Before the Second World War Dessau was an important and wealthy industrial center with a thriving economy. But the city, like other German cities during the Weimar Republic, faced a shortage of affordable housing. In 1925, the flourishing city was able to attract the Bauhaus School after its forced closure in Weimar. The school’s philosophy of design for functionality and the improvement of daily life manifested in the construction of many new structures in Dessau including housing projects intended to combat housing shortages [1].
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Figure 3: Torten Estates in Dessau Source: Bauhaus Dessau
The Torten Estates project was designed by Walter Gropius, architect and founder of the Bauhaus school (See Figure 3). The housing project was commissioned by the city of Dessau. Gropius and others at the Bauhaus school designed the estates with the intent to produce cost efficient and mass housing. Homes were semi-detached and cube-shaped ranging from 57 to 75 m2 in size. They were arranged in groups of four to twelve units. Each home was designed to be self sufficient, with a kitchen and a garden to grow produce and keep animals. In total, 314 homes were built as part of this project. The need for more housing and the pragmatic design philosophy of the Bauhaus meant that homes were designed to be built quickly and from affordable materials. Load bearing walls were built using prefabricated slag concrete hollow blocks and the floors of concrete beams. The building sites operated like an industrial production line and multiple houses were built simultaneously [2].
[1]History : Visit Dessau. (2017). Retrieved July 25, 2018, from http://www.visitdessau.com/the-town/history.html [2]Dessau-Törten Housing Estate by Walter Gropius (1926–28) : Bauhaus Buildings in Dessau : Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. (2017). Retrieved July 25, 2018, from https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/architecture/bauhaus-buildings-in-dessau/dessau-toerten-housing-estate.html