Instructions for the design of urban spaces
With the “Handbuch der Stadtbaukunst”, the “Deutsches Institut für Stadtbaukunst” at TU Dortmund University is completing its long-standing book series at DOM publishers. In four volumes, 150 examples of urban spaces, courtyards, squares and street spaces from more than 70 German cities are scaled, described, compared and checked for their urban quality for contemporary urban planning. After more than 100 years, the German Institute for Urban Architecture has reintroduced the topic of »the beauty of the European city« into the language of the planning institutions and, with the manual, would like to give the discourse a sound basis. The linen cords supplied in the jewelery slipcase will be delivered in spring 2021.
With thematic essays by Vittorio Magnago Lampugnani, Werner Oechslin, Alexander Pellnitz, Jan Pieper, Mirjam Schmidt, Wolfgang Sonne, Jürg Sulzer and Anne Pfeil as well as Thomas Will.
2021 by DOM publishers, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86922-444-2, Christoph Mäckler with Birgit Roth (ed.)
In the early 20th century, many urban planning experts became associated with certain cities. Names such as Hendrik Petrus Berlage in Amsterdam, Charles Buls in Brussels, Eugène Hénard in Paris, Karl Mayreder in Vienna or Gustav Gull in Zurich. All of them had a decisive influence on shaping their cities and became outstanding personalities in the histories of those cities. The conditions they faced were anything but easy, because during that period, those cities were undergoing drastic changes. Rapid population growth catapulted them into the realm of huge conurbations. Cities that did not want to be overrun by these developments saw the need to take responsibility, to play an active rather than just a reactive role – by conceiving a specific urban vision to guide their planning. This book is the third and final volume in the trilogy covering this subject and turns its attention to the urban planning experts in countries bordering on Germany. It provides an overview of the works of the masters of urban planning during that period and examines their output for suggestions to help modern urban planning.
2018 by DOM publishers, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86922-623-1, Markus Jager, Wolfgang Sonne (ed.)
In many cities around the Rhine and Ruhr rivers, the early 20th century is associated with the names of certain urban planning experts. Names such as Hermann Josef Stübben in Cologne, Robert Schmidt in Essen, Karl Elkart in Bochum or Hans Strobel in Dortmund. All of them had a decisive influence on shaping their cities and became outstanding personalities in the histories of those cities. The conditions they faced were anything but easy, because during that period, those cities were undergoing drastic changes. Rapid population growth catapulted them into the realm of huge conurbations. Cities that did not want to be overrun by these developments saw the need to take responsibility, to play an active rather than just a reactive role – by conceiving a specific urban vision to guide their planning. This book is the second volume in the trilogy covering this subject and turns its attention to the urban planning experts in the Rhine and Ruhr regions. For the first time, it provides an overview of the works of the masters of urban planning during that period and examines their output for suggestions to help modern urban planning.
2016 by DOM publishers, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86922-536-4, Markus Jager, Wolfgang Sonne (ed.)
Public spaces in our towns and cities are not only topics for architects and urban planners. Public spaces are part of the living spaces of our society and hence profoundly public issues. This volume describes the Deutsches Institut für Stadtbaukunst exhibition of the same name which toured between 2013 and 2016. The exhibition was supported by an appeal by Dr. Rolf-E. Breuer and 22 representatives from industry, politics and society. The photographs of current squares in German towns and cities are compared with views from the time around 1950. It becomes clear at a glance that despite the destruction of the Second World War, many squares still exhibit a self-contained, urban character – and that unfortunate situations today have less to do with the war and much more to do with planning disasters. The aim here is to provide an incentive for better urban planning and better urban architecture around our squares.
Vol. 6
2016 by DOM publishers, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86922-479-4, Christoph Mäckler, Birgit Roth (ed.)
What do Fritz Schumacher in Hamburg, Ludwig Hoffmann and Martin Wagner in Berlin, Theodor Fischer in Munich or Ernst May and Martin Elsaesser in Frankfurt have in common? It is the fact that they all had a decisive influence on shaping their cities and became outstanding personalities in the histories of those cities. This volume provides the first-ever overview of the tasks and visions of those urban planning experts and discusses contemporary players in municipal urban planning. That can lead to ideas and recommendations for modern practice which result from those eras, which are seen as exemplary. Vol. 5
2015 by DOM publishers, Berlin, ISBN 978-3-86922-447-3, Markus Jager, Wolfgang Sonne (ed.)
Working primarily in Frankfurt am Main during the 1920s, Martin Elsaesser was one of the architects who defined the modern city. His designs were contemporary answers to new issues. In the course of his career, he worked on all the important building tasks presented by a modern city. His most famous creation, Frankfurt’s wholesale market hall, is now used by the ECB. Less well known is the fact that Elsaesser was always reflecting on his work as an architect in a city and described his work in presentations and essays. These essays, brought together here for the first time, form a kaleidoscope of deliberations concerning the appropriate approach to many different building tasks in the city, from the time of the Empire to the early years of West Germany. Elsaesser reveals himself to be not only a practical creator, but also a multi-faceted theorist with complex views on modern architecture. For him, architectural expression is just as important as constructional clarity, functionality just as important as beauty, artistic obstinacy just as important as social responsibility, respect for tradition just as important as unshakeable contemporariness. He once called this non-reductionistic concept “fertile polarity”, thus distinguishing himself from most of the avant-gardists of his time. His direct topicality is to be found in this rich concept and in his exemplary architectural and urban planning solutions – with introductory and explanatory notes.
NIGGLI 2013 / ISBN 978-3721208436, Thomas Elsaesser (ed.) et al.
The permanent relationship between urban planning and architecture is illustrated using the example of the corner. Growing out of the architectural problem of providing usable spaces at the corners of urban buildings as well, architects over the centuries devised the most diverse forms in order to give these spaces additional quality. If we wish to build clearly structured, beautiful urban spaces these days, then we must also be able to design buildings with good corners.
This book is a compendium of good solutions to this fundamental urban planning problem. Plans of different apartments taken from the past 200 years illustrate fundamental principles for dealing with the urban corner and are intended to serve as ideas but also as yardstick for the future.
NIGGLI 2013 / ISBN 978-3-7212-0824-5, Georg Ebbing, Christoph Mäckler (eds.)
On the occasion of the fair’s 25th anniversary, the Deutsches Institut für Stadtbaukunst recalls the positive influence of this international construction fair. The experiences of the 1980s should contribute to enriching the debate surrounding the sustainable urban planning of the future in all its complexity. This book provides an overview of key projects, discusses the effects of the IBA and presents the scientific studies of a younger generation as well as the assessments of protagonists based on evidence.
NIGGLI 2012 / ISBN 978-3-7212-0846-7, Harald Bodenschatz (ed.) et al.
The aim of the series of books published by the Deutsches Institut für Stadtbaukunst is to present the fundamental materials of urban architecture. Oswald Matthias Ungers’ thematic treatment of architecture was chosen to start this series because this essay by a German architect was already trying 30 years ago to free architecture from the clutches of functionalistic constraints, but without leaving it to the artistic caprices of the architect. The architectural design of a building is described as part of the urban environment, as a part that has to tackle the place of “collective recollection” in order to “counteract the thoughtless destruction of places, open urban spaces (and) historical situations”.
NIGGLI 2011 / ISBN 978-3-7212-0815-3, Walter A. Noebel (ed.)