Am Schmalen Rain, Gotha: a colourful, closed ensemble of social housing

The facade of the large apartment block on the road is an example of a mix of Dutch New Objectivity and German traditionalism. The grey concrete balconies and the red roof tiles contrast attractively with the bright blue facade.

Small details in the window treatment and the squared-off  protruding sections reveal a clear influence of Dutch 1920s modern architecture. The protruding sections serve as turrets an give the street frontage an exciting rhythm. The small front gardens edged by a hedge are communal and mainly representative.

The terraced housing next to the apartment block also have a blue colour, but in a lighter hue. Seen from inside the estate Am Schmalen Rain the housing all looks vernacular in design, but in a then modern colourful style that is also known from Onkel Toms Hütte in Berlin. Also note the square protruding front door surrounds.

The housing has light hues of the main colours from the spectrum with blue, green, yellow, pink and (orangey) red. The colours on the window shutters are always matching those of the facade. The coloured blocks of housing are used to great effect as this example of a street leading up to the central square clearly shows. The awnings over the front doors are a recent addition.

The streets that lead to the central public space -originally the location of the amenities- pass underneath imposing gate buildings with a characteristic pointed arch. The facades of these buildings have a bright orangey red colour signalling their importance in the spatial ensemble of this housing estate.

From the neighbouring allotments a narrow path between privet hedges gives access to the central square (left). The rounded turrets in the corners of the buildings on the square are also visible from this side. Most of the architecture is symmetrical which adds to the formality of the ensemble. This character sets it apart from the planned visual variety of examples (1,2,3) of early vernacular Garden City Movement architecture.

At the centre of the central public space a large building on arched galleries dominates the space. This used to be the central focus of the estate in a functional sense as it housed an office of the Building Coop, a guesthouse an 3 shops. Spatially it remains the central focus of Am Schmalen Rain. Again the building is symmetrical in design.

At either end of the central Geschwister-Scholl-Platz two symmetrical sets of L-shaped housed in red  close off the space. A privet hedge defines a front garden. In the corner a round tower links the two separate blocks creating an L-shape. Between them a path leads either to the allotment complex or the path along the Ratsrinne. These buildings with a red facade also clearly show the reinstated window shutters  banded white and a matching pink colour.

The red Gate buildings contrast with the adjoining long terraces in yellow with colour blocking in green around the doors to emphasize the entrances and provide rhythm in the otherwise simple long facades that stand lengthways on the central square.

These blocks of flats with bedsits were added. Again the green of the shutters provides interest. Also these buildings are squared off. The way the different colours provided a calculated sense of variety and visual interest is clear from view across the estate (on the right).

From the back the length of the yellow terraced housing on the square is clearly visible. Small dormers provide the rhythm here. The semicircular hedge surrounds a playground and the trees emphasise the shape even further. This creates a sense op space within this housing ensemble. The window shutters are white and green.

As said the renovation is not quite finished yet (2016). On the left one of the units in a side terrace that was subdivided into two flats and is now being reinstated as  a single family house. The Dutch dormers are a feature of these houses. The Ratsrinne is a narrow stream (Rinne means furrow or gully) that gave its name to the estate.

A street that has been renovated with a section that comes forward and is higher in a different colour breaking up the length of the terraced housing, but also enables the architects to match the gentle curve of the street. It would me even better if all the privet hedges in the front gardens were to be replanted!