Auf dem Weg zum neuen Wohnen

Stuttgart's Weissenhof colony had not even reached completion when in 1927 Werkbund architects in Breslau were already at work on plans for yet another model housing exhibition - this one with the aim of advancing the idea of "New Building" in Silesia. Unlike the 1929 Stuttgart-Weissenhof exhibition which had attracted such luminaries as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, J.J.P. Oud, Peter Behrens and Mart Stam, there were no foreign architects at the Breslau "Wohnung und Werkraum"[Living- and Work Space] show, labeled WUWA for short. Nonetheless, Hans Scharoun and Adolf Rading, both associated with the progressive Breslau Academy, provided spectacular projects of international import. But it was also the thoroughly modern building approach of Theo Effenberger, Moritz Hadda and Heim & Kempter that turned the WUWA into a major New Building" manifesto which would, however, fall to obscurity in the postwar period. The catalogue is the first comprehensive publication on Werkbundsiedlung Breslau. The extensive illustrations section contains photos, plans and models of all buildings, some appearing in print for the first time. The texts, written by field specialists, review the planning phase and architectural history behind the WUWA, cover technological, landmark preservation and urban planning aspects and explain the importance of the Breslau Werkbundsiedlung for the development of the modern movement.