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The WuWA Exhibition and Wrocław in the 1920s The inter-war period was an absolutely extraordinary time for Wrocław. The local authorities working closely with a group of innovator-architects made a huge contribution to the tremendous growth of the city. At that time Wrocław, was a unique place on the European landscape: a place with perfect conditions to develop solutions for the housing problems of that time. In 1924, the first master plan of the City was elaborated; in 1926, new construction law was introduced and in 1928, various suburban districts were incorporated into the territory of Wrocław. In the inter-war period, the co-authors of the WuWA Exhibition: Prof. Adolf Rading and Prof. Hans Scharoun, conducted their lectures on architecture at the Academy of Arts and Crafts. Between 1903–1932, the Academy, under the guidance of three great head teachers: Hans Poelzig, August Endell, and Oskar Moll, was the first school, ahead of the famous Bauhaus with its head office in Dessau, to start introducing major reforms. As a result, young architects were well-prepared to solve issues regarding the preparation of the WuWA Exhibition. The housing estate, which was built for the occasion of the exhibition, is one of six such estates in Europe. On the one hand, the main aim of those model housing estates by the Werkbund was to demonstrate the first post-war efforts to solve the housing problems of Germany. Thus, it presented what had already been collectively developed in the field and was generally considered successful and innovative in its efforts. On the other hand, they aimed at collecting and promoting the largest possible number of new solutions to deliver to each and every inhabitant what Ernst May identified as ”the right portion of dwelling”. The exhibitions, which attracted numerous visitors, were the way to convince people of the new living style and taught them, the future users, how to live in modern houses. People for whom these new model houses (prototypes for mass housing estates) were meant, very often did not know how to use them. That is why the exhibitions had also an important educational aspect.
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