Houses in the Törten district in Dessau

Walter Gropius – Törten House, Dessau Germany, 1926-1928

Bauhaussiedlung Dessau – Törten Germany, 1926–1928
During the Weimar Republic, there was a significant lack of affordable housing. Public efforts have had to remedy the situation by creating homes that allow light, air and sun to be accessible to a large segment of the population. Therefore, the settlement Törten was created in the name of the city of Dessau and in the context of the Reichsheimstättengesetzes. The settlement was conceived by the Bauhaus as a solution for the construction of low-cost mass housing.
Designed by Walter Gropius and built in a terraced residential complex on three levels, it included 314 terraced houses with a living space of 57 to 75 m2. All the houses had vegetable gardens with an area from 350 to 400 square meters, for self-sufficiency through the cultivation of vegetables and animal husbandry.
Industrial production
As part of the construction of the neighborhood, we wanted to experiment with various building techniques aimed at rationalizing the construction site and testing
the suitability of new building materials and industrial products. The construction site was organized as a factory, specialized work teams simultaneously built several houses in a single construction phase. It was built with prefabricated components that were transported by a train and moved by crane.
The luminous volumes consisted of two-family houses, and groups of four to twelve units. The facades were divided by bands of vertical and horizontal windows. The construction of the houses was subject to the need to build economically. The load-bearing walls were made with prefabricated hollow concrete blocks, the ceilings made with reinforced concrete beams. For the interior, bright colors were used. The Bauhaus also offered furniture and furniture to furnish the rooms.