Dammerstock, Bauhaus in Karlsruhe

The city of Karlsruhe (literally: Charles' Rest) issues a design competition in 1928 for the development of a new suburban satellite to be built on a number of fields along the river Alb. The area is known locally as Dammerstock and was part of Beiertsheim until this settlement was incorporated by Karlsruhe in 1907. Subsequently, plans were drawn up to create a large industrial area on the relatively flat land. This changes with the Generalbebauungsplan (a regional urban plan) of 1926, that was commissioned by the mayor Hermann Schneider. The explicit aim was to create a new garden village type settlement in between the so-called Südstadt (South City) and the Gartenstadt Rüppurr (Rüppurr Garden Village). The site lies along the Albtalbahn, a railway line running south from the city.

The new urban quarter was an ambitious project within modernism, a style advocated by the city council. Several famous architects are asked to participate in the design competition. The choice of architects reflects the modernist inclination. The same can be said of the jury consisting of Erst May, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Paul Schmitthenner. The design competition centred around the usability of modern housing for families with average to low incomes. For realisation of the development a non-profit building society (gemeinnützige städtische Baugenossenschaft Volkswohnung) was founded.

Walter Gropius was proclaimed the winner of the design competition. He had been the director of Bauhaus from 1918 onwards after taking over from the Belgian Henry van de Velde. He is also the person who fused the Polytechnic of Saxony with the Academy for the Arts to form the Staatliches Bauhaus (State School for Building) in 1919.In 1925 the Bauhaus is moved from Weimar to Dessau where the famous school buildings by Gropius still stand. The aim of the Bauhaus is to provide both technical and practical schooling in which all the creative disciplines contribute to a Gesamtkunstwerk (or: total work of art). In 1928 Gropius was succeeded by another famous modernist Hannes Meyer, who in turn was succeeded in 1930 by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, another famous modernist architect.

The winning design is textbook Bauhaus. The central motif is formed by parallel strips of row housing. The square buildings with flat roofs and light rendered facades were set in green gardens on paths that connected to trough streets. The buildings were all designed by Gropius and students of his in a similar style. Only the first building phase was ever completed as after 1933 the Bauhaus was closed and modernist architecture was declared entartet (degenerate) by the NSDAP. The northern section of Dammerstock was subsequently completed in the style of the so-called Stuttgarter Schule which focussed on recreating vernacular design. The layout was, however, not altered.

The original design for Dammerstock redrawn from original poster for the 1929 Model Homes exhibition (Ausstellung Dammerstock-Siedlung, die Gebrauchswohnung). The graphic concept for this exhibition of the Neues Bauen (literally: the new way of building) was by the designer Kurt Schwitters.  On the right the actual situation with in red the traditionalist buildings in the Stuttgarter Schule and in yellow the original buildings of 1929 and parts that were completed in the same style by the architect van den Kerkhof in 1949. Although what still stands is impressive, it would have been quite something this suburb of Karlsruhe if it had been completed as originally intended.

Seasonal showstoppers

Autumn colouration started early this year due to a cold late summer. It was then stopped in its tracks by a warm period. So some plants are still very green whilst others are showing their brightest autumn colour. Butter yellow is the most common colour in deciduous species. This makes any species with a different colouration all the more interesting.

Euonymus alatus, the Winged Spindle in candy pink; Parthenocissus tricuspidata, the Boston Ivy, can sometimes turn a deep plum colour instead of the normal wine red; Quercus rubra, the Red Oak, is aptly named for its fiery autumn colours in shades of red and orange. [f.l.t.r.]

Autumnal Asters

There are plants that many people disregard as being old-fashioned, ubiquitous or both. Some Asters, also known as Autumn-daisies and Michaelmas-daisies are such plants. Although these plants now should be called Symphyotrichon novi-belgii, I still call them Aster. The simple flowers in muted tones of mauve, blue and violet in large quantities on tall plants are a personal favourite for autumnal colour.

In Goede Aarde: eco-housing in Boxtel, impressions

Energy plays an important role in the development of this eco-estate. The section Solar Waves is positioned in such a way as to maximise using both passive and active solar energy. These are basically curved terraces of family houses with parking and playgrounds on the edge of the development.

Each family housing unit within Solar Waves has been fitted with a photovoltaic array on the edge of the roof terrace, large windows facing south, a closed very well insulated wall with small windows facing north and rainwater collectors on the roofs that have passive water heaters incorporated within.

After having stood empty for three years the eco-centre De Kleine Aarde was (partly) reopened in 2014. The eco-café sits at the heart of the centre and is part of the visitor centre.

Permeability of the urban landscape was an important part of the design. A sustainable urban drainage system (SUDS) is combined with public green spaces. These green spaces have been zoned from quit and natural to high human impact (read: playgrounds). Stimulating biodiversity is the main aim of these areas that connect the landscapes around Boxtel through the outlying suburbs.

Some housing stands directly on the edge of one of the green zones. The contrast is kept very sharp with a well defined edge formed by the street and long rows of terraced housing. This style of housing gives no clues to the ecological credentials of this housing as they look similar to standard commercial planned new-builds in the Netherlands.

The architecture varies considerably within the development; even within a certain themed section. The eco-estate in Boxtel visually doesn't differ much from standard commercial housing developments of the same period. In these streets the architecture is boxy in what is considered modern architecture by estate agents.

At the heart of The Rays of Light section of the eco-estate lies a large open green space that is mainly used by the residents as a playground, and recreational area. The height differences have been introduced to accommodate SUDS (the area floods with water in case of heavy rain fall) it was originally a large concave arable field.

The architecture around the central open space varies from standard family houses with pitched roofs(on the left) to the modern angular architecture of the terraces (right) on the other side. The ecological credentials of the houses isn't always directly visible. The large solar power arrays on the roofs of the standard houses is a very visible exception.

The same modern architecture with boxy volumes dominates most of the self-build strip of houses along the edge of The Rays of Light section of In Goede Aarde. Some of these building have been built using alternative construction methods, though this doesn't shine through in the architecture. At the end of the street the so-called Battlements are visible: housing that is part of the noise barrier along the motorway A2 that runs behind.

The housing in The Battlements forms a sheer endless row of identical houses. The contrasting white garden sheds next to the covered driveway give the row a certain rhythm. The gardens lie directly behind the drive as the back of the house is part of a noise barrier and thus a so-called silent wall with extra insulation and no windows.

The part of the Battlements along the edge of the sporting fields has a different architecture as there is no need for a family garden on the street side. Here large brick arches create a rhythm along the street. The mustard coloured doors enhance the rhythmic character of the design.

As said before, the housing generally looks similar to standard housing. It's in the details that the high durability scores are discernible. All houses in The Battlements for instance have a photovoltaic array that forms a ribbon along the top and is hardly visible from the street. These charging stations for electric cars (left) are very visible at street level though. In other places the architecture can best be described as eco-architecture. The detached house on the right is a case in point with a visible photovoltaic array, visible use of renewable materials like wood and the use of well insulating green roofs.

These standard looking houses with low pitched roofs also score high on the durability measure and should therefore be typed as eco-housing. The architecture isn't very exciting, but it shows that "eco" can be done even for consumers with conservative tastes.

This architecture is in contrast very expressive and tries to get across the fact that this isn't standard housing. Large expanses of glass are used to make the most of passive heating. The small roofs are angled towards the sun and are completely covered with photovoltaic arrays. Also in the use of wood the architect has tried to enforce the visibility of renewable materials.

In the section called The Farm, many houses reference the traditional farm, but with a twist. Some of the self-builders in this section go even further and have opted for a complete reworking of what a detached building can be. Here the dual-pitched roof has been abandoned n favour of a single-pitched green roof. This allows for large expanses of glass at the back for passive heating and direct views across the garden and the landscape beyond.

Two examples of reworked thatched farm-inspired buildings within the Farm section of this eco-estate. Each with many eco-features that are not visible from the street. Some of these self-built houses have been built using straw or wooden panels filled with wool as insulation. The inventive use of thatch creates a strong image.