From The Garden City To Rational Construction

In the first half of the 20th century, Germany was the center of promoting the modern siedlungen design. Among the modernist masters, the planning practice of Ernst May showed what could be achieved with control over development, industrialized construction and social housing. With unique land use, city planning, management concepts, and revolutionary design elements, Ernst may’s planning strategies had a lasting impact on the evolution of city planning in the western world, greatly influenced the development of modern siedlungen design direction and the generating of the principles of CIAM. While his contribution in a holistic sense has been long recognized, few have attempted to probe the experience in any depth. This paper will help eliminate this shortcoming by analyzing the problems, approaches, design application, and implementation of Ernst May’s city planning experience before world-war II.Starting with the earliest, this paper studies the four phases of Ernst May’s siedlungen designs with a major focus on the architect’s strategies for addressing various housing needs while fitting local social and cultural background. In both macroscopic and microscopic views, this paper analyzes the development projects in Silesia and Frankfurt. By looking at those projects in the aspects of overall plan, space pattern and dwelling design, this paper aims to learn about May’s designing philosophy and tactics in early and middle period. Secondly, this paper explores the architect’s developments in Soviet and East African to see how he applied the adapted Frankfurt’s designs to other cultures and context outside Germany.Next, by comparing and contrasting Ernst May’s space pattern and dwelling design concept in four different periods, this paper demonstrates his transition from picturesque to rationalization, which is essential to the success of his large-scale siedlungen designs.Lastly, Ernst May has promoted CIAM principle and has greatly inspired the evolution of modern community design, which is discussed through May’s architectural maturation in the context of the modern siedlungen rationalization movement since the 19th century.