The Reduced Raumplan
Implementing Loosian design principles in lower- middle-class housing
J.A. Dijk (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
J.S. Zeinstra – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
During the 1920s and 1930s, a group of Viennese architects designed houses with an architectural idea called Raumplan. With this idea, primarily larger villas were designed and built. The houses that Jacques Groag designed for the Viennese Werkbundsiedlung have some implementations of the characteristics of the Raumplan but were designed as lower-middle-class housing.
Therefore, the research question is as follows: what happened to the Raumplan when it was applied to Groag’s lower-middle-class housing in the Viennese Werkbundsiedlung?
This thesis will research historical literature and compare it with images and drawings of various houses belonging to the Raumplan and the Werkbundsiedlung. First, the Werkbundsiedlung and the Raumplan will be explained. After explaining the Raumplan and the Werkbundsiedlung, the dwellings designed by Groag, Loos, and Kulka for the Werkbundsiedlung will be compared with the characteristics of the Raumplan and earlier designs by the architects. This provides a clear picture of what characteristics of the Raumplan and earlier projects the architects incorporated into lower-middle-class housing. Based on this, a proper conclusion can be drawn on the research question.
It can be concluded that there is not one particular way of implementing the Raumplan into lower-middle-class housing. It can be done in several ways, addressing different characteristics of the Raumplan. One thing is clear: when applied, the Raumplan can be found in a derived or reduced form, and it does not fully correspond to the characteristics of the Raumplan as found in the larger villas.