Stuttgart: Weissenhof Estate Single-Family House Hans Scharoun

1927

Architect: Hans Scharoun

Hölzelweg 1, Stuttgart

The Weissenhof Estate was built in 1927 as part of the building exhibition „Die Wohnung“, organized by the Deutscher Werkbund and financed by the city of Stuttgart.

During the exhibition, the 33 realized houses could be viewed from the outside and inside. Afterwards, they were rented out by the city.

Seventeen inter­na­tional archi­tects under the artistic direction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, presented their innovative designs for modern, healthy, affordable and functional living.

In addition to the model houses in the Weissenhof Estate, there were three other exhibi­tions on modern building worldwide, interior design and new building materials and constructions.

Within just four months, 500,000 visitors came to see the exhibition, which had a worldwide resonance.

The Weissenhof Estate showed the then current develo­pment of archi­tecture and housing.

A formal coherence was achieved through the avant-garde archi­tec­tural views of the contri­buting archi­tects and the speci­fi­cation of flat roofs.

Hans Scharoun’s plasti­cally modelled detached house with 107 square metres of living space forms the eastern end of the Weissenhof estate.

The outer form of the house appears freely resolved and asymmetrical.

Individual rooms stand out as geome­trical bodies and make movement sequences inside visible.

The iron skeleton structure is lined with thermal insulation boards and clad with pumice or gypsum boards.

The house is developed from the inside out and is related to the environment.

Its shape is based on the living functions, which are marked by built-in furniture.

Scharoun used geometric color surfaces and spatial axes to relate the interior and exterior spaces.

Thus, the red ceiling surface summa­rizes the dining area in the living room and the seating area on the terrace.