Within the first three decades after the end of the Second World War the majority of housing in basically all over Europe was constructed, a result not only of the repercussions of the war but also of growing prosperity, expanding welfare systems and a political will to improve the living conditions of the working and middle classes.
Together with students of TU Darmstadt Elli Mosayebi collected historic material of exemplary housing projects built between 1945 and 1975 with a particular focus on „second tier“ cities: Zagreb, Cologne, Oslo, Porto, Lyon, Athens, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield were selected precisely because they were less subject to overbearing avant-garde ideals and therefore able to develop more specific and ultimately more diverse housing projects. Of the initial 94 projects identified and researched 54 were finally selected for the present volume which represents nothing less than an interrelated archive of European postwar housing: „The Renewal of Dwelling: European Housing Construction 1945-1975“, edited by Elli Mosayebi and Michael Kraus and recently published by @triestverlag. For cross-reference the catalogue of the 54 projects is tagged with 6 thematic fields that allow for pan-European comparisons and also highlight shared characteristics like a hidden skeleton, refined materials or balconies as extended living space. Each of the cities is then discussed in an essay that provides additional context to the buildings documented: in the case of Cologne Jasper Cepl et al. for example discuss O.M. Ungers’ contribution to the „Neue Stadt“ Chorweiler within the context of his theory of the Morphological City and the city as a work of art, Anne-Kristin Kronborg on the other hand provides a thorough overview of Norway’s postwar housing, the welfare state and public-private partnerships.
In combination with the extensive documentation of each project the book really succeeds in providing a pan-European perspective on postwar housing that will hopefully inspire additional cross-border research with regards to housing and the political circumstances in which it came about. Highly recommended!
