WEISSENHOF COLONY: HOUSE Nº 19, BY BRUNO TAUT

• THE WEISSENHOFSIEDLUNG

             It is considered one of the most important monuments of the "Neues Bauen" movement.

          Weissenhofsiedlung represented a new type of building exhibition. For the first time fully functional experimental buildings were erected and would later on serve as regular apartments.

            The 1927 Weissenhofsiedlung housing exhibition of Deutsche Werkbund in Stuttgard drew together a considerable number of the leading European modern architects, working under the artistic direction of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

             Of the original twentyone buildings, eleven survive. Bombing damage during World War II is responsible for the complete loss of the homes by Gropius, Hibeseimer, Bruno Taut, Poelzig, Max Taut and Döcker.

• A LITTLE BIT ABOUT BRUNO TAUT(1880-1938)

               He was a creative German architect, urban planner and author active during the Weimar culture (when the arts and sciences rose in Germany during the interwar period). He is known for his theoretical works as well as his designs.

              Taut's first large projects came in 1913.He adopted the futuristic ideals and techniques of the vanguard. Which can be apreciated in his prismatic dome called Glass Pavilion(1914) in Cologne,Germany. The whole building is made out of glass.
His main goal was to bring the current developments and tendencies in art and architecture to a broader population. He is classified as a modernist and, in particular, as an expressionist.                        Much of Taut's literary work in German remains untranslated into other languages such as English or Spanish.

• HOUSE NUMBER 19
  

              Bruno Taut was admitted to the circle of architects who designed the Weissenhofsiedlung based on the recommendation from his younger brother (Max Taut) and then he was assigned a plot to build a type C house( with two floors and four bedrooms)
              Bruno reffers to this house as proletarian among the others in the exhibition because it was meant for families with low income from the disadvantaged population.

             Even if it was small it still counted with all the needs for a basic house like that one: bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen...

• CURIOSITIES

1.  Taut´s house was drestroyed during Second World War.
2.   Unlike most of the other buildings from Weissenhof that were pure white, such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, or Walter Gropius, Taut´s was painted with primary colors.
3.  Le Corbusier himself, along with other critics, is reported to have exclaimed, "My God, Taut is color-blind!" because he didn´t paint it white like the others.