Die technokratische Utopie: Das Haus wächst, die Stadt schrumpft

In 1931, Martin Wagner, head of planning for Berlin, set up a working group tasked with developing a design for a »growing« house. The group included Egon Eiermann, Walter Gropius, Ludwig Hilberseimer, Erich Mendelssohn, Hans Poelzig, and Hans Scharoun. As an architectural response to the Great Depression and the collapse of the building industry, they formulated plans for adaptable micro-houses, which were to provide only what was necessary and expedient and whose design should be capable of being modified in accordance with the socio-economic circumstances of the inhabitants. These models were exhibited in Berlin and documented in the publication »Das wachsende Haus« (The Growing House).