La société de construction Heimat : de l’habitation du fonctionnaire au logement de l’employé

Abstract

The Heimat was a building company, involved in public housing in Germany between 1925 and 1933. The author takes the example of this firm to study the evolution of social housing projects designed for German white-collar workers (Angestellte) , a professional category which witnessed considerable growth during this period and was anxious to dissociate itself from workers. Founded by the G.D.A. Union, the Heimat had a preferential policy of awarding dwellings, and concentrated on the construction of blocks of flats to rent, complete with private gardens, and situated for the most part in Berlin. Although it did not have its own full-time architect, the company commissioned half of its Berlin projects from Paul Mebes. Setting out from an individualistic system, invented for housing civil servants, this architect developed his own collective architecture of a more anonymous nature. Thus modern dwellings were designed and mass-produced for a social category which was merging into the middle classes.