Zprávy památkové péče 2020, 80(1):33-45 | DOI: 10.56112/zpp.2020.1.06

Werkbund colony exhibition as a subject of heritage protection

Eliška Podholová Varyšová

During interwar Europe, the exhibitions of the Deutscher Werkbund also addressed the housing crisis and the issue of housing reform for modern man. In several European cities, the local Werkbund presented exemplary housing estates of modern living as a manifesto of modern architecture and a contemporary view of architectural aesthetics, the structure of a residential house, and the use of new technologies and materials. The first exhibition of its kind was the Weissenhof housing estate in Stuttgart, organized in 1927 by the Deutscher Werkbund. After the exhibition, the houses became part of the city's housing fund, and the presentation of real permanent houses instead of exhibition exhibits inspired a similar exhibition in Brno in 1928 (Svaz čs. Díla), Wroclaw/Breslau 1929 (Deutscher Werkbund), Zurich 1931 (Schweizerischer Werkbund), Vienna 1932 (Österreichischer Werkbund), and Prague 1932 (Svaz čs. Díla). After the exhibitions, the houses were rented or sold, and the real experiment of living in modern architecture began. The first building modifications and changes in the residents did not take long to arrive. The relationship between the modern-minded population and the houses was soon affected by the political situation, and the first wave of emigration began in the 1930s. The original residents were often replaced by people with a more traditional mindset and taste, which became reflected in the appearance of the colonies. During the war, the colonies in Stuttgart and Vienna were hit by bombing, and the destroyed houses were replaced by new buildings after the war. In some places, the houses served the army or as accommodation for German officers or emergency housing.
The first art-historical and heritage interest in the exhibition settlement began to appear slowly in the 1950s, but real heritage protection usually did not arrive until the 1970s. An exception is the Stuttgart Weissenhof, which has been protected as a heritage property since 1958. Along with heritage protection, a general renovation of the housing estates in Stuttgart, Vienna and Zurich began in the 1980s, where the houses are in the ownership of a single owner (state, city, or building cooperative). These pioneering reconstructions were one of the first of their kind. They also provided proof of the difficulties of restoring interwar architecture - the issue of waterproofing flat roofs, insulation of the facades, window restoration, etc. At the same time, the questions arose of to what degree the original building materials should be preserved, and how to adapt residential buildings to current living standards.
In the 1990s, reconstructions also began with private owners in the colonies in Prague, Wroclaw, and Brno. Efforts to preserve at least a model house or apartment, already evident during the renovations in the 1980s, also began to expand. In 2006, a museum was opened at the Weissenhof in the Corbusier double house; it had undergone a second reconstruction which in many ways corrected the "transgressions" of the previous one.
In the 1990s, the reconstruction of the Scharoun hotel house in Wroclaw was started, and the reconstruction and rebuilding of Prague's Baba housing estate also began with better or worse results. In 2011, the City of Wroclaw launched a supportive financial program for heritage renovation of houses to correct private renovations and motivate owners. The major renovations of the 1980s also started ongoing maintenance in Zurich, and the second general renovation took place in Vienna in 2012-2016.
Information and experiences are being successfully shared through conferences and publications as well as due to such organizations like ICOMOS and DOCOMOMO; in recent years, efforts have also been made to better connect all six Werkbund colonies to the European Netzwerk der Werkbundsiedlungen network. This international inspiration is what is helping to resolve reconstructions and seek out the delicate balance between preserving the authenticity of interwar architecture and satisfying the demands for modern contemporary living.

Keywords: Werkbund exhibition colony, Werkbundsiedlung, Svaz čs. Díla, interwar architecture, heritage protection, reconstruction of 20th century architecture, Weissenhofsiedlung, Baba housing estate, WUWA, Nový dům, Neubühl, Werkbundsiedlung Wien, functionalism

Published: March 1, 2020  Show citation