Much attention was paid to the detached houses which offered many astute solutions to new social problems146. The main advantages of the detached houses was a practical allocation of functions to the space and the division of the house into the ”loud” and ”silent” areas and ”day” and ”night” zones. On the other hand it was said that a few talented architects (...) had totally forgotten about the economy which is a decisive element of contemporary residential buildings and yielded to the demon of the exhibition by designing detached houses of extravagant form and, what is worse, too costly147. Another critic thought that only some of the detached houses (especially Heinrich Lauterbach's and Ludwig Moshamer's) and Adolf Rading's house had an interesting and dynamic form. Special recognition was granted to the terraced houses by the representatives of the Housewives' Association who appreciated mostly the two-level flats which allowed for a larger number of beds, flats with separate entrances and basements, where the stairs were straight and not too steep, the bathroom was separate from the WC, and had built-in wardrobes and additional cubbyholes. Theo Effenberger's (no. 26–27), Emil Lange’s (no. 28) and Paul Häusler’s (no. 29–30) houses were described as free of any flaws, of plain and calm internal form. A section of Lange's house built on supports was considered rather peculiar. On the one hand, it made the house much more economical; but on the other hand, the result was that two bedrooms had external walls, a roof and an open sided area below, similar to an arcade. The houses that should be given special attention were by Heinrich Lauterbach’s (no. 35), Moritz Haddy's (no. 36) and Ludwig Moshamer's (no. 37). By a process of smooth shaping the projection, astonishing spatial forms were achieved. An extremely different opinion about Moshamer's detached house was presented by his contemporary critic: When you split a small body of building and move its parts away from each other while making one taller than the other, then the result cannot be justified in any way. A residential house is too small to apply such a formal operation148. Heinrich Lauterbach's detached house was described as adjusted to a modern human, neither too lofty, nor too excessive. (...) This house energises, relaxes, makes a person calm down and refreshes them to go to work again”149.
146 Walter BARANEK, op.cit., p. 357. 147 M. (Ernst MAY?), op.cit., p. 204. 148 O., op.cit., p. 298; Georg MÜNTER, op.cit., p. 448. 149 Guido HARBERS, op.cit., p. 287.
116 WuWA
6. opinions about the housing estate after the opening of the exhibition