winowsk =, a racjonalnymi uk adami linijkowymi, w skali miasta, jak i w uj Bciu regionalnym. Do Vwiad- spe niaj =cymi charakterystyczne dla nowoczesnego czenia zdobyte przez Maya we Wroc awiu, zastoso- mieszkalnictwa postulaty: „powietrza, s oLca i ziele- wane w procesie budowy Nowego Frankfurtu, pop- ni”. Wa bnym osi =gni Bciem Maya, potwierdzaj =cym arte wi Bkszymi jego mo bliwo Vciami organizacyjny- jego wk ad do nowoczesnej urbanistyki by y projek- mi jako Stadtbaurata, przyczyni y si B do osi =gni Bcia ty decentralizacji Wroc awia metod = satelitów, tak spektakularnego sukcesu, w krótkim czasie.

Wanda Kononowicz, prof. dr hab. in b. arch. Wydzia  Architektury Politechniki Wroc awskiej Instytut Historii Architektury, Sztuki i Techniki Zak ad Historii Teorii Architektury i Urbanistyki

ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF URBANIST AND ARCHITECT ERNST MAY IN WROC AW IN THE YEARS 1919–1925 – A STAGE IN THE PROCESS TOWARDS FUNCTIONAL 1

WANDA KONONOWICZ

The housing architecture developed by Ernst May which became a catalogue of picturesque solutions, in the years 1919-1925 in Silesia anticipated his fa- and the published theory of town planning supplied mous realizations of functional and modern estates designers throughout Europe with examples how to in Frankfurt am Mein, where from mid-1925 he held compose housing estates up until World War II 5. the post of the city architect 2. The Wroc aw suburbs Among the canons of Unwin’s composition were: and Lower Silesian towns were May’s [ rst large ex- hierarchization and morphological differentiation perimental sites, on which he tested the principles of space, an arrangement that is treated holistically of planning settlements and paved the way for typi- with a de [ ned centre, an axis directed at the domi- [ ed, functional, healthy and economical housing nant element, symbolic borders and gateways, and a construction. pictoresque layout of streets 6 and „closes” 7. May’s professional and ethical attitude was great- Collaboration and friendship with Unwin gave ly in \ uenced by his apprenticeship in 1910-1911 at direction to May’s own beliefs, what he particularly the atelier of top English urbanist Sir Raymond Un- stressed, avowing that personal contact with this win 3, during work on the design and construction of great [ gure had made a decisive impact on his own the Hampstead Garden Suburb 4 project, the plan of development as a human being and urbanist, not in

1 This article antecedes a book, devoted in greater extent to the 3 together with Barry Parker designed the [ rst garden-city Let- professional activity of E. May in the Wroc aw period. chworth (1903) according to Howard’s concepts; C. B. Purdom, 2 The life and work of E. May have been the subject of many pub- The building of satellite towns , Second edition, London, Dent, lications in which, however, the Wroc aw period is treated only 1949, p. 458. super [ cially: J. Buekschmitt, Ernst May . Bauten und Planungen, 4 [ rst plan - 1905; [ nal plan – 1909; co-designer: Barry Parker, Bd. 1, Stuttgart 1963; Ernst May und das Neue Frankfurt 1925- architectural consultations: Edwin Lutyens; J. Castex, J. Ch. De- 1930, Ausst.-Kat. Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt am paule, Ph. Panerai, Formes urbaines: de l’îlot R la barre , Bordas, Main, Berlin 1986; R. Diehl, Die Tatigkeit Ernst Mays in Frank- Paris 1977, p.49 and foll. furt am Main 1925-1930 unter besonderer Berücksiechtigung 5 R. Unwin, Town Planning in Practice - An introduction to the des Siedlungsbau , Frankfurt am Main 1976; E. Herrel, Ernst art of designing cities and suburbs , London 1909. May. Architekt und Stadtplaner in Afrika 1934-1953 , Frankfurt 6 J. Castex, …op.cit., p. 55, 57. a. M. 2001; on the effects of May’s activity in and around Wroc- 7 „Close” is a development of houses around a dead-end street aw wrote: W. Kononowicz, The urban activities of Ernst May in or square. It guarantees to its residents a speci [ c, intimate at- Breslau after the First World War, in: Conference Preceedings. mosphere, as already indicated by the name (in English close Second International Docomomo Conference, September 16- means: an enclosed place, estate or yard, an alley or narrow way, 18 th , 1992, Dessau 1992, Germany, Dessau 1993, pp. 82-85; on as well as: sealed, blocked, near). The English close is answered his activity in the area of Wa brzych wrote: B. Ludwig Dzia al- by the French term cul - de - sac and German Hof. Par excellence no V4 Spó ki Schlesisches Heim pod kierownictwem Ernsta Maya English, the term close became permanently established thanks na terenie Wa brzyskiego Okr Bgu Przemys owego , (The activity to French specialist literature; ibidem, p. 58 et al. of the company Schlesisches Heim under Ernst May in the Wa - brzych Industrial Zone) in: „Quart”. 4(6)/2007, p. 40-61.

26 the way of creative fads that changed from year to ing on housing estates for workers and minor of [ ce year, as do the fashions for dress or hats, but in re- staff, only in suburbs and towns. The company dealt gard of the age-old rules of humanity that endure with organization, [ nancial and technical matters, even when the architectural background is funda- draughtsmanship of plans and design projects, and mentally altered 8. also intermediated in supply of construction materi- The formation of May’s professional preferences als. The company „Schlesisches Heim”, which from was certainly also in \ uenced by an earlier contact June 1921 functioned under the changed name of with Friedrich Pützer in , a supporter of „Schlesische Heimstätte Provinzielle Wohnungfür- the ideas of Sitte 9, also Joseph Maria Olbrich, as sorge-Gesellschaft” m.b.H., 15 was created along the well as later studies at the Technische Hochschule in example of similar organizations that were already Munich and encounters with its excellent professors functioning in other provinces of Germany 16 . May , Friedrich von Thiersch or baron informed public opinion about progress in construc- von Berlepsch-Valendas, an ardent promoter of the tion on the pages of of a periodical he himself edit- English theory of town planning. Taking his [ rst ed, entitled „Schlesisches Heim” 17 , the of [ cial press steps in the profession in his home city of Frankfurt publication of the cooperative, which in Wroc aw (1913), May was [ rst oriented at architects Hoffman and Silesia [ lled an analogous role to „Das Neue and Messel. Later searches took him towards Peter Frankfurt” which he later headed in Frankfurt. Behrens and the path of New Objectivity (Neue Sa- The typi [ cation and industrialization of housing chlichkeit) 10 . Early on he understood that modern ar- construction which arose from the norms of Ger- chitectural thinking should start with the function man Werkbund, that May so successfully developed and the shape of a building and not the aesthetics in Frankfurt, began in Wroc aw. Typi [ cation was of its façade. He was referring to the dictum „more the superior feature of this architecture, in spite of matter, with less art”, of Hermann Muthesius, who its traditional, often farmhouse looks. Supported contained within that Shakesperean idiom the entire on serial production, from the outset „Schlesische programme of modern tectonic art 11 . The convic- Heimstätte” used normalized house construction tion, combined with the great importance which he elements, such as beams, rafters, windows, doors, attached to social considerations, placed him with- stairs, stoves etc; in the next stage, whole homes in the ranks of pioneers of functionalism in urban and furniture were typi [ ed. It was in Wroc aw that planning 12 . May began work on his „minimum dwelling”, in the May began his work in Wroc aw in May 1919, form of the so-called emergency house „Notheim”, as the head of the construction department of the anticipating the idea of „Die Wohnung für das Ex- Schlesische Landgesellschaft company directed by istenzminimum demonstrated in 1929 at the Inter- Koeppel, which had the objective of supporting the national Exhibition in Frankurt am Main. construction of housing settlements in the country- May aspired to the construction of universal, side, in suburbs and in towns. In July of that year technologically improved and cheap housing. He „Schlesisches Heim” was established, with the same systematically worked on perfecting the Schlesische board 13 and construction management 14 , concentrat- Heimstätte types of houses, among which were

8 J. Buekschmitt, Ernst May, op. cit., p. 20-21. 15 Zur Beachtung! in: SH, 2(1921), issue 6. 9 C. Sitte, Der Städtebau nach seinen Künstlerischen Grundsätzen, 16 Out of 13 Prussian housing societies founded in the years 1918- Wien 1889. 1925, the [ rst was established for Westphalia (26.07.1918), the 10 J. Buekschmitt, Ernst May, op. cit., p. 20-21. fourth for Silesia (28.07.1919) and the last for Upper Silesia 11 H. Muthesius, Sztuka stosowana i architektura , (Applied Art (9.02.1925); see: Pauly, 10 Jahre Wohnungsfürsorgegesells- and Architecture) Kraków 1909, p. 40. chaften – 10 Jahre staatliche Wohnungsreformpolitik , in: SH, 12 J. Buekschmitt, op. cit., p. 19. 9(1928), issue 7, pp. 177-178. 13 See signature under the introduction to the [ rst issue of „Schle- 17 Schlesisches Heim – Monatschrift des Schlesischen Heimes sisches Heim”, Koeppel, Oberregierungsrat a.D., leitender Ge- gemeinnützigen Gesellschaft zur Förderung des Kleinwoh- scheftsführer der Schlesischen Landgesellschaft und des Schle- nungsbaues der Prov. Schlesien; the [ rst issue was published in sischen Heims, Zum Geleit! , in: „Schlesisches Heim”m(hereon: January 1920. SH), 1(1920), issue 1, p. 7. 14 See signature to the article: Architekt May, Leiter der Bauabte- ilungen des Schlesischen Heimes und der schlesischen Landge- sellschaft, Siedlungspläne , in: SH, 1(1920), issue 1, p. 7.

27 semi-rural, suburbian, town, one, two and three- \ oor He had great respect for patient creative and consis- houses, single-family and multi-family, free-stand- tent work, resignation from ambitious and spectacu- ing, semi-detached and terraced houses 18 . Out of the lar projects for the sake of small tasks undertaken large number of house types designated by num- in the course of the struggle for human dignity. A bers and letter indexes, sixteen types were selected, con [ rmation of this attitude was to place a quote which were called by the names of famous people: from Wilhelm Raabe 24 as the motto to his article reformers, architects, writers, poets, industrialists, on the methods of building modest „emergency” philosophers, painters, such as: Damaschke, Lang- homes, published on the pages of „Schlesisches hans, Hauptmann, Freitag, Borsig, Boehme, Menzel Heim”: Everyone should work and create according etc. 19 . Technical and economic motivations caused to one’s nature, as that is the source of one’s dignity; the number to be reduced, with an aim to rationalize one should keep building within oneself and around and cut the costs of realization 20 . May additionally oneself, and keep patiently rebuilding what has been emphasized aesthetic aspects, claiming that the new destroyed by enemy forces in one’s soul and around, housing estate should be a rhythmical composition because that is happiness. Who lowers his hands is of identical elements and not a theme with varia- lost and gone forever. Who at every step resists his tions 21 . doom and can with dignity descend from the bright May’s own house was a typical one, constructed peaks to the dark valleys - without cowardly com- to a design project from the „Schlesisches Heim” plaint and ineffective obstinacy - has won! 25 catalogue (pic. 1, pic. 2) in the prestigious villa dis- From Unwin, the convinced socialist, May took trict of Zalesie (Leerbeutel), at Dahnstra !e 8 (today over the principle of supporting a design project Stanis awa Moniuszki 6) 22 . This was a „cottage” - primarily on social considerations, putting the for- a detached single-family home, with a large living mal pro [ le in a more distant perspective. In his space (143,62m 2), adapted to the needs of the middle own words, he explained that New Building (Neues class, with a toilet in the house, a bathroom, a study Bauen) architects were never offended when their and separate kitchen 23 . architecture was criticised for being cold, heartless For comparison, below are listed the areas of the and soulless uniformism, but took it straight to heart „smallest dwellings” in the various categories of if anyone denied that humans, i.e. a social approach houses, as according to the 1925 catalogue: was the main pillar on which they raised their con- - detached single-family house – type „Dam- struction; and whether it was worth anything or not aschke” – 63,20 m 2; was debated, but would be decided in the future 26 . - twin single-family house – type „Gerhard Firstly, May emphasized a rational, functional and Hauptmann” – 57,11m 2; economic layout of the dwelling, where the kitchen - single-family terraced house – type „Borsig” took central position, composed of a living area and – 53,63 m 2; niche for cooking. This was a Silesian living kitch- - house for six families with minimum dwellings en, and the separate cooking niche was a prototype - type „Jacob Boehme” – 42,0 m 2. of the famous Frankfurt kitchen - laboratory, which May considered the architect’s profession as a organized in a scienti [ c way the lady of the house’s special kind of vocation in the service of humanity. occupations (pic. 3, 4). Grete Schütte-Lihotzky from

18 E. May, Kleinwohnungstypen, in: SH, 1 (1920), issue 1, pp. tekt und Stadtplaner in Afrika 1934-1935 , Frankfurt am Main 14-17; Typen für mehrgeschossige Kleinwohnungsbauten , in: 2001, p. 168. SH, 1(1920), issue 4, pp. 9-12; idem, Die Grundtypen der Schle- 23 Mittelstandtyp - Group I, Type 1b – later type „Dahn”; E. May, sischen Heimstätte mit Finanzierungstabelle , in: SH, 5 (1924), Die Typen Schlesischen…, op. cit., p. 65. issue 3, pp. 71-78, 109-115. 24 Wilhelm Raabe (1831-1910), pseudonym Jacob Corvinuf, 19 Idem, Die Typen Schlesischen Heimstätte, in: SH, 6 (1925), German writer, master of realist characteristics, deeply compas- p. 65. sionate for human misery and suffering. 20 Most construction elements were industrially manufactured to 25 Freely translated by the author; see: E. May, Notheime , in: SH, be assembled on the building site. 1(1920), issue 2, pp. 1-10. 21 E. May, Die Grundtypen der Schlesischen …, op. cit, in: SH, 26 Quote after: Lore Cramer, Rationalisierung des Haushaltes 5(1924), issue 3, p. 72. und Frauenfrage - Die Frankfurter Küche und zeitgenössische 22 The house design was done in April 1920. In the summer he Kritik , in: Ernst May und das Neue Frankfurt 1925-1930, Ausst.- moved in together with Ilse, neé Hartmann, from Berlin, whom Kat. Deutsches Architekturmuseum Frankfurt am Main, Berlin he had married a year earlier; here too were born their sons 1986, p. 77. Klaus (1920) and Thomas (1923); E. Herrel, Ernst May. Archi-

28 Vienna, the renowned designer of the Frankfurt it, and in many instances so were also important kitchen, had collaborated with May already in the buildings such as the church, school, inn and oth- early 1920s, in the Wroc aw period, developing on ers. Greens were given strongly pronounced shapes, the pages of „Schlesisches Heim” the idea of a small, usually a rectangle (Z =bkowice, Jelenia Góra, Nowe functional kitchen niche 27 . Miasteczko, Brzeg, Nysa, O taszyn, G ubczyce), tri- Similarly, May attached grave importance to the angle (Z otniki, Prudnik, Nowa Ruda, Boguszów), site plans. He believed that a good layout plan for semicircle (Z otniki), or multilateral (O awa). any settlement, simplest included, rural or suburban, The estate in Z =bkowice (Frankenstein - 1919) is was one of the most dif [ cult tasks facing the archi- an example of the simplest site plan on a green (pic. tect and should be given to a talented professional 28 . 5). The initial design provided for dwellings along He believed that a good plan depended on the se- the perimeter of a triangular area, similar to a city lection of the proper location, with a quadrangular quarter. But mindfully of the Schlesische Landg- site that would not be elongated like a ribbon, of esellschaft plan, the buildings were grouped in the good proportions, which allowed it to be parcelled centre of the site, around a rectangular commons into regular plots, and good placement of houses, as situated in the place of an old clay pit and the plots well as access roads on a N-S or approximate direc- were demarcated on the back of the buildings. Two tion, to give the houses good light. The area should houses, \ anking the entrance from the south, created be dry and as \ at as possible with access to potable a symbolic gateway to the estate (pic. 6) 30 . A simi- water. Also important were the transport and com- larly simple arrangement - and programme - was munication connections. If there was a railway or a feature of the O taszyn estate (Oltaschin 1921). tram line in the vicinity, the future estate should not Originally designed for an area of some 20 morgens, be farther than 15 minutes from the station or stop. it consisted of identical twin houses placed along a Just as short should be the distance to a shop selling main street, and a rectangular green which was the the basic necessities for everyday existence. culmination of the composition (pic. 7). A house May divided rural and suburban settlements into with different design stood at the farther end of the three basic types, in respect of the site arrange- green, closing the vista from the street. This axis ment: dispersed, linear and with a green (Angersied- started at the main entrance to the estate, accented lung) 29 . He advised against building the dispersed with a single house placed crosswise, which guarded type as uneconomical and outdated, unless forced the composition and at the same time invited inside. to by particularly dif [ cult land conditions. Ribbon This subtle, truly „English”, picturesque combina- that is linear settlements with houses placed along tion of elements to open and close the composition, one main communication route were frequently met awarded the rudimentary arrangement proper taste 31 . in the highlands of Silesia; their disadvantage was On bigger estates, the piazza-commons had a that the houses were directly exposed to the dust and more complex functional programme. An example noise from a busy road. can be Nysa (Neisse - 1919), where as well as houses, May was the strongest advocate for the estate a church, school and shops were drafted beside the around a piazza-green lying to the side of a com- green (pic. 8, 9). Also an estate designed some years munications route but with a good connection to later, in the western part of G ubczyce (Leobschütz it via a main internal road. The green - an echo of – 1923, pic.10), with an inner square-green, included the old village commons - served as a play area for a school, a gathering hall and shops, although space children, a small pasture or gathering place for the for public buildings had also been provided along the inhabitants. The houses were concentrated around city street and square on the outskirts of the estate 32 .

27 G. Lihotzky, Einiges über die Einrichtung österreichischer 30 E. May, Halbländlicher Siedlungsbau der Schlesischen Haüser unter besonderer Berücksichtiglung der Siedelungsbau- Landgesellschaft in den Jahren 1919/20 , in: SH, 1(1920), issue ten; in: SH, 2 (1921), issue 8, pp. 217-222; idem, Die Siedler- 11, pp. 15-16. hütte , in: SH, 3(1922), issue 2, pp. 33-35; idem, Die Siedlungs=, 31 W. Kononowicz, Otaszyn i S Bpolno – dwa osiedla wroc aw- Wohnungs=, und Baugild Österreichs auf der 4. Wiener Klein- skie okresu mi Bdzywojennego , (O taszyn and S Bpolno – two gartenausßtellung , in: SH, 3(1922), issue 10, pp. 245-247; examples of Wroc aw’s interwar housing estates), in: Ten wspa- 28 E. May, Siedlungspläne , in: SH, 1(1920), issue 1, pp. 7-9. nia y wroc awski modernizm , (That Wonderful Wroc aw Mo- 29 Ibidem, s. 8. dern Movement) PAN, Wroc aw 1991, p.117 et al. 32 E. May, Stadterweiterungsplan für den Westteil von Leob- schütz , in: SH, 4(1923), issue 7, pp. 193-194.

29 May preferred to group houses in close arrange- signs for: Nowe Miasteczko (Neustädtel – 1919), ments, which gave more advantages in comparison Zotniki (Goldschmieden – 1919), Wojszyce (Wois- with an open plan site. Dense construction meant chwitz – 1921), G ubczyce (Leobschütz – 1923, pic. savings on the cost of building and exploitation, of 10), Kowale (Cawallen – 1924, pic. 14) and Krzyki houses as well as roads, light and water supply (one (Krietern – 1924, pic.16, 17). The two latter exam- well to serve several buildings), shorter routes to ples (today lying within the boundaries of Wroc aw trains or shops. May believed that houses in a dense city) are complexes of the smallest, terraced single- development were protection for one another against family homes of the „Borsig” type, raised by the wind and bad weather, suffered less heat loss, and Schlesische Heimstätte company from commu- generally looked better and were, in a certain sense, nal funds. The close at Kowalska street in Kowale „monumental”. He also stressed the social advan- consisted of eighteen two-storey houses arranged tages of a close-knit community that by its nature around an open U-shaped patio (pic. 14) 36 . The close helped reinforce neighbourly relations. at Wietrzna street (formerly Falkstrasse) in Krzyki The compact construction passed muster in the (pic. 16, 17) did not have closed-off corners as did form of terraced houses, in ribbon arrangements as the Kowale estate; grouping six houses along each well as settlements concentrated around a piazza- of the longer sides of the patio and a double house at green, and „closes”, as the culmination of a vista or the closure of the vista. The individual houses (pic. a street extension. 15) with areas of some 52 m.sq. each, had a work- Examples of this can be seen in the communal ing wing with a toilet and shed, attached on to the estate on Piaskowa Góra (Kleinsiedlung Ober Sal- back and joined by a porch with the main house, or zbrunn) in Wa brzych, one of May’s earliest under- built on to the sides of the end houses (as in those takings from his period of activity at the Schlesische which stood at the end of the close’s axis in Krzyki, Landgesellschaft 33 . An estate with the typical Sile- pic. 16). The day rooms were on the ground \ oor, sian linear layout, enriched with English accents - and the bedrooms upstairs. Almost all of the ground „closes” - stretched along the road from Szczawno \ oor was taken up by a kitchen consisting of three to Piaskowa Góra (pic. 11) 34 . The centre of the es- parts: the dining area, a cooking niche and the scul- tate, created by six two- \ oor terraced houses with lery, which depending on necessity could function shops 35 was designed on an escarpment, on the south as a back-up for kitchen chores, a washroom, a laun- side of the road (pic. 12). These houses differed from dry and, most often, a corridor 37 . The houses were the other single-family and semi-detached homes on designed with central heating from a stove installed the estate by their size and compact form, as well as in the kitchen (pic. 15). carefully-selected location. They stood at the high- Presented below in more detailed consideration are est point of the area, on a curve in the road, closing examples of May’s biggest housing projects, which the vista from the side of Szczawno and Piaskowa have the full range of composition measures applied Góra. On the east and west side, towards the central by this architect. Moreover, they illustrate the evolu- part of the estate led groups of detached and semi- tion of his approach to forming space, from elabo- detached houses, arranged in closes (pic. 11). rately picturesque to ultimately simpli [ ed, striving Closes, a form which derived from Hampstead for rational, „direct” arrangements which made cer- (pic. 13), was popular with May in his projects, and tain that the houses had sunlight and air. It is evident he treated them as an element of the site plan or an here how much the social aspect grew in importance individual solution. As well as the Piaskowa Góra in respect of the formal. In time, on May’s urban es- estate, there are examples of this layout in his de- tates the social aspect comes to dominate, displacing

33 The plan was probably completed at the close of 1918. Krug, 36 W. Kononowicz, Problemy dziedzictwa architektonicznego Die Bautätigkeit der Schlesischen Landgesellschaft in Kleinsied- Ernsta Maya z okresu wroc awskiego (1919-1925) , (Problems lungssachen im Jahre 1919 , in: SH, 1(1920), issue 1, pp. 11-12. of the architectural heritage of Ernst May from the Wroc aw 34 the settlement belt was 1.5 km long and 170-230m wide, with period) in: Renowacja budynków i modernizacja obszarów za- differences in lay of land reaching 50m; E. May, Ländliche Kle- budowanych , (Renovation of buildings and modernization of insiedlungen der Schlesischen Landgesellschaft in der Provinz developed areas), edited by T. Bili Lski, volume 5, Zielona Góra Schlesien in: „Der Sädtebau (hereon: Stb), 16(1919), pp. 84-86. 2009, pp. 267-279. 35 ibidem, p. 86; in 1920 houses were built in the central part but 37 The working wing was reached through the washroom, also without shops; see: E. May, Kleinsiedlung Ober=Salzbrunn , in: the garden and cellar; ibidem, p. 273. SH, 1(1920), issue 7, pp. 9-11; ibid, issue 11, insert, il. 3-10.

30 romanticism altogether, as can be seen in the plans a doctor and chemist. The remaining houses in the for some developments in Frankfurt. estate were detached bungalows, in eight design Ernst May’s biggest early urban project, elaborated types 39 . within Landgesellschaft, was Z otniki- aerniki rent- The picturesque layout of Z otniki re \ ected not ier estate (Goldschmieden-Neukirch, pic. 18) in the only Unwin’s direct in \ uence on urban planning suburbs of Wroc aw, near to Le Vnica (Deutsch Lissa), with a: - de [ ned centre, - dominant accented by some 10 kms west of the Old Town Market. The es- an axis, - articulated boundaries and „gates”, and a tate comprised of about 750 individual houses and scenic arrangement of streets, squares and closes. a certain number of garden plots, altogether for 3-4 Evident within it were also the experiences of the thousand inhabitants, on an area of 350 hectares 38 . German Gartenstadtbewegung, which drew on the The perimeter of the estate was demarcated on the treasury of domestic examples, certainly followed west by river Bystrzyca and the former manor house closely by May. The rectangular market, rooted in park; the south - the railway line which connected the German urban planning tradition, was intro- Le Vnica with Wroc aw, the north - what is now Kos- duced by Paul Schmitthenner as early as in 1914, monautów street (formerly Frankfurter Chaussee) in the design for garden-city Staaken (near Berlin), and the east – aernicka street. The estate’s expanse considered the prototype of the modern German was an effect of the terrain. Ry Lka stream (a tribu- housing estate 40 . Another domestic source was the tary of river Bystrzyca) and the high level of ground idea which May applied to the Z otniki design, of a water made a good part of the land out of bounds to wide (c.50 m), tree-lined esplanade rising to the east construction, thus much was left in the form of mead- towards the market, and the water tower coupled ows or destined for large vegetable plots, measuring with the town hall building. To the west the espla- up to 36 morgens (local land units). nade descended towards a woodland park, [ nishing The supreme formal feature of the plan for in a small square with a monument that completed Zotniki- aerniki was a romantic picturesqueness the vista. A prototype for this solution could have that re \ ected an always-actual aesthetic dimension been the „street-cum-square” introduced to the of Sitte’s urban planning, taken up and incorporated design of the [ rst garden-city Berlin-Falkenberg into the town planning theory by Unwin. A network (1912) by Bruno Taut, inspired - as he said - by the of gently winding streets studded with cottages was old [ elds of Brandenburg 41 . enhanced by green places in a variety of shapes: In his draft for Z otniki, similarly to Taut’s design rectangle, triangle or semicircle. May’s design for for Falkenberg, May combined planning elements Zotniki included a tightly-knit centre for the com- borrowed from English garden-cities and traditional position, a „crowning glory” of a kind for the estate German towns - with his own, new ideas. Inspired - in the form of a piazza in the shape of a rectangle by the 18th-century Royal Crescent in Bath, May (95 x 115 m), located at the highest point of the plot. devised a variant that can be described as a „pseu- A town hall was to be raised in its centre, twinned do-crescent”. In opposition to the crescent, a half- with a water tower that dominated the settlement, moon-shaped line of houses with uniform façades, clasping the vistas of three streets which ran towards looking on an open green area, the pseudo-crescent the market. Along its sides were situated shops and is a fan-shaped arrangement of detached houses, houses, as well as a school, the back of which over- standing on the edge of a semicircular [ eld. May in- looked a large rectangular square (60 x 115m), on troduced the pseudocrescent to the design in various the opposite side of which stood a community house places, for instance at the „entrance” to the estate, (Genossenschaftshaus). The estate’s services includ- street extension or closing - i.e. close (pic. 18). ed another school, a railway station and a chapel and In the original form, the crescent was a rare occur- cemetery. The square was lined with two-storey ter- rence in German urban planning. It was introduced raced houses, homes for teachers, clerkly of [ cials, by Bruno Taut to his plans for garden-city Falken-

38 E. May, Ländliche Kleinsiedlungen…, op. cit., p. 86, Tafel 46; Tradition , Stuttgart 1992, pp. 133-149; idem, Die Gartenstadt idem , Halbländliche …, op.cit., pp. 8-17. Staaken 1914-1917. Typen, Gruppen, Varianten, Berlin 1977. 39 E. May, Ländliche Kleinsiedlungen…, op. cit., p. 86. 41 F. Bollerey, K. Hartmann, A patriarchal utopia: the garden 40 K. Kiem, Die Gartenstadt Staaken als Prototyp der modernen city and housing reform in Germany at the turn of the century , deutschen Siedlung , in: V. M. Lampugnani, R. Schneider (ed.), in: A. Sutcliffe, ed., The Rise of Modern Urban Planning 1800- Moderne Architektur in Deutschland 1900 bis 1950. Reform und 1914. London 1980, p. 156.

31 berg (1912), developing it after some years into an generation - the nation’s defensive force - in healthy original horseshoe shape (Hufeisen), which became conditions 46 . the compositional core of the [ rst great Berlin estate In the early 1920s, May’s draft estate develop- - Britz (1925), commonly known as „Haufeisensied- ments began to show new tendencies and patterns lung”. The pure form of a crescent opening on to where the rows of houses were arranged along a a green expanse was also applied by Rudolf Eber- direction approximating the North-South axis, to stadt and Hermann Muthesius in the design for the guarantee the best, East-West light in the homes. Hermsdorf estate (pic. 19) near Berlin (1918) 42 . The composition of these estates is dominated by Only the north-westerly part of Z otniki was re- Unwin’s principles of a garden-city, however there is alized according to the original plan. As it proved, an evident decided and consistent move towards the in the existing circumstances, for public and legal idea of functional development. These plans, drafted reasons, it was impossible to build a rentier estate in 1921 with Herbert Boehm, concern the estates of of this size. By 1920 a new and downsized design Wojszyce (Woischwitz) and Brochów (Brockau). was published, re \ ecting a gradual reduction of the The Wojszyce plan (pic. 26, 27) was drawn for a spatial objectives (pic. 20). Along Rajska street were competition on the development of Greater Wroc aw built houses of Group II type 2h (pic. 22), around and is a singular example of a satellite town, interest- the semi-circular Kaliski place which closed it from ingly and logically designed, using existing elements: the west Group II type 9h houses (pic. 21), and along railway transport, road network and industry 47 . The Ciesielski place, a triangular commons, for the [ rst plan was to incorporate the old villages of Wojszyce time, tiny Dutch emergency houses: Group II type and O taszyn (formerly Oltaschin) located on an area 10 (pic. 23, pic. 24) 43 . May wrote that the small size of some 700 hectares, situated between the streets of the Dutch house did not preclude its advantages Buforowa and Agrestowa, including an enclave north for living, because of the rational layout and furnish- of the freight rail line with an existing factory. ing options 44 . May took care for the typical, identi- Among the works completed so far by May, the cal houses to have individual accents in the form of Wojszyce design, albeit unrealized, was his most ma- symbolic signs painted on the walls, referring to the ture spatial composition and fullest functional pro- profession or hobby of the owner. The pictures were gramme. The satellite-town connected with Wroc aw painted by Lotte Hartmann from Berlin 45 , just as by good rail and road communications routes, was later in O taszyn or Klecina. to constitute a separate unit surrounded by a belt of The remainder of the estate was built in the 1930s open land, self-suf [ cient, providing its inhabitants according to an adapted and simpli [ ed design pre- with work, housing, services and recreation. The pared by the city. May’s extensive plans, patterned development provided a train station, a town hall, on Hampstead inadvertently anticipated the so- three churches, a communal hall, a covered market, called Stadtrandsiedlung realized here in times of schools, a stadium and two cemeteries. Employment the Third Reich, which in new political conditions would be mostly supplied by the local factory. was to ful [ l speci [ c ideological objectives. Set- The satellite design was dominated by an ellip- tling a worker on a plot that could provide food was tical composition centre, with a main axis drawn a means to alleviate the crisis, while the sprawling through the middle, from north to south (pic. 27) 48 . layout could minimalize losses in case of an air at- The composition axis bifurcated into a „Y” shape, tack and be advantageous to nurturing the young connecting the main buildings and squares. Next to

42 Bebauungsplan für die Kleinsiedlung der Hermsdorfer Boden 1931; after: „Dom, Osiedle Mieszkanie”, Year 3 (1931), no 11, - Aktien Gesellschaft , in: Stb, 15 (1918), tab. 12. p. 15. 43 E. May, Die Grundtypen der Schlesischen … op. cit, in: SH, 45 Privately May’s sister-in-law. 5(1924), issue 3, p. 78. 46 A. Teut, Architektur im Dritten Reich 1933 - 1945 , Frankfurt/ 44 The \ oor plan of the living space of a single house occupied the M - Berlin 1968, p. 331. area of 4.6x7.0m. The entrance led from the yard straight into 47 F. Behrendt, Der Wettbewerb zur Erlangung eines Bebauungs- the kitchen. The ground \ oor was taken up by a „live-in kitchen” planes der Stadt Breslau und ihrer Vororte , in: Stb, 19 (1922), with a living room and niche for cooking. Next to the niche was issue 5/ 6, pp. 46-48; E. May, Stadterweiterung Mittels Traban- a chamber with a sleeping place under the stairs, which led to ten , in: Stb, 19(1922), issue 5/6, pp. 51-55. two small rooms in the attic. Gustav Wolf, who dealt with the 48 following the route of the former main street of Wojszyce vil- economics of \ oor plans for Rfg. described the living conditions lage (today Pawia street). of this house as primitive. G. Wolf, Grundrisstaffel , München

32 the railway line, at the ends of the streets, was locat- of European town planning. It is the intermediary ed the market and train station. The main part of the link between the picturesque and the rational, pre- composition, inscribed inside an oval, began with a serving the moment of harmonious balance between church in the northern end and ended, in the south- the formal, social-rational and economic aspects in ern, with a giant, domed People’s Hall (Volkshaus). design projects for housing estates, right before the The centre was formed by a wide, tree-lined street onset of rational schematicism 49 . Moreover, the plan that became a market square with a town hall in its is a valuable example of the spatial disposition of a centre. At the extension of the axis, in the south of satellite town, in a speci [ c urban situation, support- the estate, there was a stadium, to which a green ing Unwin’s theory. promenade led from the centre. The area north of The subsequent housing estate design, elaborated the railway line was drafted as an industrial zone. by May and Boehm for the Clerical Housing Associ- The streets in the housing area of the development ation in Brochów 50 also had rational features, in spite were demarcated on the north-south direction (or of the garden nature of the composition (pic. 28). It approximate). Their curving courses, reminiscent of covered an area of 46 hectares in the northern part rings spreading on water, echoed the image of the of Brochów, triangular in shape, located between a elliptical centre. Distinctive in the south-western railway embankment, Ignacego Mo Vcickiego street part of the development was a wide street-square (formerly Brockauerstrasse) and with Warszawska oriented east-west, where the designers preserved street (former Winklerallee) at its base. The under- the original main road of O taszyn village (today lying communications network was formed by [ ve Strachowskiego), with a commons and a medieval streets oriented N-S (more or less), of which the church. central one became the core around which the es- The houses situated along the streets had a speci [ c tate was built 51 . It had at its southern end the Prot- character and height. In the centre and at major roads estant Church and at the northern a semicircular ar- or squares, they were taller, three to four-storey, rangement of houses, alike to a giant bastion placed close-knit. Smaller houses were placed towards the against the hue and cry of the city of Wroc aw 52 . In outside, one and two-storey, in groups of several. The the vicinity, the designers provided a wide green areas between the houses were [ lled up by gardens. belt which cut into the estate, with ponds and a play- In line with Unwin’s principles, the settlement ing [ eld. The houses stood on the streets. The tallest constituted a whole and was surrounded by a belt - three-storey - ringed and screened the estate along of greenery. The designers treated the outskirts of the streets on the outside; two-storey houses fronted the estate in a singular fashion, creating a symbolic the central street; on the remainder stood detached border with elements suggesting forti [ cations, sepa- bungalows. The areas between the houses were [ lled rating the town from its surroundings. This charac- by gardens. The design project was realized in part. teristic method of distinguishing bordergrounds was May approached problem issues of urban plan- later repeated by May and Boehm in the design for a ning with great social sensitivity. He regretted the partial development of the town of G ubczyce (Leob- fact that city dwellers had lost contact with nature schütz O/S – 1923, il. 10), and also in the Römer- and the sense of neighbourhood community typical stadt estate (1927) in Frankfurt a/M. In the case of to the inhabitants of villages or small towns, writing Wojszyce and G ubczyce, on the outskirts there are that „a city dweller almost does not know his neigh- groups of houses in the form of „closes”, situated bor”, becoming „an atom of an indifferent mass, with their backs to the landscape beyond, and clos- which pushes through a sea of houses to [ ll its ex- ing the vistas of the inner streets of the settlement. istential needs, without perception of social weal” 53 . With its external bulwarks and bastions, Römerstadt He compared the big city to a machine devouring is reminiscent of a real fortress. human strength and enslaving humans instead of The design for Wojszyce, though it has remained serving them 54 . He appealed for an end to unhealthy a draft, shows an important stage in the development development of cities, indicating that the supreme

49 As evident in May’s later developments such as Westhausen 52 Schierer, Strei \ ichter…, op.cit. (1929), or unrealized Goldstein (1929). 53 E. May, Stadterweiterung..., in: Stb, op. cit., p. 51. 50 Schierer, Strei \ ichter aus dem Wohnungs= und Siedlungswe- 54 Idem, Die internationale Städtebautagung in Amsterdam; p: sen , in: SH, 2(1921), issue 5, p. 127. SH, 5 (1924), issue 7, p. 208. 51 Leonardo da Vinci (formerly Pulststrasse).

33 law in the development process should be: city for inforcing the contact of its inhabitants with nature - humans not humans for city 55 . on the one hand expressed nostalgia for small urban Initially, May was a supporter of the concepts communities from the pre-industrial era, rooted in of Fritz Schumacher, according to whom a big city the Arts and Crafts movement and Morris’s „News should gradate the height of its housing, from tall- from Nowhere” - and on the other referred to the est in the centre, through an intermediate zone, idea of hygenic and rational, compact Owensian es- down to a belt of low construction on the outskirts 56 . tates of „harmony and cooperation”, arranged in an He changed his convictions under Unwin’s in \ u- open landscape 60 . ence and the concept devised together with W. R. May’s no insigni [ cant contribution to modern Lethaby, George L. Pepler and others, in 1921, of town planning was a competition design for the a model city with satellites 57 . He began to consid- development of Greater Wroc aw by the satellite er insuf [ cient hitherto methods of development by method and an elaborated version of decentraliz- the concentric system or the newer radial system, ing the city in relation to the region. The planning which allowed for the penetration of green wedges competition (1921) was a grand and important event into the city grid 58 . He claimed that the wedges of in Wroc aw. Organized by the city authorities, its green were not equivalent to open, free space, which purpose was to obtain a general development plan, could be made available to the inhabitants of satel- in the form of a document 61 which would delineate lite developments. It was a radically different vision the areas of in \ uence of the city and district. The than Schumacher’s, with the city surrounded by in- district authorities with whom May worked intended dividual green satellites, entirely different in nature. to set down in the suburban areas foundations for In the satellite town, limitation performed an impor- planned settlement of the increasing Wroc aw popu- tant role, in a spatial sense as well as demographic. lation. Meanwhile, the city saw its chance in terri- On the problem of formal isolation of the satellite torial expansion over areas that for long had been from its surroundings, May wrote: „it is an impor- associated with it. The area covered by the competi- tant fact that the satellite town, because of its desig- tion totaled around 16 thousand hectares. Expanded nated size, will differ from its surroundings. Once a Wroc aw was to accommodate around one million traveller, entering a city, would encounter ramparts, inhabitants expected by the year 1950 62 . The com- a moat and walls, which constituted the boundaries petition aimed for a planned development of indus- of the urban entity; and so nowadays the satellite trial and housing areas, communications routes and town is surrounded by rows of buildings or avenues, green zones. the outlines of which endow it with a speci [ c char- The competition was organized by the munici- acter. The impression of a border is highlighted by pal authorities. Invited to it were urban planners groups of taller buildings \ anking the entrances to and architects from Germany and , among streets” 59 . The principle of limiting the city and re- them Wroc aw architects Adolf Rading, as well as

55 „ Die Stadt dem Menschen, nicht der Mensch für die Stadt !” , 19th century to the Second World War) in „Kwartalnik Archi- E. May, Stadterweiterung Mittels Trabanten , in: SH, 3(1922), tektury i Urbanistyki” quarterly, 2008, issue 1, p. 6. issue 11, p. 270. 61 The competition is described by: F. Behrendt, Der Wettbe- 56 J. Buekschmitt, Ernst May …, op. cit., p. 28. werb zur Erlangung eines Bebauungsplanes der Stadt Breslau 57 Ibidem; E. May, Stadterweiterung …, op. cit., in: Stb, p. 52; und ihrer Vororte , in: Stb, 19(1922), issue 3/4, pp. 21-30, 43- C.B. Purdom, The building of satellite towns, second edition, 50; W. Kononowicz, Wroc aw. Kierunki …, op. cit., p. 31; idem, London, Dent, 1949, p. 25; W. Ostrowski, Urbanistyka wspó - Wroc aw w projektach urbanistycznych okresu mi Bdzywojenne- czesna , Arkady, Warszawa 1975, p. 65. go , (Wroc aw in urban development projects of the between-war 58 A reference to the entry for the competition on the develop- years) in: „Rocznik Wroc awski, Wroc aw 1995, pp.301-338; ment of Berlin (1910), design by R. Eberstadt, B. Möhring and idem, Pierwszy plan generalny Wroc awia (1924) i pocz =tki R. Petersen (First Prize); Ibidem. kompleksowego projektowania urbanistycznego , (The [ rst gene- 59 E. May, Stadterweiterung ... , in: Stb, op. cit., p. 53. ral plan for Wroc aw and the beginnings of comprehensive urban 60 E. Goldzamt, William Morris a geneza spo eczna architektury planning) in: Architektura Wroc awia , vol. 2. Urbanistyka , ed. nowoczesnej, (William Morris and the social genesis of modern by J. Rozp Bdowski, Wroc aw 1995, p. 301-338; B. Szyma Lski- architecture) Warsaw 1967, p. 306; W. Kononowicz, Wybrane Störtkuhl, Konkurs na rozbudow B miasta Wroc awia i gmin pod- zagadnienia urbanistyczne wielkich miast i osiedli mieszkanio- miejskich z lat 1921-1922 , (Competition for the development of wych w zachodniej Europie od po owy dziewi Btnastego wieku do the city of Wroc aw and suburban communes in 1921-22) ibid, drugiej wojny Vwiatowej , (Selected urban development issues of pp. 339-357. big cities and housing estates in western Europe from the mid- 62 Ibidem, p. 39.

34 Ernst May and his collaborator, engineer Herbert ulation of 50 to 100 thousand, with the objective of Boehm 63 . housing or industry, having their own services and Forty projects were sent in. First prize was not food sectors, situated at a distance of 20 to 30 kms awarded and the money it included was split be- from the central city and linked with it by a good tween the authors of the best [ ve designs, among transport connection 66 . May claimed that because them A. Rading’s „Bodenreform”. Design no.12 by of the limits of the competition his entry could not E. May and H. Boehm, inscribed with the motto: fully present the principles of the satellites. And so, „Satellites” (Trabanten), was purchased together the compromise version described a city with twelve with two other works 64 . satellites, lying within a radius of 10 kms from the Two approaches became evident in the design centre (pic. 29), these were: Szczytniki, Swojc- plans, concerning the displacement of settlement ar- zyce, Kar owice, Ró banka, Osobowice, Ku `niki, eas around the built-up zones. Supporters of the so- Nowy Dwór, Muchobór Wielki, Oporów, Partynice, called „academic” approach grouped closed island- Wojszyce and Brochów (Scheitnig, Schwoitsch, like estates evenly around the city. Those who pre- Carlowitz, Rosenthal, Oswitz, Schmiedefeld, Ma- ferred the „ \ exible” approach believed that Wroc aw ria-Höfchen, Gr. Mochbern, Opperau, Hartlieb, should not be expanded in all directions. Its develop- Woischwitz, Brockau). The strict limits on popula- ment should start at several important sites, in con- tion of the individual satellites intended to stop them sideration of natural tendencies, economic factors from growing into big urban conglomerations. The and links with workplaces. Wroc aw representative satellites, being individual units having local self- May and Rading took radically opposite positions. government, could have the nature of towns, for In the design by May and Boehm, which con- housing or industrial purposes, or combined. May tained a quintessence of urban decentralization, the advocated mixed functions, as industry supported „academic” approach presented itself in its most sub- almost full self-suf [ ciency. Satellites, despite their limated (pic. 29) variety. Wroc aw was surrounded independence, were to be parts of a comprehensive with satellite settlements, which - though dependent organism, connected to the central city, their source on the mother city - had the power to lead separate of cultural and economic effects. The service cen- existences. Wroc aw within Rading’s „Bodenre- tres of the satellites provided churches, schools, form” that represented the „ \ exible” approach, took communal halls, workshops and shops, and other on an elongated shape, following the course of the local institutions 67 . The mother city would provide river and the main rail and road direction. central institutions, administration, unions, banks, May referred to Unwin’s propositions of de- universities, theatres, etc., as well as the of [ ces of centralizing a city by the method of satellites and transport organizations, food processors, the central Howard’s transposed idea of a garden-city 65 . He railway and freight station, port installations, and believed that decentralization was the only correct the main market, from which commodities would be and healthy method for development of a big city, sent out to local markets in the satellite estates. Food de [ nitively stopping territorial spread and creating was to be obtained by their own means. A detailed satellites in green surrounds, grouped around the solution, elaborated by the authors in the competi- central organism. May treated the competition as an tion entry on the example of Wojszyce, has been de- opportunity to present a solution which broke with scribed above. outdated schemes. Territorial development would The competition design by May and Boehm met be halted by the municipal authorities which would with considerable appreciation from Fritz Behrendt, buy out a ring of land around the city, to devote it director of the Wroc aw Development Of [ ce and to recreational purposes or agriculture. Within this future constructor of the general plan, who wrote ring would be located the satellites, numbering pop- in his opinion: „The idea here presented strives to-

63 The jury included i.a. renowned architects and urbanists such 64 W. Kononowicz, Wroc aw. Kierunki..., op. cit., (Wroc aw. Di- as: B. Möhring, H. Jansen (Berlin), P. Bonatz (Stuttgart), F. rections) p. 34-35. Schumacher (Cologne, ) and, from Wroc aw, M. Berg, 65 C.B. Purdom, The building… , op. cit., p. 458. A. von Scholtz and P. Ehrlich; Programm für einen Ideen Wett- 66 E. May, Stadterweiterung Mittels Trabanten , in: Stb, 19 (1922), bewerb zur Erlangung eines Bebauungsplanes der Stadt Breslau issue 5/6, pp. 51-55; Idem, Stadterweiterung Mittels Trabanten , und ihrer Vororte, Magistrat der Haupstadt Breslau, Breslau, in: SH, 3(1922), issue 11, pp. 269-273. 1.03.1921. 67 E. May, Stadterweiterung Mittels Trabanten.., op. cit.

35 wards a perfect objective in the social, economic already published three years earlier 74 . This model and artistic aspect. Within this planned organism, of the city’s development - in his conviction - gave relaxation might solve all the problems resulting the only opportunity for healthy living to its inhab- from overburdening an urban centre that is too big itants. To support his aims, May cited the results of and too crowded, transport dif [ culties included. an international urban planning competition in Am- Regarding this, the work constitutes an important sterdam (1924), where decentralization with the use contribution to the theoretical consideration of the of satellites was held to be a recommended method problems of a metropolis” 68 . Also the report by the for the development of big cities, preventing them competition jury contained a favourable opinion: from spreading over into giant conglomerations 75 . „Particularly interesting is the mode of developing May’s concept was received in Amsterdam as a new areas, creating closed organisms - satellites, on good answer to one of the Congress’s questions: the foundations of existing localities. The idea, as a „how to solve the problem of big cities, so they novel way of solving the problems of a metropolis, serve humans instead of enslaving them” 76 . is worthy of attention and has a speci [ c charm in May’s concept was a singular continuation of the consistency of the project’s elaboration” 69 . Berg’s decentralization ideas from 1911, according May’s design, although it did not win a prize, be- to which, communes located closer should be incor- came famous in Europe - as the [ rst attempt to de- porated into Wroc aw, and those farther out, such centralize a big city by a system of satellites. Unwin as Sobótka, Oborniki or Trzebnica - bought out by himself used the competition entry to illustrate a Wroc aw or purposefully attached to the city, but lecture on the principles of developing a city by the with the difference that May favoured restrictions method, presented in 1923 in Berlin 70 . In the same on the growth of Wroc aw as well as its satellites 77 . year, May’s design aroused much interest at the In- He saw the future satellites of Wroc aw in places ternational Town-Planning Exhibition in Göteborg 71 . such as Oborniki, Trzebnica, Brzeg Dolny, Le Vnica, In 1924, the Bureau for Urban Development used K=ty, Sobótka, O awa (Obernigk, Trebnitz, Dyhen- the competition entries to create a general plan for furth, D. Lissa, Canth, Zobten, Ohlau), etc. the development of Wroc aw 72 . The construction of Satellites in the region, of constant size and pop- a plan that put down the infrastructure enabling the ulation of up to 100 thousand, would have consid- city to proceed with expanding its borders brought erable independence, grounded on a fundamental forth a reaction from district authorities. In March administrative, economic and cultural infrastruc- 1925 was published a „Memorial of the land district ture, own industry as well as a food-producing and of Wroc aw on the attachment of suburban com- recreational zone. Wroc aw, offering services at a munes to Wroc aw” 73 by district governor Bach- higher level, was within reach by good railway and mann and architect May, representing the district’s bus connections. The green outskirts would give interest as the director of Schlesische Heimstätte. Wroc aw inhabitants open leisure areas outside the In the memorial, May presented a regional plan for city „gates”, while the satellite residents would have Wroc aw with satellites located at 30 kms from the forests or a green belt within 15 minutes of home 78 . city (pic. 30), even though the idea itself had been The problem of „greater Wroc aw”, connected with

68 F. Behrendt, Der Wettbewerb…, op. cit., p. 48. 73 Bachmann, E. May, Denkschrift des Landeskreises Breslau 69 Bericht über den Ideen-Wettbewerb zur Erlangung einen Be- zur Frage der Eingemeidung von Vorortgemeinden in die Stadt bauungsplanes der Stadt Breslau und ihrer Vororte, Breslau Breslau, Breslau, 1925. 1922, p. 7. 74 E. May, Stadterweiterung Mittels Trabanten, in: Stb, op. cit., 70 The lecture was presented on 31 May 1923, at the invitation and in: SH, op. cit. of H. Muthesius and P. Behrens, in a „full to the rim” lecture 75 Bachmann, E. May, Denkschrift… , op. cit., p. 16; O. Berger, hall of the Museum of Artistic Craftsmanship and ...„Unwin’s Internationaler Städtebaukongre ! Amsterdam vom 2-9 Juli arguments, supported with magni [ cent photographs, met with 1924, „Ostdeutsche Bauzeitung” (hereon OBZ), 1924, No. 33, great appreciation of the audience”; SH, 4 (1923), issue 6, pp. pp. 234-236. 138-139. 76 E. May, Die internationale Städtebautagung in Amsterdam; 71 E. May, Die internationale Städtebauausstelung in Gotenberg ; in: SH, 5 (1924), issue 7, p. 208. in: SH, 4 (1923), issue 8/9, p. 187. 77 M. Berg, Die Besiedlung des Zobten unter Erhaltung seiner 72 W. Kononowicz, Pierwszy plan generalny Wroc awia… , (First landschaftlichen Schönheit, Schlesien, 5(1911-1912), p. 497 et general plan of Wroc aw), op. cit. al., W. Kononowicz, Wroc aw. Kierunki…, op. cit., p. 21. 78 W. Kononowicz, Wroc aw. Kierunki…, op. cit., pp.45, 145; „Breslauer Neueste Nachrichten”, No. 319.

36 the region, was tackled by May with involvement begin a new chapter of his life, eventually crowned in daily and specialist press, criticising the concept with success - building a new Frankfurt. then put forward by Rading of a city developed May’s Wroc aw experiences as an architect and along industrial-settlement strips. The sharp polem- urban planner were an important and fruitful stage ics between the two brought out their signi [ cant dif- on his path towards New Construction. It was an un- ferences in opinion on urban development 79 . faltering direction con [ rmed by such practices as a The reaction of the City to the district’s memo- decided preference for the social aspect in housing rial and May’s press articles, was a Memorial pub- construction, application of typi [ ed construction ele- lished by the municipal council 80 , authors of which ments, also whole homes and furniture, a striving for Martin Fuchs and Fritz Behrendt strongly criticised rational and cost-cutting solutions among others an- the publication of the district authorities, proving ticipating the „Frankfurt kitchen”, experiences with the legitimacy of the method adopted by the City „minimum dwellings”, as well as an introduction to develop Wroc aw by territorial expansion. It was to \ at roofs. The new matter-of-factness also found pointed out that May’s conception omitted a number its expression in town planning scale. Estates were of existing suburbs, dooming them for the sake of a arranged according to a rationalized „paralinear” green belt around the city. May was accused of us- plan, that was a link between Unwin’s picturesque ing fashionable theories to help preserve communes compositions and the rational „linear” designs that attached to the district, for [ nancial reasons. ful [ lled the postulates of new housing on „air, sun The Urban Planning Commission of the Asso- and nature”. An important achievement of his, con- ciation of German Architects (BDA) judged May’s [ rming May’s contribution to modern urban plan- concept of satellites impossible to implement for ning, were the designs for decentralizing Wroc aw administrative and technical reasons 81 . May, aban- with the use of satellites, on a scale of city as well as doned in his struggle and disappointed over the lack region. May’s experiences gathered in Wroc aw, ap- of understanding, took advantage of an invitation plied in the process of building New Frankfurt, sup- from the authorities of Frankfurt a/Main and that ported on his greater organizational potential as the same year left Wroc aw, to assume the position of Stadtbaurat, contributed to his spectacular success, municipal construction adviser in his home city and reached within a short time.

Translation by E. Krajewska

79 A. Rading, Die Wirtschaftgemeinschaft Breslau – Niederschle- 80 M. Fuchs, F. Behrendt, Die Stadt Breslau und die Eingemein- sien. Ein Beispiel Künftigen Stadtbildung , in: SH, 5(1924), z.5, dung ihres Erweiterungs Gebietes. Denkschrift des Magistrats, s. 149-154; F. Behrendt, A. Rading and others, Bebauungsplan Breslau 1925. Gross-Breslau, OBZ, 23(1925), no 2, p.13. 81 Ibidem , p. 64.

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