Bruchfeldstrasse settlement
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 View from Bruchfeldstrasse from the east |
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| Basic data | |
| Area : | 0.1 km² |
| Population : | 1,786 |
| Population density : | 17,860 inhabitants / km² |
| Creation time: | 1926-1928 |
| location | |
| District : | 5 - south |
| District : | Niederrad |
| District : | 37 1 (Niederrad-North) |
| Center / main street: | Bruchfeldstrasse |
| architecture | |
| Architectural style: | classic modern |
| Urban planner: | Ernst May |
Coordinates: 50 ° 5 ' N , 8 ° 38' E
The Bruchfeldstrasse housing estate in Frankfurt-Niederrad is part of the New Frankfurt housing project of the 1920s. It was the first system that was created under Ernst May . The planning for the 643 residential units had to take into account the existing building in many respects: the road network had already been built, the surrounding block development suggested a height of three floors, as did the use of the apartment building in the form of block structures along the street. Nevertheless, despite the formal adoption of these structural elements, a completely new settlement structure emerged, which was suitable to illustrate the break with the old, original planning.
architecture
This was due on the one hand to the architectural design, in which the flat roof alone stood in contrast to the hipped roof of the adjoining existing building, but also to the fundamentally cubic shape with a two-dimensional facade. The strict horizontal stratification was achieved through the darker, recessed roof and plinth areas, as well as through the even ribbon windows, which were "extended" in places by colored design up to the building corners. The vertical design took place through the glazed staircases and thus additionally reinforced the austere character of the settlement.
View into Breubergstrasse from the west
Building with a penthouse studio (2003)
Ribbon window on a stairwell (2003)
Corner of Bruchfeldstrasse and Melibocusstrasse
Townhouses
Entrance of a terraced house
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Urban planning
But the language of urban planning was also a deliberately new one. On the basis of the development, May created U-shaped buildings and closed blocks, as they were also found in the surrounding stock, but he varied them anew: building edges protruded and formed the corners and edges of a varied outdoor space. Urban planning dominants were created by architectural form elements such as protruding slabs and balconies, corner buildings were emphasized by the height development.
The most striking feature of the area, however, was the construction of a sawtooth-shaped block, which gave the settlement its nickname: "Zigzag House" . May created a closed block structure, but offset the residential buildings on the north and south sides in such a way that a large number of protruding building edges were formed. This staggering was justified - strictly according to the code of new building - by practical considerations: The offset alignment leads to better exposure of the apartments. However, there seems to have been another reason, because while the northern line faces southeast, the southern line faces southwest. This creates a fanned out block interior with views from the apartments to a central communal building in the east. It seems doubtful that May unintentionally brought about this particular urban situation. The practical motif of sunbathing would thus have an alibi function for aesthetic considerations.
Social goals
According to May's ideas, communal buildings should basically be found in every future Frankfurt settlement. Common utilities such as laundries and central heating systems were planned for them. In Niederrad there were washing machines, a central radio system, a kindergarten and crèche, branches of the public library and the welfare office and free rooms that the tenants could manage and use themselves. In the plans of other settlements, communal facilities or “people's houses” are also planned later, some with a concert hall and other cultural institutions that should serve the education of the people. However, for financial reasons, none was implemented. The community building of the Bruchfeldstrasse settlement was to remain the only one of its kind.
Nonetheless, May repeatedly referred to the need for such community and cultural centers. They corresponded to his thoughts of paternalistic care, the promotion of the collective idea and the creation of independent identities of the new satellite. The interior of the zigzag block also contained open spaces for common use in the form of play and bleaching meadows and a paddling pool. Kitchen gardens for the tenants on the ground floor and the first floor could be reached directly from the respective building. Own roof gardens were available for the residents of the second upper floors.
implementation
The settlement was built primarily using conventional brick construction. The construction costs were accordingly high. However, due to the multiple use of a basic two-in-hand type in multi-storey apartment building, it was possible to prefabricate individual elements such as doors and windows that were required several times in large quantities. It was financed mainly through house interest taxes, but the tenants were also asked to make a one-off contribution of 700 to 1,200 Reichsmarks (RM). With monthly rents of 47 to 88 RM, the regular burden was almost half of a worker’s monthly wage. First tenants were therefore mainly employees and civil servants; The built apartments did not directly benefit the needy stratum of workers.
The multi-storey apartment building dominated the Bruchfeldstrasse development, but May also succeeded in building 60 three-story row houses with gardens on the back in the area, following his idea of the ideal form of living. By building over the access road like a gate and allowing it to bend slightly several times, he created a quiet living area. The paths to the individual house entrances and their canopies were designed in a quarter circle - an aesthetic tribute that May does not say a word about. Taken together with other elements, such as the emphasis on the corner buildings and balconies, which were only used in points that were effective in terms of design, the design found some formalisms that did not meet the requirements for a “true” architecture.
It was the first settlement in the New Frankfurt . Clearly showed forms of Expressionism and had thus deliberately pay no relation to the existing buildings that are still the home style was associated. However, it also differed from future settlements, which were more rational and more consistent in following the goals of New Building . One element of the modern design was the furnishing of the apartments with the Frankfurt kitchen .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Statistical Yearbook 2008 City of Frankfurt accessed on Feb. 26, 2020
- ↑ .
- ↑ Frankfurter Küche in the Frankfurt Lexikon ( memento of the original from June 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
