Onkel Toms Hütte, an example of expressive modernism

The first three building phases by the architects Bruno Taut, Otto Rudolf Salvisberg and Hugo Häring, are of a noticeable unity of design and together form the oldest part of the Onkel Toms Hütte Estate. This part has a layout akin to Unwinesque spatial design in the garden city tradition. The architecture, however, is not the vernacular design so often associated with garden city inspired suburban satellites, but an example of expressive modernism that was utilised by progressive continental architects in the 1920s and 30s.

The housing in the oldest phases of the suburban satellite is a mix of family houses in long and medium length terraces, semidetached properties and apartment blocks. The rows of family houses are placed along residential streets planted with trees. All have a front garden and a -larger- back garden. Every house has a flat roof!

In contrast the traditionalist design of the Fischtalgrundsiedlung places a strong emphasis on double pitched roofs. Here no ribbon-like windows are used, instead the windows are relatively small openings in the facade. The facade is broken up in the same way as in the modernist housing by colour-blocking.

A typical streetscape in the oldest part of Onkel Toms Hütte shows a garden city type arrangement of terraced housing oriented at the street lined with trees. In contrast to the usual species planted in garden villages such as fruit trees and small blossom trees, large forest species were introduced as a reference to the forest that once stood here. The use of bright colour in blocks breaks up the facade of the terraces.

The housing is of a typical unified modernist design, with a strong emphasis on standardisation and repetition. This is clear on the garden side of the terraces (on the left) where all houses are similar. Colour-blocking is mostly used on the facades visible from the street. Only in the detached self-built houses along the main street towards Zehlendorf the well known cubist style of white modernism is evident as the picture on the right shows.

Onkle Toms Hütte is well known for its expressive use of colour on the facades. This was something Taut used in many of his designs. It also lead to sneers from architects like Le Corbusier who considered themselves true modernist as they denounced colour all together. The combination of coloured facades and the tall pine trees that were kept in situ as a reminder of the Grunewald forest gives the area a distinct quality.

Taut uses white, off-white, yellow, green, red and blue. Often these blocks of colour are combined with brick or concrete details, like for instance the vertical courses on the right. This use of colour inspired post-modern architect to do similar things, but without the spatial quality of Taut's design thus resulting in rather gimmicky neighbourhoods. The so-called Regenboogbuurt (Rainbow Neighbourhood) in Almere is an example of this.

Other architects also used colour-blocking but in a more restrained manner. Her a design by Hugo Häring with ochre blocks of colour on the otherwise white facade with the red window frames and doors used as an extra ornamental element.

Especially on the corners Taut uses colour to emphasise and embellish these parts of the streetscape. In the oldest section of Onkel Toms Hütte this change in colour is linked to separate building masses -especially the semidetached houses on the corner of the long terraced. In the section north of Argentine Avenue the colours chance on the corners of buildings with the side elevation treated in a contrasting colour.

These flat-roofed blocks in natural hues are set amongst the trees. This type of suburban environment is a reference to the Waldsiedlung, a German type of housing project that was developed in per-existing woodland.

The apartment blocks have no use for front gardens an can therefore better emulate the Waldsiedlung type by having wide expanses of grass with pines and oaks. In the apartment blocks the building is treated as a sculpture for living in. Some have the Taut colours and brick details.

This long apartment building is part of the formal edge of the oldest part of Onkel Toms Hütte, separating this garden village inspired section from the railway tracks of the U--bahn. Here the many trees retained from the original forest and the newly planted birch trees break the long facades of the buildings.

Berlin modernists: Onkel Toms Hütte

From 1900 onwards Zehlendorf on the edge of the Grunewald southwest of Berlin developed into a wealthy suburb with small and large villa's on large to medium sized plots. When Zehlendorf and the large forest of Grunewald (litterally: Green Wood) were joined with Berlin in 1920 to become part of Greater Berlin it was assigned to be borough 10 (Stadtbezirk 10). In 1885 a local entrepreneur named Thomas opened a public house on the edge of the Grunewald forest on a forest road that connected the Königsallee (Kings Avenue) with the centre of Zehlendorf. In his beer garden he constructed several shelters for the visiting public that quickly became known as Thoms Hutten (Tom's cabins). Soon after the name of the establishment was changed into Onkel Toms Hütte after Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin of 1852.

Between 1926 and 1932 a large social housing estate was built on the edge of Zehlendorf. It was situated along the planned underground extension from the Central Line (Stamstrecke) to Krumme Lanke on the edge of Zehlendorf and the Grunewald forest. The development was planned as part of a series of new suburbs that would encircle the city of Berlin along the lines of the Ebenezer Howard diagram for Garden Cities.

Bruno Taut drew the plans for this new suburban satellite. He had been appointed chief architect and planner at the GEHAG, the largest housing cooperative in Berlin in 1924 and had previously designed the well received Huffeisensiedlung (Horseshoe Estate). Taut quickly started working on several new housing estates after his appointment. The estate at Onkel Toms Hütte was also financed and planned by the GEHAG (Gemeinnützigen Heimstätten-, Spar- und Bau-Aktiengesellschaft, best translated as the non-profit, community oriented, joint stock company for homes, savings and building). This organisation is still the owner of this estate (albeit under its new name of Deutsche-Wohnen-Gruppe).  

Taut decided not to pursue the existing planes of the district but to completely redesign the layout, first along the lines of Unwineske streetscapes combined with a so-called Waldsiedlung and later along the lines of the principles of Neues Bauen (New Objectivity in English although the literal translation 'new way of building' is more apt). In total 1100 apartments and 800 family houses were planned and built on the site that was mostly forest. The development was divided amongst the architects Bruno Taut (northern section), Otto Rudolf Salvisberg (southern section) and Hugo Häring (eastern section). The pines on the site were retained between the buildings, making for a pleasant living environment and giving the development a continued forest-feel. In 1927 as Taut's houses are being built, the borough approves plans for the Siedlung am Fischtalgrund on the edge of Onkel Toms Hütte. This development would be built in a traditionalist style however and runs along the edge of the Fischtal (Fish Valley).

In 1929 the new underground station on the U3, designed by Alfred Grenander, was completed and work started on the realisation of new homes north of the wide thoroughfare Argentinischen Allee (Argentine Avenue). The houses in this Hochsitzviertel were designed by Taut. He later also designed the Escherhauserviertel, with its parallel terraces (not dissimilar to Dammerstock). The station building was enlarged by Salvisberg and strip malls with housing were added on either side (1931), thus better incorporating the building in the bold, long facades that follow the curved thoroughfare. The clearly modernist placement of the apartment blocks along Argentine Avenue shows the shift in design concept. This is also evident in the last portion of the development designed by Taut: the Riemeisterviertel directly north of the underground station that consists of large apartment blocks set within pre-existing woodland.

The Uncle Tom's Cabin Estate consist of a modernist core built in several phases along modernist stylistic principles (shown in dark grey). Along the edges several traditionalist neighbourhoods were developed. These houses have pitched instead of flat roofs and often also have window shutters.The Fischtalgrund development (F) along the Fischtal (f) is the oldest. The Quermatensiedlung (Q) and Sprungschanzsiedlung (S) both date from after 1935. The underground station Onkel Toms Hütte (U) lies at the heart of the estate.

In the first building phase that conforms to Unwineske principles of placement of buildings along the street and spatial conventions of the Garden City Movement, a mix of family houses in often long terraces and apartments in sculptural blocks was realised. The urban design moved towards New Objectivity and the free placement of building with a relation to neighbouring buildings or the adjacent space but not the functional accessibility. The first phase south of the underground station also differ in density from the later building phases.

On both sides of Argentine Avenue the social housing estate of Onkel Toms Hütte was developed between 1926 and 1932.

A tram, is a tram, is a tram..!

In almost every major city in Germany you will encounter trans as a form of public transport. This is a legacy of the early twentieth century. Where for instance in the Netherlands and Britain most trams were decommissioned after WW2, tram lines were expanded in Germany as the backbone of urban transport. In Germany trams are seen as a convenient and efficient way of offering public transport where light rail or an underground railway isn't possible. In some cities Strassenbahn (trams) and S-bahn (suburban railway) have been merged into a continuous light rail type system.

The colour and shape of the trams is mostly dependant on the German state or city where you are at. The trams in Essen are all yellow, trams in Münich are light blue, trams in Nuremberg are red and white, etcetera. The tram rails are often incorporated in the paving of a street, but in suburbs the tram often has a designated lane laid to grass.

Dammerstock, a showcase of the modernist model home

A central strip of green separates the northern and southern sections of Dammerstock. Along the edge also runs the main road that links this suburb to the main road along the railway. The strip has been planted as an ornamental park with expanses of grass with trees and shrubs.

The traditionalist style of building of the Stuttgarter Schule (left) contrasts sharply with the cubist lines of the Bauhaus architecture (right).

The buildings in the traditionalist style that date from the 1930s are positioned along long parallel streets with ample green front gardens. The orthogonal street plan wasn't changed, so the houses with pitched and hipped roofs are arranged in long rows running north to south.

This building stands at the entrance to Dammerstock and advertises the intended Bauhaus style of the development. The complex had a social function with a bakery, kitchen, bathhouse, laundrette and community hall.

The apartments can be accessed via a back street that runs underneath a gateway. This gate separates the functional parts of the complex, but also creates a strong sense of place.

The functional elements of the architecture are the ornament within the Bauhaus doctrine. Exceptions are made for murals and tableaus. For the most part the architecture depends on the sculptural quality of the blocks with the rhythm of the structural elements, faces and openings.

The streets that run east to west are the through streets, that now harbour all the parked cars of the residents. The ends of the rows of housing create a strict rhythm along these streets. This also emphasizes the perception of depth, thus making the area look more spacious.

In contrast the rows of housing are spaced relatively close to each other creating long rows that run north to south. Some blocks are multifamily houses with small to medium size apartments. These blocks all have a unifying plinth in a gray colour.

The equally long rows of terraced houses lack the plinth and have a uniform facade in a single colour. Here the openings for the doors and windows are used to great effect creating both a horizontal and vertical rhythm. The small awning over the entrance and the steps are almost ornamental, although fully functional.

The ambition was to create modern living for modern people in a green and pleasant setting. So the design incorporated communal gardens with fruit trees and private gardens for the terraced housing. Hedges were used to unify all elements and create structure. These hedges are the same as in garden villages: privet.

The strips of garden space are unified by the long hedges running along. The white blocks stand out between the surrounding green thus supporting the idea(l) of a spacious place to live happily that has none of the vices of urbanity. Dammerstock is basically a modernist garden suburb.

Along the edge of the quarter a ridge of higher apartment blocks define the area against the surrounding landscape and also serve as a barrier towards the railway and the main through road on that side. De Blocks are of a deceptively simple design that is emphasised by the shadows of the trees in the park like public garden that sits next to it.

The blocks of flats don't stand out, as they are surrounded by higher vegetation (trees) that the lower rows at the heart of Dammerstock (that have fruit trees).The architecture emphasises their relative height through the horizontal alignment of windows and balconies in bands along the facade.