for the court by increasing its scalea
genuine aim of the parvenu and entirely charac
teristic of the intellectual spirit of the nineteenth
century. But it is not possible to adapt an organ
ism that has a well-defined sociological basis to
a completely different set of sociological condi
tions simply by enlarging it. With complete
disregard of his duty, this is what Oskar
Kaufmann did with the Berlin Peoples Theater,
turning an architectural and sociological prob
lem into a formal and decorative one. The new
theater, the actual peoples theater, can only
become the new theater if the new requirements
are also architectonically fulfilled in a purpose
ful manner.
The fundam ental requirem ents are the cre
ation of seats that are as equal in value as
H A L LS A N D T H E A T E R S
229
possible; the abolition o f the traditional pictureThe

funda
box stage, w hich is enclosed on three sides; and
mental
the unity o f audience hall and stage. The m ulti
require
level theater and the traditional picture stage are
m ents
closely related; they have a com m on sociological
cause to serve the illusionistic pleasures of a
hierarchically stru ctu red co u rt society. The new
theater dism isses both divisions according to
social ranking and the illusionistic stage. This
leads to the new spatial problem , that is, the
unity o f audience hall and stage.
The form o f the am phitheater offers the
The
A m phi
most seats o f equal value. They are differentiated
theater
only through the varied distances from the stage,
which is unavoidable. By organizing seats in the
form o f an am phitheater, the differentiation of
height is also kept to a m inim um , benefiting the
stage, which can only be o f a certain height.
The
T he A m erican single-level theater repre
sents a doubling o f the am phitheater, as it were. Am erican
singleIt was created w ith the intention o f providing the
level
greatest num ber o f seats o f as equal value as pos
theater
sible. It arranges thirty-five or m ore rows of seats
successively in the parquet and in the balcony.
T he pronounced tendency tow ard height in
the E uropean m ulti-level th e ater gives the upper
m ost balcony a very steep viewing angle. The
single-level th e ater reduces this angle, in spite of
the great height o f som e seats, thereby creating a
much b etter field o f vision.
T he A m ericans have rem oved the disadvan
tageous spatial effect o f deeply recessed parquet
230
The new
theater
seats beneath the balcony by breaking through

the ceiling of the parquet and making the great
space beneath the balcony accessible as a socalled promenoir. This eliminates the oppressive
claustrophobic character of the rear parquet
seats, creating at the same time a very useful
promenade corridor for the balcony.
The traditional picture stage can only be
overcome by a stage space that is designed in
three dimensions and spatially arranged. The
stage m ust be divided according to height, with
individual levels stacked successively one behind
the other. The front of the stage must project
into the audience hall; it must connect directly to
the first rows of seats. Because this is the true
setting of action, it represents the connection
between the audience hall and the stage. Thus a
spatially and architecturally unified space will
appear, one that will become the true architec
tural center of gravity of the building.
Transportation Buildings
The train station connects street and rail traffic, T he train
station
thus acting as an architectonic link between the
most diverse form s o f transportation. The actual
hall of the train station, the space for arriving and
departing trains, is in general an iron hall whose
construction is determ ined by the type o f truss
employed. As a rule, this space has a very rational
character in contrast to the halls peripheral
buildings: the switch room , waiting halls, luggage
rooms, adm inistrative offices, all o f whose dim en
sions allow them to be constructed using the
The
constructive tools o f the past. This is why there is
such a discrepancy between these spaces and the problem
halls, which are often enorm ous and built using
new methods. This discrepancy has led to extreme
deform ations. A m isguided pursuit o f m onum en
tality sought to transform the actual building
mass, the steel hall, into a stone construction,
either by using stone cladding as in A nhalter
Station in Berlin; F rankfurt am M ain, C entral
Station; G are du N ord, P aris or by attem pting
to surpass and elim inate the elem ental effects of
the iron hall through theatrical architec
tu re H am burger and A ntw erpener S tations
or finally, as seen in the new Leipziger Station, by
making the hall disappear entirely behind enor
mously proportioned ancillary buildings.
T he new form o f engineering construction
is only w holly ap p a re n t in the unornam ented and
232
architecturally neglected rear portions of the

actual hallsparticularly in Hamburg, Frank
furt, Dresden, and A ntw erpwhere these forms
develop freely; it is also apparent in the interiors
of the train halls, which are wide-span, illumi
nated spaces of rare majesty.
The
The radical change in the conditions of
revolu
transportation, particularly in Am erican me
tion of
tropolises, has not been w ithout influence on
transpor
the design of train stations. N ot ju st local lines,
tation
but also long-distance lines are now directed
through tunnels into the center of the city, a
feat made possible through the introduction
of electricity.
By placing the tracks underground, street
traffic can flow unhindered above ground. This
has also resulted in the disappearance of the
characteristic train station hall. For instance,
Threelevel
at the new term inal station of the New York
track
C entral Railroad in New York City platform s
installa
are vertically stacked in three subterranean lev
tion
els.38 They are directly connected to each other
and to the entry building through tunnels, so
that transfers to every train are possible. An
elevated street, which surrounds the entry
building and slopes down at the rear of the site,
makes the train station accessible to autom o
bile traffic on two levels, ensuring the quickest
38 [Hilberseimer refers to Grand Central Terminal in
New York City, designed by Reed & Stem and Warren &
Wetmore, 1903-13.]
T R A N S P O R T A T IO N B U IL D IN G S 233
possible flow o f tra ffic to and from the station.
U n fortunately this system atically organized
organism
and
its
ex terio r
appearance
do n o t co rresp o n d : a bo m b a stic building in
A lex andrian-A m erican style encloses the
entire com plex.
If the architecture o f these buildings has
until now served to conceal the alleged unseem
liness o f the new form s o f construction and to
create m ock works m eant to be o stentatious rep
resentations, several new designs for train
stations are based on the objective preconditions
of the train station com plex. A train station
com plex is essentially a conductor o f traffic: the
m ost com fortable and functional connection of
rail and street traffic requires a rational order
and design o f traffic routes.
T hree types o f rail com plexes result from
local conditions and various traffic require
ments: the term inal station, the through station,
and the tra n sfer station.
T he term inal station o f Rush City by R ich
ard J. N e u tra is connected to a sim ilar station at
the n o rth e rn side o f the city by four su b terra
nean through lines for passenger traffic and two
rails for cargo. T his enables the connection of
long-distance and urban traffic.
Ju st as the train station w ith its com m uter
rail lines connects directly to subway lines, tram s
are routed to the tra in statio n in such a way that
no traveler needs to cross a street in order to
reach the tra in station. T he proposed hotel at the
Three
types of
train
stations
The
term inal
station
Fig. 65
234
Fig. 65 Richard Neutra, Terminal Station, Rush City, 1926
The
through
station
Figs.
66-67
end of the train station is directly connected to

the station platforms.
In contrast to the term inal station, whose
rails are placed beneath street level, the rails of
the through station designed by M art Stam for
Geneva are raised significantly above the
street. The platform s are accessible through a
mezzanine concourse set perpendicular to the
platform s. The need to overcome these differ
ences in height creates special conditions for
the layout of the arrival and departure hall.
Stam connects the street to the level of the con
course with a ramp, thus creating a direct
connection between the street and platform.
Because the corridors and ticket-counter rooms
are not enclosed by doors or vestibules they
Fig. 66 M art Stam , Projectfo r a train station in Geneva, 1924
Fig. 67 M art Stam , Project fo r a train station in Geneva,

1924; perspective
are co n sid e red elem en ts o f the connecting

ro u te betw een th e stre e t and the platform this
d irect co n n e ctio n betw een the in terio r and
ex terior is in ten sifie d .
In connection w ith M artin M achlers pro
posal for the redesign o f Berlin, Ludwig
H ilberseim er designed a m ain train station
which, as a transfer station, is the central point
The
transfer
train
station
236
Fig. 68 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Central train station for Berlin,
Fig. 69 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Central train station for Berlin,
192 7; perspective
192 7; perspectival section
238
of both Germ an long-distance train lines and

6 8 -6 9
Berlins commuter train traffic.39 All the lines
are routed centrally. Due to the special local site
conditions, the rail complex must be bw lt par
tially above and partially below ground. 'Jkr
circulation elevators and escalator^
nects the vertically stacked train lit"
one continuous mechanism. T h u s ^ ^ ^ f ] ting
traffic network is crea,
intensive flow of traffic!
The difficulty of I
The
growth of grows along with the si*
street
fixed lines of traffic j
traffic
trains, streetcars, and e f
trains, the free traffic
ever-greater im portant
the systematic netw orks
pendent form of the \
addition to the organi
mobile traffic in the F
Figs.
ver Stadtebau, Das Kunstblatt 11 (1927): 267-71; Max

Berg, Der neue Geist im Stadtebau auf der GroBen Ber
iter und net rZeit
S ta d th a u k i
liner KunstaussJ
8, no. 3 (192a
unavoidable necessity, prim arily because the
autom obile is ceasing to be a luxury item and is
becoming a standard com m odity in both A m er
ica and Europe. W ith this developm ent, the
num ber o f private drivers the actual users of
mass garages is growing. The mass garage will
become a new concept in our traffic life and will
lead to new a rchitectural designs. A mass garage
must not only include parking spaces for cars but
also car-w ashing facilities, repair shops, gas sta
tions, and lodgings for chauffeurs. For reasons
of profitability, one will quickly move beyond
the single-story arrangem ent of parking spaces
around a courtyard and begin erecting garage
buildings in w hich parking spaces are arranged
in vertically stacked rows. T he
autom obiles onto the upper
accom plished either by ram ps or
lack o f suitable parking spaces in the
m etropolises will also
ing cars is o f the g reatest im portance

garages. F or the tim e being individual
com partm ents are preferred, for which a variety
o f perpendicular and diagonal system s have
The mass
garage
238
of both Germ an long-distance train lines and

6 8 -6 9
Berlins commuter train traffic.39 All the lines
are routed centrally. Due to the special local site
conditions, the rail complex must be 1
tially above and partially below ground, j
circulationelevators and escalator^
nects the vertically stacked train litf
one continuous mechanism. T h u s|
traffic network is crea
intensive flow of traffic]
The difficulty of I
The
growth of grows along with the siy
street
fixed lines of traffic
traffic
trains, streetcars, and e f
trains, the free traffic <
ever-greater im p o rtant
the systematic networks
pendent form of the |
addition to the organic!
mobile traffic in the
Figs.
ver Stadtebau, D as K u n stb la tt 11 (1927): 267-71; Max

Berg, Der neue Geist im Stadtebau auf der GroBen Ber
liner Kunstausstfilliinp S ta d tb a u k u n s t a lter un d neuer Z e it
T R A N SP O R T A T IO N B U IL D IN G S 239
unavoidable necessity, prim arily because the
autom obile is ceasing to be a luxury item and is
becom ing a standard com m odity in both A m er
ica and Europe. W ith this developm ent, the
num ber o f private drivers the actual users of
mass garages is growing. T he m ass garage will
becom e a new concept in our traffic life and will
lead to new architectural designs. A m ass garage
must not only include parking spaces for cars but
also car-w ashing facilities, repair shops, gas sta
tions, and lodgings for chauffeurs. For reasons
o f profitability, one will quickly move beyond
the single-story arrangem ent o f parking spaces
around a courtyard and begin erecting garage
buildings in which parking spaces are arranged
in vertically stacked rows. The
autom obiles onto the upper
accom plished either by ram ps or
lack of suitable parking spaces in the
m etropolises will also
ing cars is o f the g reatest im portance

garages. F or the tim e being individual
com partm ents are preferred, for which a variety
o f p erpendicular and diagonal system s have
The mass
garage
240
Airports
been developed.40 Yet developments are leading

to open parking, as is already common in Amer
ica and France. The advantages of this sort of
parking, which occurs in large, open hall-like
spaces, are enormous since both partition walls
and doors are eliminated. The total space
required is greatly reduced and the lanes can
become much narrower. By eliminating the timeconsuming opening and closing of doors,
overseeing the complex will become signifi
cantly more simple and clear.
The ever-increasing amount of air travel will
create entirely new tasks. Like the train station, the
airport will become a vital organ of the urban body.
Therefore the placing of airports must proceed
with the greatest care. The most important precon
dition is a prime location connected to the city.
Both existing airport facilities and the air
plane o f today were developed primarily for
military purposes. Yet they remain the standard
models of aerial transportation. For this reason
air traffic facilities, like the passenger airplane,
are relatively undeveloped.
Initially, the minimum size of an airfield
was calculated to be 700 by 700 meters. As air
planes increased in size, so too did the size of
airfields, so that even now a size of 1,000 by
1,000 meters seems too small.
40 [Hilberseimer refers to the use of parking compart
ments with individual doors and operated like small,
private garages.]
TR A N S P O R T A T IO N B U IL D IN G S 241
B erlins ce n tral a irp o rt is ap p aren tly the
only a irp o rt based on purely technical consid
e ratio n s o f tra n sp o rta tio n . E xem plary for
to d a y s c o n d itio n s is also its relatio n sh ip to the
city and its d ire ct con n ectio n to the subway. Its
airfield has an area o f 1,000 by 1,300 m eters; it
is set w ithin an open a rea th a t is zoned to p ro
h ib it fu rth e r co n stru c tio n and w hich includes
a 500-m eter b o rd e r betw een the airfield
itse lf and the b o u n d ary w here co n stru c tio n is
again p erm itted .
Today little can be said w ith certainty about
the future developm ent o f airp o rt complexes.
Technological advancem ents, prim arily the shift
o f take-off and landing procedures from the hor
izontal to the vertical, will result in fundam ental
changes in the design o f the airport. Yet these
will also affect future u rb an planning in ways
u nim aginable today.
In co n trast to tru e architectural structures,
bridges do not design space, but traverse it. They
are n o t finite, stand-alone structures but con
necting structures. T h e ir task is to span a
d e p th to connect tw o sep arate points using a
linear system . They are essentially determ ined
by stru ctu ral requirem ents. Therefore the depen
dency o f form on construction and calculation is
n ow here so striking as in bridge building. H ere
the elem ents o f design are identical to the ele
m ents o f construction, so th at design in the
figurative sense is fundam entally im possible.
Still, th e perfect design incorporates both the
Figs.
70-71
Bridges
242
Fig. 70 Heinrich Kosina, Central Airport, Berlin, 1926; siteplan
The
optical
impres
sion
technical-constructive and aesthetic solution.

Only when both requirements are met is the
solution perfect, rational, and tectonic. The opti
cal im pression of a bridge is determined
primarily by the placement and layout of the
road. The latter is the essential element of the
organism of a bridge; it is to be borne, supported,
and held. The forces necessary for this, te c h n i
cally formed and connected, transition from
support to support, and from pillar to pillar, in a
straight line, oscillating between concave or
Fig. 71 Heinrich Kosina, Central Airport, Berlin, 1926; air

plane hangars
convex lines, or in all these lines, uniting into one

com pound linear system .
T here are three fundam ental bridge sys
tems, w hich correspond to various system s of
support and the tran sference o f w eight to
244
M ETRO POLISA RCHITECTU RE
Fig. 72 Jo h n Fowler, B ridge over the F irth o f Forth, 1890
G ird e r
b rid g e s
s u p p o rts : g ir d e r b rid g e s, w h ic h
v e rtic a lly ; a rc h b rid g e s, w h ic h trj n
an g le s ; a n d s u s p e n s io n b r i d g e y
m it lo a d s v e rtic a lly b u t in s
r. In th e la tte r, th e road^;
e r s u p p o r te d f r o n y
i. ab o v e . A ll o f thesj
lite d in to o n e c mposite system.
^ T h e s im p l e s t
oridge is i
Lgcmal bracing.
T R A N SP O R T A T IO N B U IL D IN G S 247
structure, hung from the la tte r so to speak, as in
the Czerny Bridge in H eidelberg.
In the la tte r arrangem ent, the horizontal
th rust is accom m odated by the bridge itself since
the ends o f the arches are securely connected to
the road. T he pressure is then no longer exerted
diagonally, bu t rath er transferred horizontally,
whereby the arch construction becom es a type of
girder bridge.
T he tra n sfer o f diagonal pressure in arch
bridges requires th a t the abutm ents be sturdily
designed. Ballast structures, such as those
em ployed in the G riinental H igh Bridge over the
K iel Canal, can becom e necessary. N orm ally
however, these constructions provide an occa
sion for decorative excess as at the Pont
d A lexandre in Paris, a low arch bridge over the
Seine. T he la tte r was an attem p t to im itate the
com pactness o f stone bridges in iron, also o ut of
purely decorative motifs. T he bridge is com
posed o f screw ed, cast-steel elem ents instead of
riveted, rolled-iron com ponents.
In suspension bridges the road is not sup
p o rted from below b u t suspended from above.
The s tru ctu re required for this type of bridge has
created a new tectonic entity characterized by
tall pillars and the descending upper curve, form
ing a lively co n trast to the ascending curves of
girder and arch bridges.
T he design o f the load-bearing pillars is
decisive for this construction. They can be exe
cuted in stone as in the Brooklyn Bridge in N ew
S uspen
sion
bridges
248
York by John and Washington Roebling or even

more systematically in steel as in a design for a
bridge for Cologne by Peter Behrens.
The com
The construction of bridges based on com
posite
posite systems is diverse. This is demonstrated
system
especially in the counter-motion of the extended,
crisscrossing double-curves, exhibited for exam
ple in the pedestrian bridge built over the Spree
in Berlin-Niederschoneweide by Heinrich Miiller-Breslau, which is composed of girder and
suspension bridge elements. Another example is
the robust bridge over the Firth of Forth in Scot
land with its 500-meter free span. This bridge is
based on a unique cantilever construction with
upper suspenders ascending in a straight diago
nal line, curved lower arches, and arch beams
hung in between. Its powerful effect and its ele
m ental stability are particularly expressed by the
straightness of the upper suspender construc
tion. It is a work of rare forcefulness and the
most elementary impact.
Bridge building has also become a broad
Bridges in
reinforced field for the application of reinforced concrete.
concrete
Its structural advantages, short production time,
minimal m aintenance costs, and technological
and economic advantages have prompted the
rapid introduction of this method. Many struc
tures of this type, primarily girder bridges and
arch bridges, have already been realized. The
structural and technical foundations are the
same as those in steel construction. The differ
ence is merely in the material, which, in contrast
to steel construction, requires a m ore com pact
mass. A t the sam e tim e, the danger exists that
The
m aterials will be m isused, th a t stone bridges will m isuse o f
be im itated. This was the case with W ilhelm m aterials
K reiss design for the F riedrich-A ugust Bridge
in D resden in w hich a m isguided desire to con
form to the u rban im age produced a concrete
bridge th a t im itates a bridge o f stone. In the pro
cess, its exterior surfaces w ere covered with an
o rnam ental cut-stone shell, ju s t like the MaxJo sef Bridge in M unich by T heodor Fischer,
which also ornam entally im itates stone forms
and the stru ctu ral character o f m asonry by
inserting jo in ts into the surface.
T hus the m ore significant reinforced con Skeletal
crete bridges are those th a t clearly express the character
uniqueness o f the m aterial and the skeletal char
acter o f its stru ctu re w hile uniting structural
necessity and design o f form . I m ention the
H u n dw ilertobel Bridge by E duard Ziiblin and
C om pany in the Swiss canton o f A ppenzell,
whose thinly stru ctu red features com pletely cor
respond to the m aterial and w hose form perfectly
expresses the constructive principles o f this
building technique.
Industrial Buildings
No
models
The
engineer
The
architect
Gottfried
Sempers
mistake
The new principles of building have been most

freely realized in industrial construction. In fact,
the designs of engineering structures are virtu
ally determ ining the peculiarities of form of our
age. Buildings have been created for new indus
tries and purposes. These structures are entirely
without prior models in terms of typology, struc
ture, and dimension. Thus these new buildings
could be realized without inhibition. In solving
these tasks, the pure constructive element, and
thus the activities of the engineer, took prece
dence, which at first resulted in clarity and
awareness of objective needs. Then the increas
ing performance demands restricted the engineer
to the purely objective, functional-constructive
element. Industrial corporations, set on obtain
ing extreme economy, demanded spaces and
buildings of the greatest functional capacity. By
indiscriminately emphasizing functional con
struction, engineers were able to achieve
completely new architectonic results. Archi
tects, on the other hand, caught in the spell of
their traditional concepts of form, ignored the
new possibilities; they were either unable able to
free themselves from traditional constructions
and forms or they used the new structural possi
bilities to realize incongruous monumental and
representational effects. For instance, although
Gottfried Semper both recognized the suitability
IN D U S T R IA L B U IL D IN G S
251
of iron as a new structural m aterial and under

stood the ideal o f its system atic appli
c a tio n - in v is ib le architecture, the possibility of
creating m axim um functionality using a m ini
mum am ount o f m a terial because he was
unable to liberate him self from stone construc
tion, he dem anded at the sam e tim e that iron not
be applied independently.41 It was only to be
used to increase the spanning capabilities of
more com pact constructions; th at is to say, he
sub o rdinated a new constructive principle to a
principle derived from the concepts o f form of
the past.
P eter Behrens, led astray by the im perialist
consciousness o f pow er o f the prew ar era and
lim ited by classical influences, believed it was
necessary to place a facade on the front of his
A EG T urbine H all, w hich is otherw ise a robust
structure, in B erlin-M oabit. H e designed the cor
ners o f this iron hall as m ighty ashlar blocks with
the intention o f creating a m aterial and static
co n trad ictio n an architecturally effective con
tra s t and o f achieving an im posing effect.
Yet these m asonry co rn er pillars, which
p roduce a hieratic, im posing effect, are in fact
41 [H ilberseim er refers to S em pers rem arks on the castiron sty le ; see G o ttfrie d Sem per, Der Stil in den technischen
und tektonischen Kiinste 2 vols. (M unich: F. B ruckm ann,
1860-63), tran sla te d as Style in the Technical and Tectonic
Arts, or. Practical Aesthetics ed. H a rry F rancis M allgrave,
trans. H a rry F rancis M allgrave and M ichael R obinson
(Los A ngeles: G e tty R esearch In stitu te , 2004), 658-59.]
The
sym bol
ism of
facades
Fig. 73
252
Fig. 73 Peter Behrens, AEG Turbine Hall, Berlin, 1909
254
not pillars at all. They are, as shown in the

floor plan, composed of a thin shell of reinforced
concrete. They represent an attem pt to use
new technological means to achieve archaic
effectsa typical aspect of facade architecture,
a desire to symbolize uncertain sensations of
nonexistent forces, a desire to subordinate
organic features to representational tastes.
Industrial buildings that constitute pure
Pure
engineer works of engineering are more significant. Their
ing works
astounding architectonics are based not on a
vague aesthetic sensibility but on powerful origi
nality, on a naive sense of architectonics. They
prove that great functionality includes not only
the m ost practical designs but also the m ost aes
thetically perfect solutions. Only by completely
meeting all needs can impressive, typical solu
tions be found and new building types created.
Despite the heterogeneity of industrial
buildings, which derives from their diverse pur
poses, their common characteristics include
precise objectivity and the strictest fulfillment
of economic and technological necessities.
These characteristics are the basis for a perfect
ly functional designfor works of convincing
self-assurance.
Industrial buildings are characterized by
The diver
sity of
their extremely large, functionally defined diver
industrial
sity. Buildings and rooms are differentiated ac
buildings
cording to size and the type of object to be handled,
in accordance with the production processes. The
relationship of individual buildings and rooms to
255
Fig. 74 Karl Bernhard, Silk-weaving Factory, Nowawes

(Babelsberg), 1912
Fig. 75 Erich Mendelsohn, Red Banner Textile Factory, St.

Petersburg, 1925; model
each other is determ ined by the coordinated flow

o f raw m aterials and partial and com pleted goods
through the course o f production. C ounteractive
and reverse movem ents of m aterials lead to a lack
o f space and raise production costs.
Spatial requirem ents vary according to
function. W orkshops and production room s may
require large, sm all, high, or low form ats. They
may have to be at ground level, elevated, or
below ground. They may also have to accom m o
date p roduction processes in w hich work flows
vertically in stacked production rooms. In the
m etropolis the high price o f land forces the use
256
Fig. 76 Wayss & Freitag, Maizena grain silos, Barby an der

Elbe, 1922-24
Fig. 76
of multistory buildings, even for production pro

cesses which could be accommodated in a
horizontal building. Beyond single and multi
story buildings there are production processes
that require great height, making halls a neces
sity primarily when overhead cranes are required.
For the accommodation of fluids and gasses, for
the storing of ore, coal, cement, and grain, container structures and silos are necessary.
In contrast to stone constructions, which
use only lateral force and vertical compression,
257
constructions in steel and reinforced concrete

use tension and curvature, w hereby structures of
astounding daring and com pletely new spatial
forms are enabled: extended, horizontally cov
ered w orkshops; enorm ous, broadly spanned
halls; tall, skeletal structures; cantilevered con
structions; and thin-w alled container and silos.
Because o f the inherent possibility o f placing
windows everyw here and at any size, all-day illu
m ination can be achieved even in low-rise
buildings co nstructed on large developed spaces,
since the light can en ter through skylight sheds
or lanterns. In ord er to achieve the m ost unhin
d ered horizontal extension o f a structure while
m aintaining suitable lighting conditions, widespan tra in platform ro o f trusses are com m only
em ployed, w hich, at the ends, becom e large p er
pen d icular skylights in the form o f gabled ro o f
structures, thus also considerably influencing
the external ch aracter o f a building. If widespan spaces w hose entire height is needed for
op erations are required, this can be accom m o
dated by a new stru ctu ral system , which places
the truss inside the overhead lantern system that
runs along the ro o f in a caterpillar-like fashion,
enabling a level ceiling and a space th at can be
used in all o f its dim ensions.
A hall is required when both spaciousness
and g reat heights are necessary. T he cross sec
tion for halls allow s m any variations, all o f which
are determ ined by the intended use. Trusses
and sup p o rts are b o th the stru ctu ral and
M eans of
construc
tion
Fig. 74
Low-rise
buildings
Halls
258
M ulti
story
buildings
M E T R O P O L IS A R C
s p a c e -d e fin in g
i n te r io r anj
s tru c tu ri
te m s
w ith r a r
I
ings,
la te r a l
b u ild in 1
depen<
tu r n d<
th e
in d u s trj
to ry by
p a r tic u
b u ild in
w id e,
e n a b le
ery. Th!
a n d e le i
a llo w ai
F tJ
plexes.
convey^
c o n taii
fu rn a a
259
260
The
creative
mastery
of means
In the future the architect will have to relin

quish both the desire to superficially beautify the
work of the engineer and to impose monumen
tality on engineering structures. For the sake of a
unity of a higher order he will cooperate with the
engineer to put architectonic interests at the ser
vice of structural problems. The new can only be
built on the foundation of the constructive and
the functional. The constructive idea must be
infused with the architectonic spirit. The engi
neers drive toward characteristic solutions must
not be annulled by preconceived concepts of
form. The architect, through the force of the divi
sion of labor and through his ignorance, has lost
control of constructive elements. Only when the
architect recovers control and creatively masters
them, will he emerge from the sterility of his epigonism and achieve truly creative output.
Although artistic will will indeed always be deci
sive, this will must nevertheless be characterized
by the fact that it excludes no element that con
tributes to the definition of unity.42 Calculated
construction and an instinctive feeling for masses
and forms must be one; contradictory elements
must be designed as a unity. Mathematics and
aesthetics are not opposed; they are equal tools,
the absolute basis of architecture.
42 [Hilberseimer uses the phrase kiinsterlisches Wollen,
which approximates Alois Riegls concept of Kunstwollen,
or artistic volition. Hilberseimer incorporated the con
cept of Kunstwollen into the earliest drafts of
Grofistadtarchitektur. See this volume, p. 58.]
Building Trades
and the
Building Industry
M etropolisarchitecture is distinguished from
The
altered
the architecture o f the past prim arily through
premises
changed sociological and econom ic prem ises.43
New functional requirem ents have produced
peculiarities o f form th at have com e to com
pletely define m etropolisarchitecture. Today we
need not cathedrals, tem ples, or palaces, but
rather residential buildings, com m ercial build
ings, and factories, which, however, have been
built to resem ble cathedrals, temples, and pal
aces. In addition to designing the city as such, one
of the m ost im portant tasks o f m etropolisarchi
tecture is to sensibly design the residential
building, the com m ercial building, and the fac
tory. Pure m odels o f these building types have yet
to emerge. They m ust first be created. T he hom o
geneity o f the intended use enables com prehensive
standardization and thus an industrialization of
the entire building industry. This is a necessary
task for which no t even the first step has been
taken today. T he industrialization o f production,
43 [H ilberseim er uses th e w ord Grofistadtarchitektur for
the first tim e here. T h e term is re n d ere d as m etro p o
lisa rc h ite ctu re in o rd e r to convey the im m ediate
relationship betw een the m etro p o lis and arch itectu re in
H ilb erse im e rs th eo ry o f the city. See this volum e, p. 12.]
262
Resis
tance
Mock
architec
ture
the standardization of production processes, the

typification of the products of production, and
generalization to the point of universality are
today the tasks of every industrial firm.
Until now, the building industry has shied
away from industrialization, normalization, and
the mode of analysis associated with these pro
cesses, which are the foundations of all industry.
It still rests on individual, manual foundations,
while the entire present is based on collective,
industrial conditions. Business and industry
have essentially altered the environment. Every
field of labor has been affected by the strict divi
sion of labor, creating corresponding production
processes that meet new requirements. Indus
trial collectivism has replaced manual
individualism. Only the building industry con
tinues to operate using manual labor. It has
rem ained essentially unaltered through all of
these changes in production. Today it still applies
the working methods of antiquity and the Mid
dle Ages. This is a strange discrepancy, for which
architects are mainly responsible.
The architecture of the past century was ret
rospectively oriented. It was fully alienated from
its most fundamental elements and ignored every
invigorating contemporary development. Archi
tects hoped to remedy this problem with all kinds
of mock forms. Even in their best achievements,
architects were not able to free themselves from
the urge to conceal necessity with beauty.
Instead of demanding from engineers, chemists,
T H E B U IL D IN G IN D U S T R Y
263
and industry new structures and m aterials to cre

ate new, m ore rational m odes o f building,
architects absurdly used the new structures and
m aterials offered to them as substitute materials.
For example, reinforced concrete was used to
im itate cut stone, and iron structures were dis
guised w ith stylistic elem ents from all past ages.
The academ ic stylistic tradition hindered the
com plete recognition and utilization o f new con
structive possibilities. T hrough their conser
vatism, architects have im peded or rather inhib
ited the im plem entation and exploitation o f new
m ethods and m odes o f w orking in all branches
of the building trades, thereby frustrating the
fruitful effects th a t industry has delivered in
every o ther area o f practice for architecture.
Because m anual construction has stub
bornly persevered, architects have not yet
realized th a t the m achine is only a tool with
greater po ten tial than m anual labor. T he fruitful
effects o f m echanical production processes on
form have no t yet been recognized. F or the m ean
time, one sees in the m achine only schem atization
and an im pedim ent to the process o f creation.
The precise opposite is actually true. By m echa
nizing tools we w ill achieve a g reater freedom o f
creation; it will n o t hem in a c rea to rs intentions,
but rath er stim ulate them . Because, like a labor
ers tool, the m achine is a tool in the hands of the
creator. It is by no m eans an end in itself, but
only a m eans to an end, an executing organ o f a
superior will.
Im ita
tions
The
m achine
is a
means,
not an
end in
itself
Freedom
of
creation
Architec
ture of
the past
and of the
present
The metropolis, with its entirely new demands

and functions, has produced a new type of archi
tecture, which is in many ways diametrically
opposed to the architecture of the past. Despite
a certain dependence on social, commercial, and
productive forms, the architecture of the past
had essentially cultic and religious origins.
M etropolisarchitecture lacks such associations
entirely. It is born of real needs and defined by
objectivity and economy; material and construc
tion; and economic and sociological factors. It is
therefore independent of historical architecture,
which arose from fundamentally different rela
tions, and it cannot, as is often attem pted, be
derived from architecture of the past. It is illogi
cal, absurd, and contradictory to try to apply the
forms of historical architecture, detached from
their premises, abstractly, indiscriminately, and
without distinction.
M etropolisarchitecture is a new type of
architecture with its own forms and laws. It rep
resents the design of todays operative economic
and sociological conditions. It seeks to free itself
from all that is not immediate. It strives for
reduction to the most essential elements, to
achieve the greatest development of energy, the
most extreme possibilities of tension, and ulti
mate precision. It corresponds to contemporary
human life; it is the expression of a new
265
aw areness o f life th at is not subjective-individ

ual but rath er objective-collective.
A rchitecture is the creation o f space. Its A rchitec
foundation is the sense o f space. T hrough m ate ture is the
rial o bjectification the sense o f space is made creation
o f space
perceptible m aterial substance is form ed ac
cording to an idea. T he form ation o f m aterial
substance according to an idea also entails the
form ation o f ideal substance according to m ate
rial laws. A rchitecture is created through the
union o f b oth factors in a single form. A rchitec
ture is therefore ju s t as dep endent on a spatial
idea as on the space-enclosing m aterial. It only
em erges through th e ir indissoluble unity; it is
realized in the process o f design. To a much
greater degree than the oth e r arts, architecture is
rooted in m aterial, the form al design o f which is
one o f arch itec tu res central tasks.
T he
E xternal form and in terio r space are m utu
ally d ependent. T he organization o f the interior relation
ship
determ ines the design o f the exterior, ju st as, between
vice versa, in terio r space depends on essential exterior
and
features o f exterior design. E xterior form and
interior
interior space share a com m on b order in the
external surface o f a structure. T hese surfaces,
as a co n centration o f b oth spatial conditions,
co nstitute the actual architectonic form. The
universal agreem ent o f in terio r and exterior cre
ates the p ro p o rtio n ality necessary for perfection.
In single-room buildings this agreem ent is easy
to achieve. T he relationships becom e m ore com
plicated as the num ber o f room s and floors
266
The floor
plan
Style as
result
increases. A horizontal design of a structure will

arise on its own as a result of the layering of
floors, while an exclusive emphasis of vertical
elements in a horizontally layered building
is nonsensical.
The relationship of interior to exterior is
essentially determ ined by the floor plan. Thus
the floor plan is of the greatest importance for
the general design of a building. The plan should
be discernible from the buildings external
appearance and vice versa. The floor plan intro
duces the third spatial coordinate, depth, to the
horizontal and the vertical elements; thus it must
be systematically integrated. It represents the
horizontal projections of the structure, which,
along with the vertical projections (sections and
elevations), geometrically define and establish
the building.
The sum of the most characteristic features
of a periods total artistic creation is labeled its
style. Our time has until now searched in vain for
its style. It has summoned neither a general will
nor directed creative people to concrete prob
lems o f design. U nder the suggestive influence
of the past and the characteristic historicism of
the nineteenth century, our time has believed
that it had to be imitative in order to be effective.
Misjudging the most im portant style-forming
factors, our time has considered the architec
tural problem to be one of pure form and sought
to hide its creative inability behind decorative
stylistic masks. In seeking style, the absence of
267
style was achieved. Because, like form, style can

never be an objective but only a re s u lt style is
never an end in itse lf but always the result of the
creative perm eation o f the entirety o f sociologi
cal, econom ic, and technical conditions and
dem ands; style em bodies their harm onization
and artistic expression. T he secondary, form, has
been placed before the prim ary, organic unity.
But the individual form , the detail, is not inde
pendent and detachable, as academ icism would
have us believe, but rath er is always dependent
on the total design, a relation o f the latter. Today
it appears as if this academ icism has been
overcome. In arch itectu re a fundam ental renew al
is m aking itse lf felt, particularly in response to
the building tasks o f the m etropolis. This move
ment is w orking tow ard the essential, tow ard
recognizing and designing the im m ediate and
the necessary.
T he new architecture, w hich is now being
form ed, has finally found the basis on which its
activities can becom e fruitful. Like every work,
architecture m ust also be connected to the over
all w hole and defined by necessity. It has finally
been recognized th a t architecture can only be
form ed in itself, can only be based on its own
fundam ental elem ents, only shaped out o f itself.
A striving for clarity, arch itectu ral logic, and
inner tru th will lead to an austere unification.
All works, as diverse as they may be, m ust em a
nate from a unified spirit. T he architect m ust be
in accord w ith the principles o f the engineers, of
268
The basis
of the
new
architec
tonic
The
problem
of archi
tecture
their creations: machines and ships, cars and air

planes, cranes and bridges, which are always
connected by the spirit of unity and represent
the expression o f a common will.
Rational thinking, accuracy, precision, and
economyuntil now characteristics of the engi
n eermust become the basis of the new
architectonic. All objects must be complete in
themselves, reduced to their ultim ate essential
forms, organized reasonably, and led to their
ultim ate consummation.
Like every discipline, architecture is also
confronting the requisite need to provide clarity
regarding the means on which it is based and
which are at its disposal. In this context, painting
has provided valuable preliminary work. It was
painting that first drew attention to the funda
mental forms inherent in all art: geometric and
cubic elements that perm it no further objectifi
cation. The simple cubic bodiesboxes and
spheres, prisms and cylinders, pyramids and
cones, purely constructive elem entsare the
fundamental forms of every architecture. Their
corporeal clarity demands clarity of form, bring
ing order to chaos in the most realistic manner.
The problem of architecture, apart from the
practicality of materials and their appropriate
use, is the spatial design of masses, which en
compasses the organization, visualization,
realization, and formation of a vision. The cor
poreality of architectural masses is produced by
the rhythm of light and shadow. The whole
269
design lives as a result o f light. The entire rhythm

receives its vitality through it. T he w eight or
lightness o f architecture depends on the effects
of light and shadow, on the surface th at receives
and controls both. In o rder to use light and
shadow according to their essential properties
and intentions, the architect has only certain
geom etrical com binations at his disposal. W hat
trem endous effects he can create from lim ited
means ... M ight the effects o f art be greater the
more sim ple the m eans? (A uguste R odin).44
T he architect m ust forget the entire ballast
of form s w ith w hich he has been burdened by a
scholarly education. T he econom y o f a train car
or an ocean liner provides an exam ple superior
to any diagram o f stylistic ornam ent. T he archi
tect m ust develop solutions to new tasks
organically, taking intended use, construction,
and m aterial into consideration. In the process
of design he m ust rem em ber the fundam ental
architectural elem ents: structure, surface, color,
window and door openings, balconies, loggias,
and chimneys. W orking w ith these elem ents, he
will arrive at an arch itectu re th a t em erges ou t o f
its own principles. H e will be able to elim inate
ornam ental d ecoration and oth e r adornm ents
because adornm ents are nothing but shells hid
ing unsolved arch itectu ral problem s concealed
44 [A uguste R odin, Die Kathedralen Frankreichs (Leipzig:
K. W olff, 1917), 4. H ilb erse im e r c ited the G erm an tra n s
lation o f R o d in s F rench text; see this volum e, pp. 59-60.]
270
by ornam ental plaster and neutralized by decora

tive design. Only designing the truly functional
will lead to a pure architecture. The constructive
function must be viewed as architecture: the taut
ness of functional relationships, construction
itself, must overcome its own materiality and
Individ become architectonic form. M etropolisarchitec
ual cell
ture is considerably dependent on solving two
and urban
factors: the individual cell of the room and the
organism
collective urban organism. The solution will be
determ ined by the manner in which the room is
manifested as an element of buildings linked
together in one street block, thus becoming a
determining factor of the city structure, which is
the actual objective of architecture. Inversely,
the constructive design of the urban plan will
gain considerable influence on the formation of
the room and the building as such.
The
The room, its constitutive elements of
elements floors, walls, ceilings, windows and doors, m ate
of the
rial and color, furniture and its arrangement,
room
produce a large complex of new creative possi
bilities. Through a new conception of space, new
spatial relationships are created, new forms and
proportions. Through the organization of indi
vidual rooms in the floor plan, the functional
building that encompasses an entire street block
is born. In doing so, extensive relationships of
form are produced. A comprehensive synthesis
of form is made possible.
In addition to the cubic mass, which is
determ ined by the shaping power of the floor
271
plan, the num ber o f floors, and the silhouette of

The
the building, the partitio n in g o f the building sur bearers of
rhythm
faces and their perforation are o f essential
im portance. T he architectonic problem in this
instance lies in developing projections, setbacks,
and recesses th a t em erge organically from the
structure. T he projection assum es a positive
function in the com posite surface; the recess,
with its darkness, a negative one. As organiza
tional factors, b oth spatial functions determ ine
the rhythm o f the structure. T hus entrances,
windows, loggias, pillars, and the like are the
actual exponents and bearers o f rhythm . The
sharpness and precision o f rhythm ic accentua
tion depend on the relationship o f the form to
light; they are based on the co n trast o f the light
ness o f the surface and the darkness o f the
recessions th a t pen e trate it.
Even large openings, deeply recessed
spaces, and entrance alcoves m ust not be neu
tralized by decoratively applied pillars or
columns. As space-form ing elem ents, they are to
be organically in co rp o rated into the building.
They are n o t to be narrow ed; they are to becom e
true space-form ing elem ents. They m ust be
transform ed from form -destroying elem ents into
form -building elem ents.
A shift in the relationship o f window to sur Windows
and
face is o f great im portance for large buildings
surface
that occupy entire city blocks o r for high-rises of
m any stories. In historical architecture the w in
dow was always an autonom ous elem ent, a factor
272
The
identity
of con
struction
and form
of division, accent, or axial order. It was a pene

tration of the wall, and, as such, it had a negative
surface function to fulfill in contrast to the sur
rounding surface features of the building mass.
In an apartm ent block or high-rise, the window is
entirely divested of this significance as an auton
omous building element. As a result of its
frequent occurrence, the window no longer con
trasts with the surface but instead begins to
assume some of the surfaces positive functions;
it becomes a part and component of the surface
itself. The window no longer interrupts the wall
surface but rather invigorates it evenly. From
this shift in meaning, a new unifying element is
acquired, created from purely functional pur
poses because the window, applied in a wide
variety of ways, could easily become dangerous
in a long or m ultistory building.
The identity of construction and form is an
essential precondition of architecture. While con
struction and form may seem to be opposed,
architecture is founded on precisely their points of
contact, their unity. Construction and material are
the physical preconditions of architectural design,
and they are always interrelated. Thus Greek
architecture is based on the interplay of verticals
and horizontals, as dictated by stone construction,
and uses all the possibilities of cut stone while
maintaining the unity of the material. A Greek
temple is a perfect work of engineering in stone.
Through the construction of arches and vaults the
Romans greatly enriched the simple interplay of
273
the vertical and the horizontal. Yet the Romans

abandoned the unity o f m aterials in the separation
of structural ribs, infill, and revetment, which to
this day has created a characteristic composite
mode o f construction, above all in the framing of
openings and the covering o f floors with cut stone.
From the superim position o f several stories orga
nized in colum nar orders em erged the standard
horizontal organization o f m ultistory buildings, a
principle that M ichelangelo was the first to break.
He was the first to com bine several stories into one
single order. W ith this development, the absolute
ornam entality o f building forms derived from
antiquity was born. The forms gradually lost their
sense o f structural design until they finally became
mock beings in their entirety: the architecture of
the nineteenth century.
A s a resu lt o f its new structural tasks, M etropo
m etropolisarchitecture was the first to make new lisarchi
tecture
co n struction and new m aterials an inevitable
dem and. O nly building m aterials th at allow for
the g reatest use o f space and com bine increased
resistance to w ear and w eathering w ith great
solidity are to be used in m etropolisarchitecture.
Iron, concrete, and reinforced concrete are the Iron and
building m aterials th a t enable the new types reinforced
concrete
of structures needed to m eet m etropolitan
dem ands: ho rizo n tal or vaulted enclosures for
large-span spaces and g reat cantilevered, selfsu pporting projections.
C oncrete and reinforced concrete are build
ing m aterials th a t place very few restrictions on
274
the fantasy of the architect. We do not mean theii

malleability; i. e., the possibility of overcoming
all physical impediments through casting. On the
contrary: their constructive consequences, the
possibility of creating a completely homoge
neous structure, the combination of supporting
and supported parts, the pure enclosure of
masses, and the rendering superfluous of every
kind of covering and trimming.
Overcom
Through the constructive possibilities of
ing
iron and reinforced concrete the old support and
the old
load system, which only perm itted building from
support
and load bottom up and from front to rear, has been over
come. Both enable cantilevered construction and
systems
projection beyond supports. They make possible
the complete separation of supporting and sup
ported parts and the reduction of the supporting
construction to a minimum of points. The struc
ture is separated into a load-bearing skeleton
and its enclosing and dividing walls, which are
no longer load-bearing. From these properties
emerge new technical and material problems and
especially new architectural and optical prob
lem s a complete change of the apparently
well-founded static visual form of a structure, so
that when a cantilevered construction is applied
and large plate-glass surfaces covering entire
stories are used, a new architecture of floating
lightness comes into being.
With the disappearance of walls and
Horizon
tal arti
supports at the front, the horizontal layering
culation
of multilevel buildings will be emphasized.
275
H orizontal design has until now been com pletely

ignored due to the decorative use o f pillars, yet it
is one o f the m ost im p o rtan t characteristics of a
m ultistory building.
A long w ith reinforced concrete construc Glass and
steel
tion, the application o f glass and steel as prim ary
building m aterials is o f great im portance. Paul
Scheerbart correctly recognized th a t glass offers
com pletely new a rchitectural possibilities.45 His
w ritings, however, have led E xpressionist ar
chitects to use glass construction for antiarchitectural, decorative fantasies. They igno
rantly flouted the stru ctu ral preconditions of
steel and glass buildings.
Because this is a question o f entirely new
m aterials for spatial form ation, the possibilities
of this com bination o f m aterials m ust first be
investigated in a purely experim ental manner.
The relationship o f the sense o f space to such
com binations o f m aterials and spatial forms
m ust be investigated. Initially preference will be
given to the corporeality and solidity o f the stone
wall over the steel-fram ed glass wall o f the same
statistical solidity.
N o m aterial can be used contrary to its
own properties. T herefore a building o f steel and
45 [H ilberseim er refers to Paul S ch ee rb arts concept o f
glass arch itectu re , w hich E xpressionist architects
cham pioned. See P aul S cheerbart, Glasarchitektur (B er
lin: Verlag d er S turm , 1914); Ludw ig H ilberseim er, Paul
S cheerbart u n d die A rch ite k ten , Das Kunstblatt 3(1919):
271-74; this volum e, p. 31.]
276
Color
glass requires a different technical treatm ent

than a compact building. One will have to con
sider the relationship of transparent glass to
lighting because glass structures seem to absorb
more light than they reflect. The glass building
without windows or other openings also requires
a new structural and metric design than that
commonly used until now in a standard compact
building that is pierced by openings. In particu
lar, the receptivity to color and simultaneous
transparency of glass contain material possibili
ties that make Scheerbarts suggestions appear
as more than merely utopian visions.
For the time being, however, we are still far
from a planned and logical study and application
of this new building material. Nearly everyone
concerned with glass and steel construction has
either overlooked or ignored the principles of this
new type of construction, seeing in it instead a
new means for exploring decorative possibilities.
The element of color has been handled
with great indifference in the past. A general
underestim ation of color was followed by its
application in a hypertrophic and completely
undisciplined way during Expressionism. It was
applied only superficially to surfaces and build
ings without an organic connection to material
or form; without becoming one of their features.
In architecture, color can never be applied as
color as such, but only as the color of building
materials. The coloration of architecture is
always determ ined by the coloration of the
277
m aterial as one o f its properties. T hus the ele

m ent o f color and its relationship to light are of
the g reatest im portance.
Evenness, consistency, intensity o f light,
rate o f change, and air hum idity and tem per
ature are the elem ents th at unify the optical
image o f architecture according to definite laws.
The haze o f the air hovering over the m etro
polis dilutes any clear color. T h at is why the pri
m ary color o f every m etropolis is an undefined
grey, the very color o f haze. Yet coloration can
co n tribute greatly to the intensification o f archi
tectural aims. M onotone coloration can becom e
a unifying elem ent, w hile m ulticolor schem es
can becom e invigorating, even com position
al elem ents by em ploying color, both single
buildings and m ulti-building projects can be
more tautly brought together, heightening their
cubic effect.
C olor can also be used to em phasize indi
vidual p arts o f a building, to differentiate parts,
to create or su p p o rt a hierarchy, or to direct the
eye to the flow o f the principal lines. Yet color
m ust never be an added elem ent but always a
p roperty o f the building m aterial.
T he relationship o f building m aterials to
light is also o f g reat im portance. T he tra n sp a r
ency and opacity, sm oothness and bluntness,
hardness and softness o f m aterials, sharp lines
and edges, and tra n sitio n s from raised to recessed
surfaces are decisive for the refraction o f light,
the reduction o f brightness, and therefore for
The
relation
ship
to light
278
The
general
law
color. They determine the variable degree of

corporeality and the degree of independence
among individual parts. As unifying and isolat
ing elements of the compositional material, they
are of greatest import.
The distinctiveness of an organism can be
seen in its individual organs, which embody this
distinction. The general law, in its universality, is
represented in the entire organism, the details
dem onstrating only the specific case. This is why
the difference of the metropolis from other
urban forms must also be displayed in individual
buildings. Just as the metropolis is not a tradi
tional city on a larger scale, the metropolitan
building is not a conversion of older forms to
larger dimensions.
New structural and spatial needs and
demands, altered requirem ents and different
uses have led to new constructions and m ateri
als, thus producing new forms.
The m etropolitan structure, as a cell, and
the m etropolitan organism, as a part of a unity,
must contain essential architectural characteris
tics that are conditioned by the nature of the
metropolis. Because the preconditions of past
architectural practice no longer apply, their
means of expression cannot be maintained. The
decorative schema of the Renaissance cannot be
transferred to an apartm ent building, a ware
house, or an office building if these buildings are
not to lose their m eaningit was due to this sort
of nonsense that the offices of Ludwig
279
H offm anns new m unicipal adm inistration

building in Berlin receive so little light.46
A ll details applied at the scale o f individual
room s becom e absurd if their intensity and
m otivating force cannot incorporate the entire
building; th at is, w here they are by nature inti
mate details. T herefore options for incorporating
organizational details are greatly reduced in
m etropolisarchitecture. O rnam ent in particular
is entirely absurd. Everything surges tow ard a
powerful design o f the profile, o f the floor plan,
which d eterm ines the contours o f the building.
In a decisively cubic construction details recede
into the background. T he general design of
m asses and the laws o f pro p o rtio n that govern
them are the decisive factors.
T he necessity o f creating a law o f form that
is equally valid for every elem ent, for an often
m onstrous and heterogeneous mass o f m aterial,
requires th a t arch itectu ral form be reduced to
the m ost concise, m ost necessary, and m ost gen
eral characteristics and restricted to the
geom etric cubic form s, the fundam ental ele
m ents o f all architecture.
A ccordingly, the m ost essential qualities of
the arc h ite c t his sense o f m ass and proportion
and his organizational ab ility acquire greater
im portance. To form great m asses by suppress
ing ram p an t m ultiplicity according to a general
46 [H ilberseim er refers to H o ffm an n s S tadthaus in Ber
lin (1900-11). O n H offm ann see n o te 30, p. 198.]
280
law is N ietzsches definition of style: the general

case, the law is respected and emphasized; the
exception, however, is put aside, nuance is swept
away, measure becomes master, chaos is forced
to become form: logical, unambiguous, mathe
matics, law.47
47 [For Hilberseimers reference to Nietzsches defini

tion of style, see this volume, pp. 62-63.]
Selected Essays
The Will to Architecture

Der Wille zur A rchitektur, Das Kunstblatt 7
(1923): 133-40.
The art of the past decades fled from reality.
Because one could not cope with the facts of
societal life, one turned to mysticism. The pres
ent and its tasks were forgotten in favor of
metaphysical speculations. All will to design life
was absent. Due to irresponsibility, to a deficient
desire for life, refuge was sought in an artificially
idealized past. And yet, unlike most other peri
ods before, the present found itself obligated to
grapple with the realities and agitations of this
world. It forced a creative rationalism, called
forth a revolution of spiritual means: politics,
science, art. And thus after many experimental
attempts, art discovered the path to reality. It
reduced illusionism, the sole aim of art since the
Renaissance, to absurdity; it created a new appre
ciation for the objects of our environment. Today
it is no longer essential to simply paint paintings,
sculpt statues, or create aesthetic arrangements.
Rather it is crucial to design reality itself. It is not
im portant to paint reproductions, but to form
entities, to apply the constructive laws of art to
the room, to the object, as reality. It must be
attem pted to take all those forces that today still
operate in a reproductive fashion and connect
them to productive labor process, to methodi
S E L E C T E D ESSAYS
283
cally spur them to efficacy. Because the objective

is to order the w orld and hum an relationships, to
induce responsible actions, to regulate the m ost
im portant and essential conditions o f life.
Only by concentrating all artistically cre
ative strength in one defined area, by setting the
m ost resolute aim, will we achieve the output
required. A rchitecture is the artistic field that
can solve the m ost problem s today. This explains
the efforts o f all m odern artistic genres to con
nect to architecture. F irst the im age surface was
rendered architectonically. T hus as early as
E xpressionism a clarification o f the means o f
design was discerned. T he construction o f the
im age to o k place according to stru ctu ral princi
ples. But E xpressionism did no t extend beyond
the dom ain o f the em otional. Subjective arbi
trariness and em otional obfuscation hindered
the logical expression o f form.
Conscious o f the fundam ental elem ents of
all design, C ubism reverted to foundational geo
m etric-cubic forms. C ubism is the first stage on
the path from illusion to autonom ous form ation.
It recognized the identity o f m aterial and form,
attem p ted to design w ith conscious, stylistic
will, yet ended like Expressionism in subjective
speculation. T he problem o f anthropom orphic
figuration continued to absorb it far too much. It
is no coincidence th a t precisely Picasso and
A rchipenko in itia ted a new Classicism .
A b stract art was the first to transcend the
narrow b o u ndary o f the subjective in o rder to
284
reach the objective, the typical. It relinquished

the compositional principle in favor of the con
structive. With Suprematism it achieved its
ultim ate effects. Abstract idealism reached its
apogee; everything still materialistic in some
way was destroyed. The conclusion of an artistic
phase was reached, the way made free for new
creative possibilities.
The Constructivists strode this paththe
path to realitypurposefully. Their provisional,
as yet non-utilitarian constructions reveal the
unmistakable will to possess reality. The world
itself became the m aterial of their design; every
object was drawn into their domain. From the
construction of painting, the Constructivists
transitioned to the construction of objects, to
architecture in the most all-encompassing sense
of the word. The Constructivists most lucidly
recognized the new aim, putting their entire cre
ative power at its disposal.
Rational thinking, accuracy, precision, and
economyuntil now characteristics of the en
gineermust become the basis of this com
prehensive architectonic. Because Constructiv
ism is no new ornamentality, no new formalism.
It grips objects themselves, permeates and suf
fuses them with spirit, reduces them to their
essential forms, organizes them reasonably, leads
them to their ultimate consummation of form.
In the end, the works of the Constructivists
are only experiments of material; they are
attem pts to become acquainted with and shape
285
m aterial and its possibilities; attem pts to fathom

the potentials o f assem bly and interdependen
cies, to explain contrasts o f m aterial and form,
to w ork deliberately to solve the m odern prob
lems posed by the latter. T hese newly discovered
laws o f form will achieve an all-encom passing
influence on m odern architecture. They are cer
tainly m odified by different requirem ents and
purposes. Every new object will always em body
the law inherent to itself. But as disparate as
these objects may be, they will always be con
nected through the laws o f clarity and economy.
T he experim ental character o f C onstruc
tivist w orks excludes from the start th at they are
ends u nto them selves. They are only works of
tran sitio n , intended for u tilitarian architectural
constructions. A w ell-disciplined training in
architecture is the u ltim ate objective.
Like every art, architecture is also confront
ing the requisite need to provide clarity regarding
the m eans upon w hich it is based and which are
at its disposal. In this context, painting has pro
vided valuable p relim inary work. It was painting
th at first drew atten tio n to the fundam ental
geom etric-cubic form s in h eren t in all art. The
sim ple cubic bodies: boxes and spheres, prism s
and cylinders, pyram ids and cones, purely con
structive elem ents, are the fundam ental form s o f
every architecture. T heir corporeal clarity
dem ands clarity o f form . A rchitecture originates
from geom etry. W hen geom etric entities becom e
p ro p o rtio n ed bodies, architecture em erges,
286
revealing diversity within great unity. The cen

tral axis takes precedence over details. Particulars
retreat fully before the decisive cubic composi
tion. The standard is set by the general design of
masses, the law of proportions to which it is sub
ject. The m ost heterogeneous material masses
require a law of form applicable for every ele
m ent in equal measure. Thus structural forms
are reduced to their most essential, most gen
eral, most simple, most unambiguous. Rampant
m ultiplicity is suppressed; formation occurs
according to a general law of form .1
The architecture of the present distin
guishes itself from the architecture of the past
primarily through its sociological and economic
premises. Technical particularities that are abso
lutely definitive for todays architecture result
from new function-oriented requirements. These
particularities are new and exhilarating elements,
which constitute, through their shapes, the artis
tic moment of today. Today we need not
cathedrals, temples, or palaces, but rather resi
dential buildings, commercial buildings, and
factories, which, however, were formerly built to
resemble cathedrals, temples, and palaces. One
of the most essential tasks of architecture today
is to sensibly design the residential building, the
commercial building, and the factory. Pure
1 [Although Hilberseimer does not mention it here, his
discussion of the reduction of form and the suppression
of multiplicity draws on his reading of Friedrich
N ietzsches concept of style. See this volume, pp. 62-63.]
287
models o f these building types have yet to emerge.

They m ust first be created. T he homogeneity of
their intended uses enables com prehensive stan
dardization, a necessary, constructive task for
which not even the first step has been taken today.
U ntil now, architecture has shied away from nor
m alization, the process on which all industry is
based. It still rests on individual, m anual founda
tions, w hile the entire present is based on
collective, industrial conditions. Ignoring neces
sities has always led to rigidity. A nd what is more
rigid than the architecture o f the present? But
creativity reveals itself precisely by com prehen
sively addressing given conditions, by seeking an
adequate shape for them .
T odays arch itec tu re is considerably de
pen d e n t on solving tw o factors: the individual
cell o f th e room and th e collective u rb an organ
ism. T he so lu tio n will be d eterm in ed by the
m anner in w hich th e room is m anifested as an
elem ent o f buildings linked to g eth er in one
s tree t block, th u s becom ing a shaping factor of
the city stru ctu re, w hich is th e actual objective
o f arch itec tu re. Inversely, the constructive
design o f the u rb an plan w ill gain considerable
influence on th e co n stru ctiv e fo rm ation o f the
room and th e building as such.
T he room and its constitutive elem ents of
floors, w alls, ceilings, openings in the walls,
m aterial and color, fu rn itu re and its arrange
m ent, and the connection to neighboring
room s produce a large com plex o f creative-
288
constructive possibilities. Constructivism gener

ates a new conception of space, creates new
spatial relationships, new forms and proportions.
By organizing individual rooms in the floor plan,
the functional building that encompasses an
entire street block is born. In doing so, extensive
relationships of form are produced. A compre
hensive synthesis of form is made possible. In
addition to the cubic mass, which is determined
by the floor plan and the number of floors, of
essential im port is the partitioning of building
surfaces and their perforation. The technical
problem in this instance lies in developing pro
jections and recesses that emerge organically
from the structure. The projection assumes a
positive function in the composite surface, the
recess, with its darkness, a negative one. As orga
nizational factors, both functions determine the
rhythm of the structure.
W hat the room represents on a small scale,
the urban structure is on a large one: an allencompassing organization of reciprocal needs
and relationships. A number of factors must be
taken into account, some of which extend far
beyond the spatial nature of the city. These are
dependent on the economic and sociological
structure of the state. The distinctiveness of an
urban organism can be seen in its individual
organs, which embody this distinction. The gen
eral law, in its universality, is represented in the
entire organism; the individual building demon
strates one particular case. New technical and
289
HER
O D Q q
D O D O

B panDDDnn^R
DDD D
Fig. 77 Ludwig Hilberseimer, High-rise factory project, 1922
spatial needs and dem ands, w hich result from

altered requirem ents and different uses, lead to
new applications o f m aterial and to new kinds of
forms. T heir constructive character expresses
the singularity o f our age.
T he w ork o f the engineer is com pleted by
producing ratio n al o utput. T h a t o f the architect
begins w here the la tte r left off. F o r the architect,
a ratio n al solution is the m aterial o f design. A
com prehensive conception o f form takes prece
dence over the ratio n al solution. T he latter is
m erely a m eans for lending corporeality to an
idea, for actualizing it in space.
Proposal for City-Center

Development
Vorschlag zur City-Bebauung, Die Form 5,
nos. 23-24 (1930): 608-11. Republished in Mod
erne Bauformen 30, no. 3 (1931): 55-59.
One of the most important and current problems
for urban planning today is the reorganization
and reconstruction of the city center. Today the
center is a hybrid residential city and business
city. As such it is functional as neither one nor the
other. Thus all residences must be removed from
the city center so that it can be systematically
rebuilt for its purpose. Like the city center itself,
its structures also comprise a mixture of residen
tial and commercial buildings. The commercial
building of today evolved from the apartment
building as partition walls were removed from
floor to floor and larger windows were knocked
out. If one building was no longer sufficient, a
second and third would be annexed, until one day
the complexity of this product of happenstance
forced, in the interest of rational business man
agement, the construction of a new building. But
further development and expanding operations
would soon render this newly constructed build
ing insufficientespecially in the case of the
department storeand thus additional new
buildings would be required, which, despite being
adeptly attached to the old buildings, retained in
291
principle the disadvantages though on an

im proved fo u ndation as the original apartm ent
buildings that had been successively annexed
and converted for com m ercial purposes.
O ne exam ple o f how a large departm ent
store has been created from successively
annexed com ponents is the W ertheim d ep a rt
m ent store in B erlin on Leipziger Platz, which
today covers an entire stree t block o f consider
able d im ensions.1W hen, m ore than thirty years
ago, the first com ponent w as designed and exe
cuted, no one im agined th a t the space required
by th e W ertheim b uilding w ould am ount to w hat
it is today.
A further phase o f this developm ent is rep
resented by the T ietz departm ent store on
A lexanderplatz in Berlin. In this instance, a
building com plex o f approxim ately the same size
as the W ertheim departm ent store was created all
at once according to a specific plan, not piece
meal as a result o f successive expansion.2 In
doing so, all the advantages facilitated by a clear
design naturally benefited operations. N o t only
the d epartm ent store, but also the office building
has gone through this phase o f developm ent. For
1 [The W ertheim d ep a rtm en t s to re was built in four
stages from 1896 to 1912. A lfred M essel designed the
first three; H e in ric h S chw eitzer, the fourth. N o longer
extant.]
2 [The T ietz d ep a rtm en t sto re at A lexanderplatz was
designed by W ilhelm C rem e r and R ichard W olffenstein
and op en e d in 1905; a new atriu m was added in 1912. N o
longer extant.]
Fig. 52
292
____ _
METROPOUSARCHrrecTURE
294
Fig. 79 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Proposalfor City-Center
296
M ETROPOLISA RCHITECTU RE
Fig. 80 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Proposalfor City-Center
SE L E C T E D ESSAYS
Development, 1928-30; axonometric view
297
298
Fig. 81 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Proposal; axonometric view,

detail o f variant with circulation networks on three levels
example, the building complex of the Scherl

newspaper corporation in Berlin even today
consists of many individual former apartment
buildings, which, connected to one another, rep
resent a fantastic disarray of rooms and
passageways at various heights.3 As a result of
3 [Founded by August Scherl in 18 8 3, the Scherl corpora
tion published some of Germanys most popular newspapers
and magazines. The corporation was purchased by the
media mogul, industrialist, and right-wing politician
Alfred Hugenberg in 1916. Otto Kohtz designed the initial
headquarters of the Scherl corporation, which was built in
1928, and planned an expansion, which remained unexe
cuted, that would have encompassed an entire city block.
The building is no longer extant. On the project see Otto
Riedrich, Die N eubauten der Fa. Scherl G. M. B. H.,
Berlin, DeutscheBauzeitung 63, no. 42 (1929): 369-76.]
Fig. 82 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Proposal; transverse section
the associated difficulties, the Scherl corpora

tion has already begun constructing a new
building. It is relatively sim ple for larger com pa
nies to m eet th e ir space requirem ents by
constructing new buildings. T his is not the case
for sm aller businesses, w hich are forced to rent
space in old office buildings where room s are
often very im practical. In ord er for such an office
building to fulfill its purpose, the building m ust
be able to provide, in addition to the room s used
directly by sm all businesses, com m unal room s
for conferences and the like for individual ten
ants, who w ould not otherw ise be able to afford
them . T he office building can best m eet these
requirem ents, and thus offer entirely different
300
options for use, when it is liberated from the sin

gle building and instead covers an entire block.
By reconstructing the city center, an
option that is becom ing increasingly neces
sary, these dem ands can be easily met, and at
the same tim e existing objectionable condi
tions can be elim inated.
Expanding on a plan for a High-rise City
that was form ulated in 1924, this proposal dem
onstrates the reorganization and redevelopment
of the city center.4 W ithout increasing land use
and solely through an alternate distribution and
concentration of building masses, it allows the
city center to be developed and improved in a
way that completely meets the standards
dem anded by a business quarter. For this new
city center it is entirely possible to employ the
high-rise as the exclusive structural form because
it is to be constructed on an urban plan that cor
responds to this building type. Unlike the
high-rise cities o f America, it is not based on the
system of the individual building, which
descends from medieval times. This urban plan,
which is aligned with the high-rise, enables not
only a controlled flow of traffic but also the nec
essary supply of light and air by ensuring
sufficient intervals between buildings, avoiding
courtyards, and orienting the buildings toward
the sun. The necessarily large intervals between
4 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Grofistadtarchitektur, Die
Baubiicher, Bd. 3 (Stuttgart: J. Hoffmann, 1927), 17-20.
[See this volume, pp. 125-130.]
301
Fig. 84 Ludwig Hilberseimer. Proposal; proposed block structure
302
Fig. 85 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Proposal; floor plan variations
,<0 Am
4K
Aft.
ftf
%
> o D0' 0
rncnrrrn
303
.<] lk
.*0 4X flf-
.
*1
Jtt > 0
O '
O'J
t t > (>
rf
304
Fig. 86 Ludwig Hilberseimer, Proposal; plans o f block structure
buildings, which must at least correspond to the

building height, are achieved by concentrating
the building masses in high-rises. The width of
the street corresponds to the width of the blocks.
As needed, exhibition, sales, or storage halls can
be housed here. Below this, in the basement,
garages and parking lots for automobiles can be
situated, thus efficiently solving the problem of
parking automobiles, which poses an extraordi
nary challenge for the metropolis.
305
This proposal has intentionally left the

existing building density unaltered. Building
m asses have sim ply been d istributed differently.
An increase in height by several floors is already
being considered in the city center for the sort of
buildings existing today, but w ith this proposal
an increase in height can be readily im ple
m ented. It can be executed in this case under far
m ore favorable conditions than w ith existing
building types since, through the elim ination of
sm all courtyards, the stru ctu res in this proposal
offer su p erio r w orking spaces, light conditions,
and ventilation.
Such a city center is also o f great signifi
cance for tran sp o rtatio n planning. Should it
becom e necessary, it allows for a street system to
be designed on m ultiple levels and thus a com
plete separation o f pedestrian traffic from
vehicular traffic. F urtherm ore, vehicular traffic
can be separated by the allocation of a second
vehicular traffic level, facilitating street crossings
w ithout intersections. T hese vehicular traffic lev
els can be connected to each other by ramps. Mass
public tran sp o rtatio n occurs w ithout the use of
tram s, em ploying instead the subway and buses,
whose stations connect to pedestrian traffic lev
els by elevators and escalators.
Visual Docum ents

1
The cover of G ro B sta d ta rc h ite k tu r conveys both
Hilberseim ers interest
in typological analysis and
his understanding of the
essentially typical nature of
architecture in the metropo
lis. He juxtaposes his project
for a Residential City
(upper right) with the struc
tural skeleton of an uni
dentified skyscraper (upper
left). A visual rhyme links
the blocks of his project to
the Portland cem ent factory
in El Paso, Texas, pictured
in the center. At lower right,
the grand hall of Tony
G arn iers slaughterhouses
of La M ouche in Lyon
(1 9 0 9 -1 3 ) sym bolizes the
m etabolism o f the m etro
polis, while Le C o rbusiers
C ook House, at lower left,
signals H ilberseim ers sim ul
taneously reverential and
critical relationship to the
single-fam ily house as
a type and to the FrancoSwiss m aster as a designer.
____
3ROSS
STA D T
A R CH ITEKTU R
I IL I U S H O F F M A N N
ERLAG/ S T U T T G A R T
M I T 2 2 9 A B BI LD U N GE N / K ART. M 9 . 5 0
Visual Docum ents
2
In these pages, Le
C orb usiers Ville C ontem
poraine is aligned with
Jacques G re b ers plan for
Fairmount Parkway in
Philadelphia, producing a
visual echo of Hilberseimer's
critique of Le Corbusiers
project as m erely a geom et
rical restatem ent of the
M e tro p o lis a rc h ite c tu re
Visual Docum ents
3
In th ese pages, H il
berseim er com pares his
projects for mass housing
with realized structures:
Bruno Taut and M artin
W a g n e rs Horseshoe
S e ttle m e n t in Berlin. The
com parison m anifests
H ilb e rs e im e rs b elie f in
the power of theoretical
projects to confront the

existing metropolis.
Visual Docum ents
4
These pages represent
H ilberseim ers great respect
for J. J. P. Oud. First
expressed in an article in
D a s K u n s tb la tt in 1923,
Hilberseim ers admiration

for the Dutch architects row
houses, particularly his
early, unrealized projects,
is evident here.
Visual Docum ents
5
These pages are some
of the few in the book
devoted to single-fam ily
houses. Hilberseim er
c elebrates the w ork of
Frank Lloyd W right, but illustrates Le C orbusiers

Cook House without textual
commentary. Hilberseimer
applied his own motto the
house as commodityto the thought of Le Corbusiers

single-family house he built luxurious urban villa,
at the Weissenhofsiedlung
(illustrated elsewhere). One
can only imagine what he
Visual Docum ents
6
The buildings assem
bled here dem onstrate the
geographical scope of
H ilberseim ers book. From
w est to east, it extends
from Frank Lloyd W rig h ts

Larkin Building in Buffalo,
to Erich M endelsohns
Mossehaus in Berlin, to Hans
Poelzigs office building in
Visual Docum ents
7
These pages illustrate
H ilberseim ers appreciation
for the elem ental forms
of transportation structures.
Although he does not
com m ent on Eugene

Freyssinets remarkable
buildings, th eir inclusion
prefigures H ilberseim ers
iater book H a lle n b a u te n
(Hall Buildings), 1931,

which was devoted entirely
to wide-span structures.
Visual Docum ents

8
Here H ilberseim er
illustrates Hugo H a rin g s
cowshed at the Garkau
farm (1 9 2 3 -2 6 ), w hich he
applauds as a building
designed with specific pro
duction processes in mind.
The placem ent of this image
on the same page as the
title for the books following
chapter, Building Trades
and the Building Industry,
is suggestive: the hand
crafted m ateriality of
Harings building stands in
stark contrast to H ilber
seim ers call for industrial
ization. This tacit visual
argum ent perhaps derives
from the longstanding,
and at times acerbic, dis
agreem ent betw een
H ilberseim er and Haring on
the fundam ental premises
of urban planning.
Visual Docum ents

9
Although H ilber
se im e rs D e r W ille zur
A rch itektur (The W ill
to A rch itecture) is exten
sively illustrated, his
text does not address the
projects reproduced.
Instead, the images serve
to graphically reinforce
H ilberseim ers assertion that
the visual and spatial arts,
Constructivism in particular,
prepared the ground for
the new architecture. Here,
W . M . D u d o ks Dr. H.
Bavinck School in Hilversum
(1 9 2 1 -2 2 ) supports Hilber
seim ers belief that simple
cubic bodies are the basis
of all architecture.
The W ill to Architecture
Visual Docum ents
ihm eigentiimliche GesetzmaBigkeit herausbilden. So verschieden diese Objtsrt/

aber auch sein mogen, immer werden sie verbunden sein, durch die Gesetzctu'
Klarheit und Okonomie.
Der experimentelle Charakter der konstruktivistischen Werke schliefit
vornherein ihre Selbstzwecklichkeit aus. Sie sind nur Werke des libergangn fcti
utilitarischen architektonischen Konstruktionen. Eine wohldiszipiinierte Scl
zur Architektur als dem ietzten Ziel.
Wie jede Kunst steht auch die Architektur vor der unerlafilichen NotweKf j
keit, sich Klarheit iiber ihre zugrunde liegenden und zu Gebote stehenden Mifcn
zu verschaffen. Hier hat ihr die Malerei wertvolle Vorarbeit geleistet. Sie h ilw
erst auf die geometrisch-kubischen Grundformen aller Kunst aufmerksa 11
macht. Die einfachen kubischen Korper: Wiirfel und Kugel, Prisma und ,i;k.
der, Pyramide und Kegel, rein bildende Elemente, sind die Grundformen jtc
Architektur. Ihre korperliche Bestimmtheit zwingt zu formaler Klarheit. An
tektur entspringt der Geometrik. Wenn geometrische Gebilde zu proporthtr r
ten Korpern werden, entsteht Architektur. Vieigestaltigkeit bei grofiter Ei ilti
Details der zeugenden Hauptiinie untergeordnet. Vor dem entschieden kubi cn
Aufbau treten Einzelheiten vollig zuriick. Mafigebend ist die aligemeine Gab-1
tung der Massen. Das ihr auferlegte Proportionsgesetz. Die meist heterogenu
Materialmassen verlangen ein fiir jedes Element gleichermaBen giiltiges Fongesetz. Daher Reduzierung der Bauformen auf das Wesentlichste. Allgemeiiax
Einfachste. Unzweideutigste. Unterdriickung der Vielerleiheit. Formung tr t
einem aligemeinen Formgesetz.
Die Architektur der Gegenwart unterscheidet sich von der der Vergangenier
vor allem durch ihre soziologischen und okonomischen Voraussetzungen. Aus hi
neuen zwecklichen Anforderungen ergeben sich zugleich formale Eigentiw
lichkeiten, die fiir die heutige Architektur durchaus bestimmend sind. Sie im
das Neue und Belebende. Stellen geformt das heute giiltige kiinstlerische Momfc
dar. W ir bediirfen heute keiner Kathedralen, Tempel und Palaste, sondern Wet-.
hauser, Geschaftshauser und Fabriken. die allerdings wie Kathedralen, Teiqk
und Palaste gebaut wurden. Das Wohnhaus, das Geschaftshaus, die Fabrik sin
voll zu gestalten ist eine der wesentlichsten Aufgaben heutiger Architect.*
Reine Typen dieser Gebaudearten haben sich bis jetzt noch nicht herausgebilii
Sie miissen erst noch geschaffen werden. Bei der Gleichartigkeit des Gebra icb
zwecks ermoglicht sich eine umfassende Typisierung. Eine notwendige kom i>
tive Arbeit, zu der heute noch nicht einmal der Anfang gemacht ist. Die f tck)
tektur hat sich bisher der Normisierung, die der gesamten Industrie zugtntB
liegt, zu entziehen gewufit. Sie beruht noch auf individuellen handwerkl h i
Grundlagen, wahrend die gesamte Gegenwart auf kollektiv industrielle Vc esetzungen gegriindet ist. Ignoranz von Notwendigkeiten hat bisher noch ii r
zur Erstarrung gefiihrt. Und was ist mehr e rstan t als die Architektur der G !twart. Schopferkraft offenbart sich aber gerade darin, Gegebenheiten restl 3
verarbeiten. Eine ihnen adequade Form zu finden.
136
10
In these pages, Alfred
Gellhorn and M artin
Knauthes Forsterhof office
building in Halle (1 9 2 1 22) is juxtaposed with
Hilberseim ers statem ent that

today we need not cathe
drals, temples or palaces, but
rather residential buildings,
com m ercial buildings, and
The W ill to A rc h ite c tu re
factories.Forthe reader,
Hilberseimers reproduction
of this early example of the
Neues Bauen buttresses his
opposition to the alleged
subjective arbitrariness
of Expressionism. Italso
alludes to Hilberseimers
solidarity with these
left-leaning architects.
Visual Docum ents
Anspriiche in technischer und raumlicher Beziehung werden zu neuartigeju

wendung der Materialien und zu neuen Formentypen fiihren. Ihr konst
Charakter wird die Eigentiiralichkeiten unserer Epoche zum Ausdruck
Die Arbeit des Ingenieurs ist mit der rationalen Leistung vollendet. Di .
Architekten beginnt damit. Ihm ist die rationale Losung Material der G eU t'
Er ordnet sie einer umfassenden Formvorstellung unter. Sie ist ihm lediglia/i
tel einer Idee Korperlichkeit zu verleihen. Sie im Raume zu verwirkliche .
The W ill to A rc h ite c tu re
11 Hilberseimer illustrates
his project for a High-rise
Factory (1922) on the final
page of his essay, suggest
ing that its elementary forms
represent the ultimate aim
of the newarchitecture: the
general design of masses.
The spatial tension withinthis
line drawing recalls the
workof Hilberseimer's friend
Laszlo Peri, in whose
space-constructionsHil
berseimer located the
first signs of a latent will
to architecture.
Proposal for C ity-C enter Development
12 Inthis axonometric line

drawing, Hilberseimers
Vorschlag zur City-Bebauung(Proposal for City-Cen
ter Development) appears
as a potentially endless field
of repeated blocks. The
smaller, inset image at upper
right presents avariation
of the scheme with elevated
pedestrian paths, recalling
the superimposition of
circulation networks recom
mended by Harvey Wiley
Corbett and adopted
byHilberseimer in his Highrise City.
Visual Docum ents

13
This plate contains
the m ost detailed draw ings
of Hilberseimers proposal.
Reading from bottom to top,
we see H ilberseim ers block
structure com pared to a
typical Berlin district, plans
and sections of the entire
building, and typical floors
of the office slabs. Their
featureless interiors corre
spond to w hat Siegfried
Kracauer called the spiri
tual hom elessness of
G erm anys em erging class
of w hite-collar workers,
the salaried m asses he
profiled in his book
D ie A n g e s te llte n of 1930.
Afterword
In H ilberseim ers
Footsteps
Afterword by Pier Vittorio Aureli
Figs.
17-18
Ludwig Hilberseimers oeuvreboth his proj

ects and his writingshas had a strange critical
fortune. At first glance, it might seem that his
work has been overlooked, almost forgotten in
the literature on m odern architecture. This is true
if we consider that his contribution is almost
absent from all the major histories of modern
architecture in the twentieth century. Moreover,
Hilberseim ers work is known (if it is known at
all), only through the two famous perspectives of
his proposal for a High-rise City (1924). These
two images have been used so often to represent
the horror of the modern metropolis that they
have become cliches, especially because they are
often considered only as images and not as illus
trations of a precise urban proposal. And yet
Hilberseimers oeuvre has inspired the work and
the approach of architects and scholars as radi
cally diverse as Manfredo Tafuri, Archizoom,
Giorgio Grassi, Rem Koolhaas, K. Michael Hays,
Albert Pope, and Charles Waldheim, to name just
a few. If Hilberseimer has suffered mainstream
neglect, he has surely become an architects archi
tect, a cult figure whose rigorous theoretical
projects paradoxically seem to age much less than
the work of many of his contemporaries. This is
A FT E R W O R D
335
due to his radical and uncom prom ising approach

to architecture and the city. This approach was
sustained not through m anifestos or utopian pro
posals for a different world; on the contrary,
H ilberseim ers radicality consists in his lucid
and realist analysis of the capitalist city. This
realism also inform s his design proposals,
which although executed as theoretical propos
als expressed social, political, and formal
im plications that responded to the reality of the
capitalist city. H is work was radical because it
lacked all idealism about the reality of the capi
talist city, and even if his proposals were drastic
attem pts to reform the city w ithin a social-dem o
cratic fram ework, he did not discount the social
and geographical consequences of the new forms
of production brought about by capitalist devel
opm ent. This is particularly evident in the peculiar
style o f his drawings. The urban atm osphere
evoked by his drawings for the High-rise City is
neither futuristic, nor dram atic, nor dystopian.
H ilberseim ers images, especially in his early
work, describe an urban atm osphere that is
detached, harsh, precise, and subtly disquieting.
Perhaps the best expression of the attitude con
veyed by the illustrations o f H ilberseim ers
projects is found in the opening lines of Thom as
M anns Royal Highness, which A rchizoom used to
introduce its theoretical project N o-Stop City
(1969-71), a project that, as we shall see, was
inspired by H ilberseim ers drawings for the
High-rise City:
Figs.
90-91
336
The time is noon on an ordinary weekday; the

season o f the year does not matter. The
weather is fair to moderate. It is not raining,
but the sky is not clear; it is a uniform light
gray, uninteresting and somber, and the street
lies in a dull and sober light which robs it o f all
mystery, all individuality.1
The sobriety of H ilberseim ers images corre
sponds to the realism of his analysis of the
capitalist city. But despite the clarity of his theo
ries and proposals, his writings and projects have
been interpreted in very different, sometimes
opposing, ways. Indeed, H ilberseim ers work
has inspired radically different approaches to
the contem porary city. In the notes that follow, I
will outline some of these approaches, in partic
ular those of Aldo Rossi, Giorgio Grassi,
M anfredo Tafuri, Archizoom, K. Michael Hays,
and Rem Koolhaas.
In 1967 the publishing house M arsiliofounded
by Paolo Ceccarelli and Antonio Negri, among
o th ersinitiated a book series on architecture
and urbanism that was edited by Aldo Rossi and
1 Thomas Mann, Royal Highness: A Novel o f German

Court Life, trans. A. Cecil Curtis (Los Angeles, Berkeley:
University of California Press, 1939), v. Quoted in Italian
by Archizoom in C itti, catena di montaggio del sociale:
ideologia e teoria della m etropoli, Casabella 350-51
(1970): 22.
A FTERW O RD
337
called Polis.2 T he previous year, M arsilio had

published R ossis fam ous book L architettura
della citta ( The Architecture o f the City), which
had a trem endous im pact on architectural and
urban discourse in Italy. T he success o f the book
was an incentive for Rossi and the editors at
M arsilio to publish a series o f texts related to
architecture and the city. R ossis am bition for
Polis was to publish no t only new texts but also
old and often forgotten texts, especially texts
related to the rise o f w hat Rossi defined as
ratio n alist arch itectu re. A m ong the first titles
Rossi published was Ludw ig H ilberseim ers Entftaltung einer Planungsidee (D evelopm ent o f a
Planning C oncept), 1963, w hich was translated
by R ossis wife, the stage actress Sonia G essner,
and introduced by R ossis protege and early col
la borator G iorgio G rassi.3 It is im portant to note
the sim ilarity betw een the title of Rossis
bookL architettura della citta and the title of
H ilberseim ers m ost im portant b o o k -G rofistadtarchitektur (Metropolisarchitecture), which is trans
lated into Italian as L architettura della grande cit
ta As has been recently dem onstrated, there is no
.4
2 F o r a very insightful h istory o f the Polis book series

and o th e r ed ito rial projects re la ted to arch itectu re in
Italy betw een the 1950s and 1980s see F io rella Vanini, La
libreria dellarchitetto: Progetti di collane editoriali 19451980 (M ilan: F ranco A ngeli, 2011).
3 Ludw ig H ilberseim er, Entfaltung einer Planungsidee
(Berlin: U llstein, 1963); Ludw ig H ilberseim er, U nidea di
piano, trans. S onia G e ssn e r (P adua: M arsilio, 1967)
4 A ldo R ossi, L architettura della citta (P adua: M arsilio,
338
Fig. 87
doubt that Rossi was inspired by Hilberseimers

book, and although references to the German
architect and theorist are rather scarce in Rossis
text, his early collaborators confirm his strong
interest in Hilberseimers work, and especially in
Grofistadtarchitektur.5 It is clear that the affinity
Rossi felt for Hilberseimer lay in the idea of root
ing architectural form within the reality of the
city. Following the example of Hilberseimers
Grofistadtarchitektur, Rossi sought to elucidate the
laws that govern the form of the city as the prereq
uisite for understanding architecture itself. For
both Hilberseimer and Rossi the city comes first:
it is the only meaningful context (both physical
and conceptual) in which architecture can be
understood at a fundamental level. And yet for
both Hilberseimer and Rossi, it is precisely
through architectureas a physical artifactthat
the city is knowable. This understanding of the
relationship between architecture and the city is
evident in the organization of Hilberseimers
book. Hilberseimer first puts forward a general
1966); The Architecture o f the City, trans. Diane Ghirardo
and Joan Ockman (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1982);
LudwigHilbeTseimcT,GroszstadtArchitektur:Larchitettura
della grande citta, trans. Bianca Spagnuolo Vigorita
(Naples: CLEAN, 1981); a second edition was published
in 1998. The Italian edition of Grofistadtarchitektur was
introduced by Gianugo Polesello, an early collaborator
of Rossis.
5 See Elisabetta Vasumi Roveri, Aldo Rossi e l architettura
della citta: genesi efortuna di un testo (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2010), 34.
A FT E R W O R D
339
understanding o f the city as a com prehensive sys

tem o f relationships, as a plan; only then does he
describe the city through exemplary structures.
Organizing the book in this way, H ilberseim er
stresses the dependence o f architecture on the
political and geographical organization o f the
city. A nd yet for H ilberseim er this broader under
standing o f the city finds its ultim ate confirm ation
in the interior organization o f buildings. H ilber
seimer never uses the term typology, but it is
clear that for him the overall organization of the
city is dependent on the organization of the single
unit: the cell.
T hese observations can clearly be read in
R ossis intentional use o f specific language,
particularly in the M ilanese arch itec ts rein tro
duction o f the notion o f typology as the
fundam ental fram ew ork for the study o f the
m orphology o f the city. T he sim ilarity between
H ilberseim ers and R ossis m ethod is striking:
for both architects the form o f the city is gener
ated from the d istributive logic urban types. And
both un d ersto o d types as m anifestations o f the
ethos o f a society in pure architectural terms.
Why, then, did R ossi decide to publish Entftaltung
einer Planungsidee instead o f the m ore canonical
Grofistadtarchitektur? T he answ er may be that Ent
ftaltung einer Planungsidee was a m ore recent title
from H ilberseim ers prolific bibliography. But
another reason may be th a t Rossi felt that
Grofistadtarchitektur was too closely related to a
p articular m om ent o f the m odern m etropolis,
340
while Entftaltung einer Planungsidee offered a ret

rospective analysis of Hilberseimers career as a
planner. Since the Italian translation was pub
lished only a few months before Hilberseimers
death, we might presume that Hilberseimer him
self did not want to republish his old book and
preferred his latest work since it would be a more
up-to-date version of his theory of the city. We
can be sure that Rossi liked the slightly autobio
graphical tone of Entftaltung einer Planungsidee, in
which Hilberseimer presented his theory and
projects as if they unfolded according to a life
long existential project.
If Rossis reference to Hilberseim er was
indirect, Giorgio G rassis relationship to Hil
berseim ers writings and projects is clear. One
could say that it was Grassi who rediscovered
Hilberseim er in the 1960s. Apart from his intro
duction to the Italian edition of Entftaltung einer
Planungsidee, Hilberseimer was a central refer
ence in G rassis book La costruzione logica
dellarchitettura (The Logical Construction of
Architecture), which was published the same
year as the Italian translation of Entftaltung einer
Planungsidee.6In this book Grassi focused on the
possibility of producing architecture according
to rigorous and self-evident principles. In order
to find such architecture, Grassi focused in par
ticular on two moments of modern Western
6 Giorgio Grassi, La costruzione logica dell'architettura
(Padua: Marsilio, 1967).
A FTERW O RD
341
architecture: the French grand siecle, represented

by such figures as P ierre Le M uet, Roland F reart
de Cham bray, and C harles-E tienne Briseux,
architects and authors o f influential treatises
and m anuals o f architecture; and on G erm an
architecture o f the years o f the W eim ar R epub
lic, represented by the w ork o f Bruno Taut,
A lexander K lein, and H ilberseim er. F or G rassi
these two m om ents in the history o f architec
ture, w hich he identified as C lassicism and
R ationalism , respectively, advanced an idea of
architecture indissolubly linked to an idea o f the
city. In these two periods, G rassi argued, the
project o f the city and the project o f architecture
coincided w ithin the sam e propositions. These
propositions were pu t forw ard in a logical way,
according to the m ost basic conventions shared
by architects o f the time. T hink o f Le M uets
architecture d accompagnement, in w hich archi
tecture, freed from the representational role of
the classical orders, is reduced to its basic image:
the urban dwelling. This approach resulted in an
architecture th a t for G rassi was both au to n o
m ous (because it was intelligible in itself, as
legible form ), but also profoundly rooted w ithin
the city for which it was designed. G rassis in ter
est in H ilberseim er was m otivated by the need
H ilberseim er shared w ith Rossi to search for an
approach to arch itectu re liberated from the con
fines o f au th o rsh ip and style. In his introduction
to Entftaltung einer Planungsidee, G rassi em pha
sized th a t even though H ilberseim ers theoretical
342
Fig. 88 Giorgio Grassi, Project for the Palazzo della Regione

in Trieste. 1974
A FTERW O RD
343
Fig. 89 Giorgio Grassi, Project fo r the Palazzo della Regione

in Trieste, 1974; plan detail
344
Figs.
88-89
projects, including the High-rise City, have pre

cise architectural images, they are nevertheless
characterized by the absence of style. For Grassi
the forms produced by Hilberseimer were not just
types, but archetypes: the slab, the block, the highrise building, the row house. Hilberseimers
method of design was not to seek the invention of
original forms but to assemble unprecedented
combinations and to use them as the basis for the
production of new types. In the High-rise City, for
example, Hilberseimer superimposed two urban
types that were at that time seen as radically anti
thetical: the block and the slab. In Hilberseimers
designs, an extreme simplicity of form corre
sponds to a highly original combination of
different archetypes, the end result of which is an
unprecedented organization of the city and its
functions. Hilberseimers influence is also evident
in G rassis design work. Grassi not only adopted
Hilberseimers terse and precise approach to
architectural rendering; he also quoted projects
like the High-rise City in his competition entry for
the regional administrative offices in Trieste
(1974). And in a lecture delivered in 1978, Grassi
insisted on the validity of Hilberseimers formu
lation of the relationship between architecture
and the city.7Against the affirmation of Postmod
ern historicism, which would eventually affect the
7 See Giorgio Grassi, Larchitettura di Hilberseimer
in Giorgio Grassi, Scritti scelti, 1965-1999 (Milan: Franco
Angeli, 2000), 183-92.
A FTERW O RD
345
work o f Rossi, G rassi still looked to H ilberseim er

as a point o f reference for a civic, anonymous
architecture com pletely divorced from concerns
for form or expression.
If G rassi and R o ssi early in his care er
looked to H ilberseim er as the m ost im por
tant pro p o n en t o f a ratio n alist approach to
architecture, M anfredo Tafuri and A ndrea
Branzi und ersto o d the G erm an architect in a
slightly different way, em phasizing both the
political and the iconoclastic dim ensions o f his
work. In 1969, T afuri published his sem inal
essay Per una critica d ellideologia architettonica (Tow ard a C ritique o f A rchitectural Ideo
logy) in the M arxist jo u rn a l Contropiano in which
he launched an attack on the utopian and re
form ist aspirations o f m odern architecture.8
T afuris position was heavily influenced by the
theories o f the O peraists, a group o f radical
M arxist m ilitants and scholars gathered around
the theories o f M ario T ronti. They w ere very
critical, if no t entirely against the reform ist
agenda o f the Left, w hich they saw as a strategic
lever for capitalist pow er over the w orking class.
T afuris fundam ental argum ent in this essay was
that m odern architectu re, especially the avantgarde m ovem ents, had the ideological role of
8 M anfredo T afuri, Per u n a critica d ellideologia
arch ite tto n ic a , Contropiano 1 (1969): 31-79; trans. S te
phen S artarelli as T ow ard a C ritiq u e o f A rchitectural
Ideology, in K. M ichael Hays, ed., Architecture Theory
since 1968 (C am bridge: T h e M IT Press, 1998), 6-35.
346
M ETROPOLIS ARCH ITECTURE
prefiguring models of organization for the city

within the incessant development of capitalism.
For Tafuri, the allegedly utopian dimension of
architecture had the specific role of making
emerging cycles of urban restructuring culturally
and socially acceptable. For example, Tafuri
described the trend of picturesque landscaping as
promoting the ideology of an allegedly natural
city in the face of massive industrial exploita
tion and land-value speculation. Avant-garde
movements such as Cubism, Futurism, Dada, and
De Stijl gave this industrial reality its proper
aesthetic image, characterized by shock and pro
ductive alienation. Once the next cycle of ca
pitalist development was accomplished, these
avant-garde projects were left behind as form
without utopia, as useless weapons for both cap
ital and its antagonist: the working class. Tafuri
thought the only way to overcome this reality of
architecture was to go beyond architecture as the
design of objects and to dive into the economic
processes that produced architecture itself. For
Tafuri the only architect who had adopted this
approach was Hilberseimer. Tafuri described
Hilberseim ers observation that the architecture
of the city is dependent on the solution of two
issues, the design of the elementary cell and of
the entire urban whole, as the most lucid analysis
of the capitalist metropolis. If Rossi and Grassi
had interpreted this observation as the founda
tion of the relationship between typology and
morphology, for Tafuri this observation meant
A FTERW O RD
347
something entirely different. It m eant that H ilber

seimer had understood the city as a true unity, but
not as a metaphysical or transcendental unity, nor
as a harm onious architectural unity. T he unity of
the capitalist city lay, rather, in its identity as an
enorm ous social m achine, an apparatus in
which the type, not the overall image o f the city,
represents the starting point for urban design.
For Tafuri, H ilberseim er had understood that,
reduced in these term s, the city was no longer a
com position o f buildings but rather an organiza
tion o f the econom ic process. The unity o f the city
is thus no longer the city as object, as tangible arti
fact, but the city as econom ic cycle that processes
infinitely reproducible types. As Tafuri wrote:
In the face o f modernized production tech
niques and the expansion and rationalization
o f the market, the architect, as producer o f
"objects," became an incongruous figure. It
was no longer a question o f giving form to sin
gle elements o f the urban fabric, nor even to
simple prototypes. Once the true unity o f the
production cycle has been identified in the city,
the only task the architect can have is to orga
nize the cycle. Taking this proposition to its
extreme conclusion, Hilberseimer insists on the
role o f elaborating "organizational models " as
the only one that can fully reflect the need fo r
Taylorizing building production, as the new
task o f the technician, who is now completely
integrated into this process.
348
On the basis o f this position, Hilberseimer

was able to avoid involvement in the crisis o f
the object" so anxiously articulated by such
architects as Loos and Taut. For Hilberseimer,
the object was not in crisis because it had already
disappeared from his spectrum o f consider
ations. The only emerging imperative was that
dictated by the laws o f organization, and therein
lies what has been correctly seen as Hilber
seimers greatest contribution.9
Figs.
90-91
Tafuris reading of Hilberseim er as a lucid inter

preter of the capitalist city had a profound
influence on the Florentine collective Archizoom,
especially on the development of Archizooms
m ost im portant project: No-Stop City (1969-71).
T he project was executed for an exhibition of the
work by Archizoom in Rotterdam that never
took place, and it was intended as an illustration
perabsurdum of the effects of the capitalist city.10
The basic principle of No-Stop City consisted in
imagining the city as the superimposition of
9 Tafuri, Toward a Critique of Architectural Ide
ology, 22.
10 The project No-Stop City was published in several
magazines. The most im portant publications were:
Archizoom associati, Citt, catena di montaggio del
sociale: ideologia e teoria della metropoli, Casabella
350-51 (1970): 22-34; Archizoom associati, No-Stop
City: Residential Parkings. Climatic Universal System,
Domus 496 (1971): 49-54. See also Roberto Gargiani,
Dallonda pop alia superficie neutra: Archizoom Associati,
1966-1974 (Milan: Electa, 2008), 169-227.
A FTERW O RD
349
Fig. 90 Archizoom Associates, No-Stop City, 1969-71; floorplan
Fig. 91 Archizoom Associates, N o-Stop City, 1969-71; section
350
three spaces: the factory, the supermarket, and

the parking lot. N o-Stop City was not conceived
as an alternative to the existing city, but as an
exacerbation of its elements, producing what the
Operaists had called the citta fabbrica (the city as
a factory), an urban condition in which the orga
nization of production was extended beyond the
perim eter of the factory to all forms of social
life. According to Tronti, with the advent of the
welfare state, in which production was organi
cally linked with consumption, the evolution of
production had reached a stage in which the fac
tory and society coincided in the same plan of
capital. And yet for the Operaists it was pre
cisely at this point that capital would be forced to
reveal its ties to the labor force of the working
class. With No-Stop City, Archizoom sought to
reveal this condition in its most brutal form: a
continuous space devoid of any architectural
quality and made inhabitable by the even distri
bution of the m ost basic equipment: a bathroom
placed every fifty meters, for example. As Branzi
has stated, the publication of Hilberseim ers
projects in the Italian edition of Entfaltung einer
Planungsidee was a fundamental trigger for the
project. It is im portant to note here the ambigu
ous relationship between Rossi and Grassi on
the one hand, and Archizoom and Superstudio
on the other. There is no doubt that the radical
rationalism of Rossis and G rassis early archi
tecture had a strong impact on the minimalist
turn of both collectives around 1968. Branzi
A FTERW O RD
351
observed th at R ossis interest in extrem e

architects such as Etienne-L ouis Boullee and
H ilberseim er was a fundam ental influence that
pushed the m em bers o f A rchizoom to purge
their initial in terest in pop imagery. A nd yet
T afuris m ore politically oriented and disen
chanted reading o f H ilberseim er, w hich took no
account o f neo -ratio n alist imagery, was m ore
influential on the developm ent o f N o-Stop City.
T afuris H ilberseim er revealed, regardless o f the
G erm an arch itec ts intentions, the radical disso
lution o f the city as form w ithin the totalizing
space o f urbanization. A gainst the colorful
images o f A rchigram , the rediscovery o f H ilber
seim er revealed the generic ethos o f the m odern
city. As Branzi has recently recalled:
The idea o f an inexpressive, catatonic architec
ture, the outcome o f the expansive form s o f
logic o f the system and its class antagonists, was
the only modern architecture o f interest to us: a
liberating architecture, corresponding to mass
democracy, devoid o f dem os and o f kratos (o f
people and o f power), and both centterless and
imageless. A society freed from the rhetorical
form s o f humanitarian socialism and rhetorical
progressivism: architecture that gazed fear
lessly at the logic o f gray, unaesthetic, and
de-dramatized industrialism... The colorful
visions o f Pop architecture were replaced by
Ludwig Hilberseimers pitiless urban images,
those o f a city without qualities designed fo r
352
people without preordained qualities. Free,

therefore, to express in an autonomous way its
own creative, political, and behavioral energies.
The greatest possible freedom occurred where
integration was strongest... Alienation was a
new artistic condition...11
Hilberseim ers projects were thus understood as
an invitation to confront the most radical effects
of the capitalist city. W hat is more, the High-rise
City was an invitation to go beyond the formal
fetishism through which other avant-garde
groups such as the Japanese M etabolists had
confronted the social and technological trans
formations of the urban environment. Moreover,
in the High-rise City, Hilberseim er had demon
strated that in an advanced capitalist society, life
and work coincide within the same urban sys
tem. He thereby suggested that the desire to zone
the city into different sectors, a desire Le Cor
busier clung to, was unnecessary. Even if
Hilberseim ers projects were conceived as solu
tions to specific problems, his peculiar graphic
presentations, in which patterns replace build
ing forms, inspired Archizoom in its attem pt to
define a nonfigurative architecture for the
city. Such nonfigurative architecture was meant
to reveal the citys brute objectivity against the
hum anist aspirations of modernism.
11 Andrea Branzi, Postface, in No-Stop City: Archizoom
Associati (Orleans: HXY, 2006), 148^19.
A FT E R W O R D
353
K. M ichael Hays has also sought to counter

the hum anist interpretation o f m odern architec
ture. In Modernism and the Posthumanist Subject,
published in 1992, Hays interprets H ilberseim ers
work as p art o f a reform ulation o f the subject-object relationship in architecture.12 Hays
observes that in m odern historiography the inter
pretation o f m odern architecture has taken the
form o f two canonical narratives. On the one
hand, m odern architecture is presented under the
rubric o f function, in which the objectivity of
technological developm ent is seen as overwhelm
ing the hum an dim ension o f architectural form.
On the other hand, critics and historians who have
opposed this view o f m odern architecture have
advocated for a hum anist interpretation, in which
a sovereign hum an subject regains full control of
his own space. A gainst both interpretations, Hays
proposes th at a fundam ental category o f m odern
architecture is the specific subjectivity form ed by
an intense dialectic betw een subject and object.
F or Hays, the process o f rationalization im plied
by the process of m odernization called the defini
tion o f the subject as a self-creating conscience
and will, th a t is to say, o f hum anism , into ques
tio n .13 C onfronted w ith this reality, in this book
H ays seeks to read the legacy o f m odern architec
ture in the term s th at other disciplines have used
12 K. M ichael Hays, M odernism and the Posthumanist Sub
ject: The Architecture o f Hannes M eyer and Ludwig
Hilberseimer (C am bridge: T he M IT Press, 1992).
13 Ib id ., 4.
354
Fig. 80
to interpret modernity: as an act of negation of

the most fundamental assumptions of human
ism. Like the atonal music of Schoenberg or the
non-narrative films of Hans Richter and Viking
Eggeling (which Hilberseimer admired greatly),
in the most extreme versions of modern architec
ture, such those advanced by Hannes Meyer and
Hilberseimer, architectural form is reconceived
according to an aesthetic of renunciation, uncer
tainty, and incompleteness. For Hays these
aesthetic terms are fully developed in Hilber
seimers projects and style of representation.
Hays notes how in such a project as Hilber
seimers Vorschlag zur City-Bebauung (Pro
posal for City-Center Development), 1930, axonometric drawing suppresses any sense of depth
in the reading of urban space.14 Urban form is
reduced to a pattern in which any idea of origin or
composition is suppressed in favor of a serial
order. And yet, for Hays such explicit manifesta
tion of the abstract ethos of the metropolis is not
simply the accomplishment of the real func
tioning of its architecture. On the contrary, for
Hays, it is precisely Hilberseimers peculiar way
of rendering the metropolis that deconstructs any
relationship of cause and effect between form
and function. In Hilberseimers drawings, the
m etropolis appears as an over-determined pro
cess in which the two fundamental tenets of the
humanist projectcausality and originare
14 On this project see this volume, pp. 290-305.
A FTERW O RD
355
effaced, yielding an anonym ous and nonrepresentational architectural language. In H ayss

reading, H ilberseim ers approach to the architec
ture o f the m etropolis is neither form alist nor
functionalist. H ilberseim ers (and M eyers) archi
tecture makes visible that things are ju st what
they are, utterly shorn o f any m etaphysical illu
sion o f artistic authenticity, unity, or depth. 15
Similarly, in the work o f Rem Kool
haasparticularly in his urban projects and
theories o f the 1980s we find an appropriation
of H ilberseim ers work in support o f an anti-for
malist, but also anti-determ inistic position. W hile
Hays was w riting his book (which originated in his
Ph.D. dissertation at M IT), K oolhaas had already
started a m odernist campaign in favor o f the
m etropolis against the historicist architecture that
became very popular in E urope in the 1980s. If for
Tafuri and A rchizoom H ilberseim ers architec
ture o f the m etropolis represented the end of
architecture, its final dissolution in the sea of
urbanization, for Koolhaas the forces o f the
metropolis were precisely the last chance for
architecture to reclaim its urban role. This posi
tion was enthusiastically declared in the very
nam e o f K oolhaas and Elia Zengheliss practice,
which in this sense was a clear statem ent of pur
pose: Office for M etropolitan A rchitecture
(OMA). As recounted by Zenghelis, H ilber
seim ers harsh architectural imagery was also
15 Hays, M odernism and the Posthumanist Subject, 171.
356
Fig. 92 OMA, Project for Welfare Palace Hotel, Welfare

Island, New York, 1975-76; detail
Fig. 92
present in OMAs early work as a deliberate com

plement to the hedonism and irony of the practices
metropolitan projects. This is evident in OMAs
1976 proposal for a housing complex with urban
facilities on Welfare Island in New York City.16
16 Elia Zenghelis in conversation with the author, 23
June 2012.
A FTERW O RD
357
In this project, OM A revisited a classic urban

theme also appropriated by H ilb erseim er the
boarding house, in w hich the typology o f the
hotel is developed as strategy for housing. For
Koolhaas and Z enghelis, as for the H ilberseim er
of the Grofistadtarchitektur years, a truly m etro
politan architecture had to be ruthlessly rooted
within the m ost adverse conditions o f the con
tem porary city. But while H ilberseim er sought
to tam e and reform these conditions, O M A
accepted and accom m odated them w ithin a new
urban architecture. O M A s search for a new m et
ropolitan architecture was a radical refusal of
both the histo ricist nostalgia that, in the early
1980s, affected many E uropean architects, and
of the retu rn to m odernism in its critical and
regionalist versions, as was seen in Spanish and
Portuguese architecture. It is precisely within
this a ttem p t th a t K oolhaas w rote two o f his m ost
im portant program m atic texts: O ur N ew S obri
ety, published on the occasion o f O M A s
provocative con trib u tio n to Paolo P ortoghesis
Venice B iennale in 1980, and Im agining N o th
ingness, a sh o rt text th a t declared th a t the
absence o f architecture can be seen precisely
as the greatest potential for its resu rrectio n .17
Both texts clearly resonate w ith H ilberseim ers
17 R em K oolhaas, E lia Zenghelis, O ur N ew Sobriety,
OM A, Projects (L ondon: A rch ite ctu ra l A ssociation,
1981), 3-9; R em K oolhaas, Im agining N o th in g n ess in
Rem K oolhaas and B ruce M au, S, M , L , X L (N ew York:
T he M onacelli Press, 1995), 198-204.
Figs.
34-35
358
m etropolitan approach to architecture. For Kool

haas, as for the German architect, the complexity
of the contemporary city requires a radical sobri
ety of form. This is evident in such seminal
projects as the competition entry for the redevel
opment of Melun-Senart near Paris (1987) and
the project for the Morgan Bank Headquarters in
Amsterdam (1985), in which architectural inter
vention is reduced to a minimum in order to fully
accommodate programs that can be hardly pre
dicted or contained. In the text Imagining
Nothingness, Hilberseimers zero degree
urbanism is citedamong references to Pompeii
and the Berlin Wallas an example of urbanism
in which space as empty space is more impor
tant than form. As already intuited by Archizoom,
and theorized by another admirer of Hilber
seimer, the American scholar and theorist Albert
Pope, the post-industrial city is no longer defined
by form; it is defined by space.18And yet this empty
space is far from empty. According to Koolhaas
and Pope, the empty space of the post-Fordist
metropolis is congested by all kinds of volatile
programs and activities whose sociological life
reaches far beyond the traditional forms of the
city. Attracted by extreme urban conditions, Kool
haas had already in the early 1970s considered
starting a research institutein collaboration
with Adolfo Natalini from Superstudio
18 See Albert Pope, Ladders (New York: Princeton Archi
tectural Press, 1996).
A FTERW O RD
359
completely devoted to the study o f the contem po

rary city.19 T he idea w ould be partially realized in
the early 1990s in the G roBstadt Foundation, and
it would finally take the form o f the H arvard Proj
ect on the City, a research program initiated in
1996 com pletely freed from the necessity of
designing new or alternative cities. Yet, while for
Hilberseim er the chaotic situation o f the city was
caused by capitalist exploitation, the word capital
seems to alm ost disappear in K oolhaass analysis
of the city. If K oolhaas has moved urban research
far beyond the scope of architectural concerns, he
certainly has not considered w hat, for the H ilber
seimer o f Grofistadtarchitektur, was the cause of
urban chaos: capitalist accum ulation. W hile H il
berseimer, following a Social-D em ocratic agenda,
believed that the new forms o f production brought
about by capitalist developm ent could be tam ed
and reform ed for a m ore rational organization of
the city, K oolhaas has not put forward any pro
gram for the general reform o f the contem porary
city. If H ilberseim er proposed design solutions,
Koolhaas prefers, in his words, to surf the waves
of the m etropolis.
In these notes I have focused on the legacy
of the E uropean w ork o f H ilberseim er because
of its im m ediate connection to Grofistadtarchi
tektur. However, it is im p o rtan t to m ention that
H ilberseim ers A m erican period has also inspired
19 Rem K oolhaas to A dolfo N a ta lin i, 8 F eb ru ary 1973,
A rchivio N a ta lin i, Florence.
360
original interpretations of the contemporary

city. In recent years the projects and investiga
tions that Hilberseim er began developing in the
1940s have been revisited by Albert Pope and the
theorist of landscape urbanism Charles Wald
heim. Though in very different ways, both Pope
and Waldheim have found in Hilberseimers
urban projects precursors to an idea of the city
that is strongly related to the political and social
ethos of the postwar American city.20 For Wald
heim, H ilberseim ers approach to city planning
offers a way to structure territory that does not
require a differentiation between the city and
urbanization. Specifically, Waldheim sees the
m aterialization of a project like Lafayette Park
(executed in collaboration with Mies) as the cul
mination of a lifelong investigation of settlement
principles that gives us a far more nuanced view
of Hilberseim er as the planner of a potential
American city. Pope has offered a provocative
reading of H ilberseim ers dissolution of the grid
(as evident in Hilberseimers project for Mar
quette Park) as an anticipation of the crisis of the
American grid caused by the pressures of the
splintering forces of the post-Fordist era. Per
haps Popes attitude toward this crisis exemplifies
20 See Charles Waldheim, N otes Toward a History of
Agrarian Urbanism, Bracket 1 (2010): 18-24; Notes
Toward a History of Agrarian Urbanism, Design
Observer, April
11,
2010,
http://places.design
o b s e rv e r.c o m /fe a tu re /n o te s -to w a rd -a -h is to ry -o fagrarian-urbanism /15518/.
A FTERW O RD
361
H ilberseim ers attitude tow ard the city: accept

the present condition and reform it from within.
There is no do u b t th at in the last tw enty years
architecture has m oved in a direction a n tith e ti
cal to w hat m ight be called an approach
la
H ilberseim er. W hile H ilberseim er advocated
an architecture governed by a general law in
order to b etter confront the com plexity o f the
city, today the reality o f architectural produc
tion could no t be fu rth er from such a program .
While the contradictio ns and asym m etries of
the capitalist city have only intensified, the
m ajority o f architects have indulged in a narrow
ing o f th e ir concerns th a t restricts design to the
scale o f the arch itectu ral object and leaves the
city unconsidered. C om m ercial pressure on
offices leaves little space for a rchitects to u n d er
take ab stra ct or theoretical investigations.
Practicing architects tend to ad ju st th e ir rather
fragm entary findings into w hat today is called
research , w hich very often ends up as nothing
m ore than an unsystem atic and com prom ised
collection o f flashy im ages and inconclusive dia
gram s. A n o th er em erging trend in our tim e o f
econom ic recession is the architect as activist, as
a figure who moves beyond a concern for form
and directly engages w ith social problem s
through m uch m ore volatile means: w orkshops,
exhibitions, biennales, events, advocacy. In this
case, the im m ediacy o f action risks obfuscating
the overall picture o f the u rban situation, reduc
362
ing the latter to an innocent playground and

thus masking structural problems. On the other
hand, academic research on the city often suc
cumbs to either unnecessary complexity or
imprecision in defining a vision. But the most
problem atic aspect of research on the contem
porary city is the total disconnection between,
on the one hand, an understanding of architec
ture in relationship to urban form and, on the
other, an understanding of architecture in rela
tionship to political economy. Those who focus
on political economy tend to view the role of
architectural form as irrelevant in the develop
ment of the city; those who focus on architecture
or urban design seem completely uninterested in
engaging the political and economic forces that
produce the city.
Perhaps it is precisely in confronting this
impasse that a new reading of H ilberseim ers
Grofistadtarchitektur is timely. As we have seen,
the crux of Hilberseim ers writings and theoreti
cal projects was to root architectural form within
a deep analysis of the contemporary city. Hilber
seimer proposed neither easy formulas nor a
final scenario. He put the problems on the table
and identified existing architectural examples
that might provide a basis for further research.
Gianugo Polesello, an Italian architect close to
Rossi and the editor of the Italian edition of
Grofistadtarchitektur published in 1998, observed
that H ilberseim ers organization of the book
suggests a possible way to update its content.
A FTERW O RD
363
H ilberseim er both begins and ends Grofistadtar

chitektur w ith general rem arks, focusing the
chapters in betw een on specific program s and
building types contem poraneous w ith the publi
cation itself. Polesello suggested th a t if we were
to take the introduction and conclusion as they
are and change the rest o f the book, we could
produce a contem porary version o f Grofistadt
architektur. This operation w ould reflect H ilber
seim ers critical attitu d e tow ard research: he
never tried to crystallize his theories into defini
tive principles, and he him self w ould later criti
cize his early work.
O f course it is difficult to continue to com
pare the contem porary city to the m etropolis of
the euphoric and dram atic early decades o f the
tw entieth century. Yet I still believe th a t H ilb er
seim ers attem p t to link architectural form to the
reality o f the contem porary city rem ains a fun
dam ental goal today. W hat is even m ore
im portant is to consider the city no longer as a
self-ruled reality, an unfathom able chaos, or a
bricolage o f ad hoc actions, but as the end pro d
uct o f conscious decisions: as a project.
Contributors
366
Ludwig H ilberseim er (1885-1967) was a plan

ner, architect, critic, and educator. Born in
Germany, during the 1920s he developed a series
of theoretical projects for the city that remain
influential today. A prolific writer, he was an art
critic for Sozialistische Monatshefte from 1920
to 1933, and his books include Grofistadtbauten
(1925), Grofistadtarchitektur (1927), The New City
(1944), The New Regional Pattern (1949), Mies van
der Rohe (1956), Entfaltung einer Planungsidee
(1963), and Berliner Architektur der 20er Jahre
(1967). He taught at the Bauhaus from 1928, and
in 1938 he em igrated to the U nited States of
America and assumed a professorship of city
and regional planning at the Illinois Institute of
Technology in Chicago.
Richard A nderson (b. 1980) holds a Ph.D. from
the D epartm ent of Art History and Archaeology
at Columbia University, where he is a Core Lec
turer for A rt Humanities. He is co-author, with
K ristin Romberg, of Architecture in Print: Design
and Debate in the Soviet Union, 1919-1935 (2005).
His writing has appeared in Future Anterior, Grey
Room, Log, and the book In Search o f a Forgotten
Architect: Stefan Sebok 1901-1941 (2012).
Pier Vittorio Aureli (b. 1973) is an architect and
an educator. He studied at the Istituto Universitario di A rchitettura di Venezia (IUAV) before
obtaining a Ph.D. from the Delft University of
Technology. He teaches at the Architectural
C O N T R IB U T O R S
367
A ssociation in London and directs the Ph.D.

program T he C ity as P roject at the T U /D elftBerlage In stitute.T he au th o r o f many critical
essays, his books include The Project o f Auto
nomy: Politics and Architecture Within and Against
Capitalism (2008) and The Possibility o f an Abso
lute Architecture (2011). T ogether w ith M artino
Tattara, he is a co-founder o f D O G M A , an office
focused on the project o f the city. T he office
received the Iakov C hernikhov Prize in 2006.
Ludwig H ilberseim er M etropolisarchitecture and

Selected Essays
E dited and with an introduction by R ichard A nderson
Afterw ord by Pier Vittorio Aureli
In the 1920s, the urban theory o f Ludwig Hilberseim er
(1885-1967) redefined architectures relationship to the
city. His proposal for a H igh-rise City, where leisure,
labor, and circulation would be vertically integrated,
both frightened his contem poraries and offered a tren
chant critique o f the dynamics o f the capitalist m etro
polis. H ilberseim ers Grofistadtarchitektur (Metropolisar
chitecture) is presented here for the first time in English
translation. Two additional essays frame this interna
tional cross-section of m etropolitan architecture: Der
Wille zur A rchitektur (The Will to Architecture) and
Vorschlag zur City-Bebauung (Proposal for City-Cen
ter Developm ent). The propositions assembled here
encourage us to reconsider mobility, concentration, and
the scale o f architectural intervention in our own era of
urban expansion.

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Ed. Richard Anderson

A Columbia University GSAPP Sourcebook

This edition first published by GSAPP BOOKS 2012

A cknow ledgm ents

In Hilberseim ers Footsteps

throughout the production of the book. The

Finally, I thank G reta, w hose presence helps me

The Architecture of the Big City. We have

phrases. At times his sentences are deliberately

Fig. 1 Ludwig Hilberseimer, GroBstadtarchitektur, Stuttgart:

an object of organization. He described the reign

rep ro d u ctio n o f labor, leisure, and everyday

images of eerie, uniform blocks to illustrate

Grofistadtarchitektur, however, offers much

dem onstrated its singularity. That much of

1998.13This volum e presents a first, and belated,

reflection. At the same time, it offers a broad

architecture. It is as m uch an analysis o f the

for City-Center Development, 1930), are trans

significant professors were F riedrich O stendorf

literary talents in a variety of venues. During his

him from the early 1930s through the rest o f his

the development of Nietzschean philosophical

founding o f the Arbeitsrat fu r Kunst (W ork C oun

Fig. 2 Ludwig Hilberseimer, early projects: above, depart

his architectural designs in Deutsche Kunst und

Hilberseim er would later identify an im portant

principle o f artistic work. He warned that the

of nervous stim ulation produced by rapidly

36 Simmel, The M etropolis and Mental Life, 418.

present.39 Others sought to regulate the m etro

W alter C urt B ehrendts Die einheitliche Blockfront

dwelling, Scheffler wrote, exists in its present

many one stands out with particular clarity: the

Planning Problem of the Metropolis) contains

series o f articles in 1921-22. M achler w rote that

Hilberseim er described how this form of growth

pean continent. F o rth e tim e being, H ilberseim ers

56 Ludw ig H ilberseim er, Von d er K unst des jungen

The importance of Hilberseimers sus

which sharp d istinctions were m ade between

60 O n these d eb ates see M aria G ough, The A rtist as Pro

Netherlands had De Stijl; France, L esprit nouveau;

G -G roup sought to uncover the structural logic of

the speculative m ethod corresponds to a mode

In den nSichsten Heften werden wir Projekte

Fig. 3 Page from G 3, 1924; top parag ra p h : "Building con

third issue of G. At left, bold red text states: We

the fourth issue o f G in 1926 in a review o f an

apply to many contemporary projects Hilber

C onstructivist artifacts and van D oesburgs lec

While he acknowledged that the work of the

Residential City, a series of row houses, and

G rofistadtarchitektur lacks the sharp

81 H ilberseimers discussion of style and will ( Wollen) in

enum erated the basic elem ents o f every

Rodins wonder at the powerful effects achieved

ence on the form ation o f the room and the

that Hilberseimers interest in integration across

the law is respected and emphasized; the excep

Hilberseimers urban thinking. After his return to

R athenaus recom m endations on urban form,