| Popis: |
Industrial building was seen as the majority way to alleviate the persistent shortage of schools, hospitals, offices and housing in the post-war period. This affected all industrialised nations on both sides of the Iron Curtain that were plagued by growing pains. The concept went hand in hand with a belief in large-scale structures. To a certain extent, it conditioned it, because the economies of scale of industrial construction were most effective in large buildings. Mass housing estates were the emblems of this era, which reached its peak in Switzerland in the early 1970s. In the wake of the economic crisis following the oil shock of 1973, industrial building disappeared and the results of this mode of production fell into disrepute. This was particularly true of large-scale superstructures. In this dissertation, I examine the phenomenon of industrial housing construction in Switzerland. I approach the subject matter in the first chapter through an in-depth examination of the Helvetic housing question. It was a perennial topic in the media, and the solution to the chronic housing shortage had enjoyed top priority in politics and economy since the late 1950s. The measures to promote housing construction were correspondingly numerous, be it through corresponding legal articles or through concrete financial incentives. There was also a wide range of experimental solutions, which I will discuss in the second chapter. The 1960s were a decade of great experimentation in planning, which was reflected in numerous building projects. In the last chapter, I look specifically at standardisation and industrial prefabrication using Swiss examples. In doing so, I pursue the thesis that Swiss large-scale post-war buildings are much better than their reputation. Unlike most of the Trabant estates in other countries, these were not built as social housing, but for the free market. The reason for the abrupt rejection of large housing estates in Switzerland is not due to planning deficiencies but to a fundamental change in values. The concept of industrial housing emerged after the Second World War for industrial society. With the lifestyle revolution and the general pluralisation in the context of the structural change towards a service society, it had become obsolete. I see my work as a contribution to making this often unjustly ostracised building stock more readable. The relevance of the topic derives solely from the fact that there are tens of thousands of industrially produced flats in large-scale buildings in Switzerland. The capital tied up in them is correspondingly immense, and with it the importance of transferring this stock into a new life cycle with an understanding of the planning ideas of yesteryear. |
