Scholarly record
REVOLUTION OF INTERIOR DESIGN - AVANT GUARD DWELLINGS IN INTERWAR PERIOD
Abstract
Homes by avant-garde architects, created in the interwar period, featured empty, uncluttered rooms, strictly functional objects, lightweight machine-made furniture which would not take up too much space, everything not serving a practical purpose was removed. There was no place for purely decorative objects in small interiors. The prospective residents not always liked the idea as demonstrated by the spectacular failure of Le Corbusiers Pessac project reflecting its residents lack of understanding of modern architectural ideas. Likewise in Germany, commentators were critical of the new tendencies in interior arrangement and design and predicted problems with their social acceptance. The area where the revolutionary changes affecting the average household were made most clearly visible was the rapid evolution of traditional kitchen. The so-called Frankfurt kitchen, designed by Margarete Schutte-Lichotzky in accordance with the science of ergonomics and presented in Frankfurt, was the first in the series of innovative solutions. The new living space required a new and innovative approach. The compact and functional modern apartment of the Existenzminimum type, promoted by architects and public authorities, could not accommodate the traditional heavy and cumbersome furniture, which just did not fit (literally and metaphorically) into the restrained modern interior. The problem was that the architects designed for an anonymous person, projecting his supposed needs and preferences.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References9
Rutkowski S., Osiedla ludzkie, Poland, Warszawa, Kraków 1932.
Syrkus H., Społeczne cele urbanizacji, Poland, Warszawa 1984.
Kononowicz W., Ewolucja osiedla mieszkaniowego we Wrocławiu okresu Republiki Weimarskiej - Księże Małe, in: Architektura Wrocławia, vol.2, Urbanistyka, Jerzy Rozpędowski (ed.), Poland, Wrocław 1995, p.445-478.
Trotzdem modern. Die wichtigsten Texte zur Architektur in Detschland 1919- 1933, Kristiana Hartmann (ed.), Germany, Wiesbaden 1994.
Aussichten des diesjährigen Wohnungsbau - Forderungen für den Kleinwohnungsbau, Germany, Schlesisches Heim, vol. 9, p.171, 1928.
Lauterbach H., Der unverstellte Wohnraum, Germany, Innen-Dekoration, vol. 40, pp.418-420, 1929.
Hadda M., Die vollzogene Wandlung, Germany, Innen-Dekoration, vol. 40, pp.428-429, 1929.
Rischowski E., Das Wohnhaus als Einheit, Häuser und Räume des Versuchs - Siedlung Breslau 1929, Germany, Innen-Dekoration, vol. 40, p.400-417, 1929.
Delius R., Werkbund - Versuchssiedlung in Breslau, Germany, Dekorative Kunst, vol. 37, pp. 272-280, 1929.
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.
