Weissenhofsiedlung, Stuttgart, 1925:

The Initial Scheme

Abstract

Mies van der Rohe viewed his first proposal for the Stuttgart Weissenhofsiedlung as "artistically right.” Despite this conviction, he guided the project through a series of design iterations that had the effect of radically transforming the project. The origin of the initial scheme has been a matter of some speculation among historians. Most believe that the initial project was a result of collaboration between Mies and Hugo Häring. There has also been some speculation on the intentions behind the initial project. Both discussions have been thwarted by the presumed lack of documentation. This paper will present a partial reconstruction of the first scheme, based on historical documents. Rather than trying to assign authorship, it will speculate on the origins of the scheme, some reasons for the abrupt change in design direction, and reaching implications for the understanding of the later work and thinking of the later work of Mies van der Rohe.