Thursday 27 September 2007

colorful architecture





"Farbe ist Lebensfreude!" Bruno Taut
(This is not easy to translate but basically we can translate it as "color is the joy of living", granted it is a rough translation.)
Bruno Taut (1880-1938), a well-known German architect originally wanted to be a painter. His use of color in his architectural designs was for the time quite unique. He wanted to provide comfortable living for everyone in a colorful environment. When he first planned one of his hausing settlements in Berlin (Waldsiedlung Onkel Tom's Hütte) his ideas were met with violent opposition for several reasons, the flat roofs, the colors and the fact that he wanted to provide low income housing. He was able to overcome the problems and built the settlement during a time period from 1926-1930. When it was finished, it was commonly referred to as the "Papageiensiedlung"(Parrot Settlement) or the Farbentopf (Paint Pot) because of it's colors. Today you can still visit the settlement and because it is under the protection of the Historical Society it remains almost unchanged. I took a walk there this morning and these are some of pics I took.

1 comment:

Mollylein said...

Hi! I've been reading your blog for a while but never really getting around leaving a comment. These picures are truly beautiful.I love Berlin and miss it so much!
Please keep these pictures coming!

Maria