Emil Berna

1907-2000 HANS RICHTER

NEW LIVING

ARCHITECTURE. FILM. SPACE.

ANDRES JANSER AND ARTHUR RUEGG

LARS MULLER PUBLISHERS

16 New Living: A Model Film?
Hans Richter's Werkbund Film: Between Commissioned
Work and Poetry on Film
Andres Janser

38 Selected Film Sequences with Commentary

Andres Janser and Arthur Ruegg

122 The Four Most Important Buildings

Arthur Ruegg

124 Notes on the Two Versions of Die neue Wohnung

Andres Janser

125 Postscript
 Swiss Werkbund, publicity brochure,
ca. 1930

Der Schweizerische Werkbund hat einen Film ,,Die neue

Wohnung" herstellen lassen, um alle Nachteile der alten
Wohnweise sichtbar zu machen und um ihnen die Vorteile
vernOnftig gestalteter neuer Wohnungen entgegenzu-
setzen. Der Film zeigt, wie an Stelle der Steinwosten mit
ihren Hinterhofen und ihren schlechten Besonnungsver-
hiJ.ltnissen Wohnungen geschaffen werden konnen, die
Licht und Luft ungehindert eindringen lassen und die es
dazu ermoglichen, mit dem Stock Land vor dem Haus in
enger Beziehung zu leben. Der Film weist nach,wie sich das
Leben auf derStrasse, in der Werkstatt gewandelt hat, und
dass es nun an uns ist, auch unsere Wohnform mit dem
heutigen Leben in Beziehung zu bringen. In drastischer
Weise werden die Nachteile zu grosser Kochen und lan-
ger Korridore gezeigt und gleichzeitig wird auf die Ober-
legte Projektierung, auf die arbeitsverkorzenden Vorteile
der kleinen Koche und der durchdachten Einrichtung der
Schriinke hingewiesen. Der Film verurteilt die Moblierung
mit riesigen Stacken, die Oberladene Stu be, den kitschigen
Salon und setzt ihnen gegenober das weitriiumige Wohn-
zimmer, das nur die Stucke enthiilt, die man wirklich
braucht. Neben der winkligen Enge der vollgestopften
Wohnung erscheinen Losungen, die den heutigen Bedorf-
nissen entsprechen und die auf knapper Grundfliiche
grosstmoglichen Lebensraum geben.
Der Film hat eine Liinge von 520 m und eignet sich aus-
gezeichnet zur VorfOhrung in Ausstellungen oder in Vor-
triJ.gen Ober das Wohnungswesen. Der Schweizerische
Werkbund stellt den Film gegen eine miJ.ssige Verleihge-
bohr zur Verfogung. Anfragen sind zu richten an die Ge-
schiJ.ftsstelle des Schweizerischen Werkbundes, Borsen-
strasse 10, Zorich.
 The following double-page
spreads seek to make the
structural principles of Die
neue Wohnung clear. The
images used are taken from
the film itself; they reproduce
the film more or less in
its entirety and are arranged in
the sequence in which they
appeared there.
The selection is based
on the first version of the film,
which corresponded to the
intentions of the SWB (Swiss
,, 'W~rkb~~'d), which commis-
sioned it for WOBA, where it
was premiered. Where it
seemed useful, images from
other sources and contexts
have been added (and labeled
accordingly) in order to
place the film in the context of
the themes of its day.
Although the printed image
per se lacks the movement and
the irresistible forward
progress of the film, the form
chosen here instead represents
an attempt to link the unique
possibilities of the medium of
the book with a layout oriented
around the experience
of the film on which it is based.
The selection and sequence
of the images and texts are thus
determined by two intentions. Filmfreunde van morgen,
First, it should give an published in 1929, as well as
impression of the film that is the themes discussed in the
as close as possible to that Werkbund, in particular
of an attentive audience in the the outline of the film, dated
cinema. Second, it should 17 March 1930, written by Hans
in addition take into account Schmidt, a member of the
the freedom to emphasize Werkbund's board of directors.
something more strongly The times indicated are based
in one place and less strongly on a projection speed of
in another. eighteen frames per second.
A reigning principle in the
argument of Die neue Wohnung The commentaries were
is that.everything lacks a name. written by Andres Janser (A.J.}
The furniture and the interiors, and Arthur RUegg (A.R.).
,:k even the designers responsible
for it, are not named any-
where in the film. Not only in
terms of their documentary
value, the objects shown -for
which, in some cases, the film
provides the only available
visual information - are
stripped of their, anonymity.
Essential reference points
for addressing the question
of how the content and the
form of the film intertwine are
sought in Hans Richter's
intentions - as well as in Swiss
and international develop-
ments- as expressed, on the
one hand, in his films and, on
the other, in his programmatic
text Filmgegner von heute,
39
 ciative montage of contrasts
straightening out as daylight that is concerned with prin-
grows brighter; this shot ciples and universals; second,
is followed by shots of chicks, antinaturalist, filmic time.
a girl playing in a shadowy These two elements are char-
courtyard, and a happy toddler acteristic of Hans Richter's
playing in a field of flowers. filmic signature, and they will
This prototypical juxtaposition leave their mark on the
of bright and dark images remainder of Dieneue Wohnung
establishes a visual contrast in a variety of ways. A.J.
in which correct and incorrect
ways of living are explicitly
contrasted. In addition,
the time-lapse photography of
the initial scene with the
sunflower manipulates real
time.
This beginning also serves as
an exposition in which the
fundamental design principles
are introduced: first, an asso-

41
As an embodiment of the walls
of the stone city of the
nineteenth century, a series of
unnamed buildings in Zurich
is presented: details of
the ashlar of the Kappelerhof
in the bank district on Bahn-
hofstrasse, the turrets
crowning the barracks building,
and anonymous buildings at
the ends of blocks in the
industrial quarter west of the
main train station - all supple-
mented with shots of plants
drooping in sunless courtyards.
Though graphic variety is
provided by the perspectives
that result from tilting the
camera in slightly different
directions, the overwhelmingly
shadowy images set the
scene for the negative stereo-
type of life in the kitchen.
bining various activities in the
same space, the kitchen seems
to be the heart of the apart-
ment. Although it is only briefly
sketched in just a few scenes,
the documentary aspect of this
sequence, and all the follow-
ing ones, is no doubt based on
careful staging - in keeping
with the conventions of the day.
In the foreground stand the
eating children, the pipe-smok-
ing father reading the news-
paper, and the mother ironing
and cooking at the gas
stove, with her well-behaved
daughter at her hand. Laundry
on the line, a simple wash
basin prominently placed on a
stool, an unadorned cupboard
with a built-in bench that
matches the utilitarian decor
of the room - all these things
composed image. Despite
all the dreariness, the ambience
recalls the vitality of Heinrich
Zille's descriptions of Berlin
more than the numerous damp
cellar apartments of the
metropolis, as lamented, for
example, in Slatan Dudow's
nearly contemporaneous film
Zeitprob/eme: Wieder
Berliner Arbeiter wohnt (Time
problems: How the Berlin
worker lives). The main thrust
of the SWB argument in com-
missioning Die neue Wohnung
was not about the housing
shortage as a social problem
(which was much less
urgent in Switzerland in any
case) but about a sensible use
of the living space assumed
to be available even to those on
a smaller budget. In his
second version, revised for
distribution in Germany,
by contrast, Richter overtly
introduced this aspect of social
policy. A.J.
43

kitchen, the drawing room,
is depicted more extensively,
and it completes the critique of
the senseless waste of the
limited space available in a
lower-middle-class apartment.
This, the main room, is
hardly used, and only for guests
are the slipcovers removed
from the furniture that com-
pletely clutters a room darkened
by curtains and carpets. The
children are only allowed
to enter the room if they are
wearing their Sunday best.
The decorative furniture known
as Vertiko, which was popular
from the end of the nineteenth
century onward and featured
a space on top for all sorts of
bric-a-brac, 1s the focus of
ridicule. A winged lion, Richard
Wagner, Goethe, Wilhelm Tell,
and framed family portraits
are lovingly and painstakingly
dusted by the lady of the house
with a paintbrush, only to fall
and break on the floor at the
end of the sequence with
the visitor. Hans Schmidt was
one of the many who thun-
dered in drastic terms against
such all too common
circumstances: "the children
have to sleep in the attic under
exposed roofing tiles so that
one room of the apartment
can be set aside as the 'nice
parlor,' as the shrine to "
the plush sofa, the crocheted
tablecloth, and the Vertiko."
He proposed that the
film include shots of a room
overstuffed with furniture. A.J.
4i
Die neue Wohnung was made
without professional actors
and thus without any well-
known "faces." Not only did the
use of amateur actors save
money, the anonymity of
the figures and the way they
were employed was in keeping
with an effort by other direc-
tors. as Hans Richter
emphasized, "to escape the
stage acting with which actors
destroy film's uniqueness,
by instead using nonactors to
play the roles." Hans Schmidt
too had proposed that
the film do without the "help of
actors." Stop-motion photo-
graphy was used to animate
the dove on the rim of a
bowl and a plaster-cast Cupid.
such modifications, "as if neue Wohnung the Melies-like
by magic," which appear again visual puzzles seem to be
later in the film with sliding part of an objectified, polemical
doors and windows, with an form of dadaism. A.J.
insight made by Fernand Leger:
"I believe that a door handle
moving slowly (object) creates
a stronger impression than
the projection of the person
who sets it in motion (subject)."
The traces of such dadaist
shock effects can be found in
Richter's Vormittagspuk
(known in English as Ghosts
before Breakfast) and beyond
into the beginnings of film.
Not coincidentally, in the late
1930s Richter wanted to
film a homage to (and with)
Georges Melies, the pioneer
47
A series of associations in the
style of Lev Kuleshov's
montage experiments of
the 1920s shows in alternation
the face of the man of the
house and a close-up of
a monkey ornament. Where
Kuleshov was concerned with
imparting new meaning on
one image that remained con·
stant by associating it with
a series of other images, here
the montage results in an
analogy of form and a conse·
quent analogy of ideas: the
man of the house as a kitsch
object, captured in the
frame like the monkey in its
display case. Early in the same
sequence a crocheted table-
cloth appeared over the head
of the dining guest as an
ironic halo. Meanwhile these
outrages inspired by Richter's
Walter, fall from their appointed
American slapstick, that place. With a loud clatter
"the grotesque is based less that is almost audible, the
on imitation of nature than on heroic figure shatters into
rhythm" are reduced to the a thousand pieces on the floor.
absurd. As a symbol of The increasing speed of this
the inappropriate design of dramatic montage sequence -
utilitarian objects, the lid of the at a rate of barely a second per
coffeepot falls twice in rapid image, stretching the limits
succession, in an almost of what is perceptible- causes
identical manner, as coffee the children to cry and leads
is poured into the politely to the abrupt departure of the
raised cup of, first, the guest guest. A.J.
and then of the man of the
house. Then the sequence of
shots is accelerated. A watch
chain caught in the fringed
tablecloth leads to a truly slap-
stick climax. Dishes crash,
well-meaning aid in the limited
space only makes the situation
worse, and everything begins
to wobble and slide until
finally Wilhelm Tell and his son,
49
 In Fi/mgegner von heute, cal value as the kitsch objects.
Filmfreunde von morgen Hans Whereas the archetypal
Richter advanced a thesis facial expressions of the actors
borrowed from the Russian film express increasing agitation
director Vsevolod Pudovkin: and finally irritation, even des·
"The value of the actor within peration, at the falling object,
the film is relatively speaking the "death" of Tell and his
no greater than that of son seems even more dramatic
any other object in the film that and "senseless." A.J.
i\ intensifies the film's expres·
! siveness." This disparagement
of the actor, and especially of
the star, was as commonplace
at the time as it was (and
still is) problematic, but its
consequences appear to
be decisive here. In the rapid
sequence of the close·ups,
with their prominent cast
shadows, the human faces
have effectively the same opti·
Furniture dealers ~nd pur- ing amounts shown in figures
chasers of dowrieS made that increased in size until
up the majority of the audience the zeroes ran off the edge of
that was expected for WOBA. the screen and dissolved
With both groups the all into a blurry multiple exposure
too popular furniture painted symbolizing that they were
in "flame birch fiber grain" " "worthless." Because the treat-
and solidly constructed "for ment of the typeface in Die
eternity" in "guaranteed wood," neue Wohnung is not as
was supposed to fall out striking, however, the resulting
of favor, because, so the clear effect is not as strong as that
message ran, the modern in Inflation. A.J.
consumer thinks and acts
in the present. At this point the
typography changes into
Gothic black letter type, intend-
ed to make the backwardness
of such an attitude obvious.
By contrast, the very up-to-date
prices to be paid for the "full
sets" are displayed in the same
modern sans serif typeface
that is used for all the titles
that precede and follow them.
In the rhythmic sequence of
Hans Richter, Inflation, as illustrated in
increasingly large figures that
Filmgegner von heu/e, Filmfreunde von
parallels the increase of
morgen, 1929
the sums being shown, Hans
Richter was borrowing a motif
from Inflation, his 1927-28 film
on the destructive effect of
the economic and social crisis.
In that film the inflationary
devaluation of the Reichsmark
was also depicted by increas·

55
Immediately following the
critique of the "full sets,"
an impressive selection of such
furniture built "for eternity" is
driven past on a large furniture
truck. Strenuous manual
labor is required to transport
the heavy pieces up the stairs
to the top floor of the apart-
ment building. As was also
done in the sequence showing
the visit, this process, which
has to be repeated each time
the household is moved,
is dramatized through prox-
imity to the bodies of the
protagonists: close-ups of the
sweat dripping on their faces,
their shoes feeling about for
secure footing, and struggling
hands. The narrow distances,
on the other hand, also make it
more difficult to make
out the objects of all this effort
or to see clearly how many
steps are climbed during this
schlep. The upside-down
heads of the furniture movers
- once again a motif that
can be seen very briefly in the
where it underlines the insta-
bility of the situation - also
contributes to the confusion
about the actual spatial
arrangements. The end effect
is of schlepping as such.
"Our furniture is too big, too
heavy, too expensive," as Hans
Schmidt expressed it reprov-
ingly in the title of a 1927 essay
for the magazine Schweizer
Spiegel. The terse formulation
in his proposal for the film
- "the unloading of a furniture
truck with an exaggerated
quantity of furniture" - was
fleshed out and given a visually
plausible form appropriate
to the medium of film. This
scene then prepares the ground
for the proposal for the
present that will be advanced
later in the film: the value
of lightweight, transportable
furniture. A.J.
s·
In the sequence that follows,
a young woman, despite
numerous handles, is unable to
open a window with heavy and
impractical curtains that is
blocked by objects in awkward
places. The impossibility of
opening an overfilled and
barricaded window is another
motif found explicitly in Hans
Schmidt's outline: "An old
window with curtains, flowers,
and canaries. Cannot be
opened." In the brief moment
presented in the finished scene,
however, it does not appear
to be the arrangement or con~
struction of the window
that poses the problem. Even
though a sliding window would
without question be more
practical (because the window
sill would not have to be empty),
the situation could have been
made easier, as was already
implied in the kitchen and the
dressing room, by employing
the existing facilities in another
way.A.J.

59
 Hans Richter, Filmstudie, 1926

Impressed by the achievements the contrast between the

of the French avant-garde, dark curtain and the bright
Hans Richter turned away from one behind it creates a strong
abstract film in 1925. In the graphic effect owing to
period that followed he contin- the harsh backlighting, and

ued to occupy himself for this contrast seems to demate-

some time with translating into rialize both of the curtains into
realistic motifs the principles abstractions. The curtain's
he had developed with nonob- fall brings them back to reality

jective motifs, in an effort to in the end, but only to be

counter film's illustrative catapulted back out when the
function. For example, the first image is frozen in the middle
vertical, then diagonal, tilted, of the movement. A.J.
and even horizontal "flickeringM
up-and-down motion of the
stubborn curtain and its
impractical cords is based on a
motif from Richter's Filmstudie
of 1926. In that film it was
nonobjective black and white
surfaces that "opened" and
"closed" rhythmically and thus
inevitably created an effect
of apparent depth. Here instead

61
a rhetorical question aSking the first half, which is dedi-
whether a apartment filled with cated to the old practices
large, heavy, and expensive to be overcome, and the second
furniture is in vogue-concludes half, with its new proposals.
the extensive polemic against A.J.
false ideas about housing.
Appearing just before the
middle of the film, the word
fills the screen and - along with
the following sequence on
technical progress as a symbol
of the cultural transformation
to the modernity of the present

The montage sequence on how
modern times have changed
with respect to earlier times
not only functions like a hinge
in terms of the subject matter
but also differs in terms of
form. Woodcuts in a distinctive
graphic style symbolize the
ways of life of past centuries:
a plow pulled by oxen, a
cooper at work, and a coach,
as well as a model of a sailboat.
The static images are drawn
to the side with a kind of
wiping fade to provide a view
"behind them" of the moving
real images of their contempo-
raneous equivalents: a com-
bine harvester, a mechanized
carpenter's workshop,
a lightweight racing car at
full speed, and a majestic
ocean steamer. As each of the
static images is removed,
the woodcut "film stock" comes
into view, a kind of modernist
breaking of the filmic illusion
and a reminder of the way
the film has been made. Histor-
ical progress is thus associated
on a metalevel with the
medium in which it is presented.
This does not, however,
address the paradox that the
immobile image becomes
visible only because the film
moves through the projector.
In the earliest Hans Richter
filmography, published in 1946,
this is singled out as the
"first use of 'static' pictures,
engravings, etc., as integral
part of the film." In his plan for
the film Hans Schmidt had
proposed using "existing
photographs." The recycling of
film footage was not unusual,
especially in commissioned
works, after it became
technically possible in Europe
in the late 1920s to duplicate
negatives without substantial
loss of quality. Hans Richter
was certainly familiar with the
possibilities provided
by the process. In Inflation
he combined his own material
with that of others, in some
cases using the same collection
of film that Walter Ruttmann
did. And the official censor's
report he received for
the spot Bauen und Wohnen
(Building and dwelling) that he
produced for the advertising
firm Epoche for the eponymous
exhibition in Berlin con-
tained the following remark
in granting approval: "It
can be used for other firms as
well, if the title of the firm is
? changed." This routine official
formulation, which took
economic factors into account,
clearly revealed both a
remarkably dismal assessment
of the power of the individual
image and an awareness
of how it could be made rele·
vant by means of montage. A.J.
67
 Holz (The manufacture of
a mountain road. This dynamic, bentwood furniture), a film
blurred image was probably commissioned from Praesens
borrowed from a film distrib- about the products of the firm
uted by the Swiss transportation Horgen-Glarus. A.J.
agency about an annual
race. The photographs of
the machines in the woodshop
were taken from Fabrikation
von MObeln aus gebogenem

6!

The sequence on progress
concludes with an unexpected,
not immediately identifiable
double exposure of a moving
automobile seen from the
side and a monoplane flying
toward the camera. Multiple
exposures, or printing a scene
behind one or more scenes,
represented a motif that
was popular even outside of
avant-garde circles. They also
corresponded to one of Hans
Richter's theoretical priorities,
which he repeatedly put
into practice: "Double the
image -double the intensity"
was his goal. The point was
not to establish an analogy
between automobile, the
"machine pour rouler"; airplane,
the "machine pour voler";
and dwelling, the "machine a
habiter" of Le Corbusier's
phrase, which was visualized
by Pierre Chenal in his film
Architectures d'aujourd'hui
(Architectures of today) at
almost exactly the same time.
The fascination to which Die
neue Wohnung pays reverence
is the more general one of
the dynamicism and mobility of
modern life, symbolized by
this simultaneous view of
rapidly moving vehicles. The
CH 142 belonged to the airline
Ad Astra Aero, where the
multitalented aviation and film
pioneer Walter Mittelholzer
played a role, as he did in
Praesens Film. Mittelholzer
used a plane of the same type,
a Dornier-Merkur, in the
winter of 1926-27 for his
historic flight over Africa. The
film that Praesens subse-
quently produced, Mittelho/zers
Afrikaflug: Im Wasserflugzeug
van Ziirich nach Kapstadt
(Mittelholzer's flight over Africa:
In a seaplane from Zurich
to Cape Town), presented that
plane to a broader audience
and immortalized it. A.J.
73
A panorama of the architecture
of Neues Wohnen (New )(
dwelling) makes the case for
its international dissemination
and appropriateness, just
as Ludwig Hilberseimer did for
Neues Bauen (New building)
in his Werkbund publication of
1927, Internationale neue
Baukunst(lnternational modern
architecture). The world of
modern architectural forms is
thus introduced in passing as a
concomitant of modern living,
not because they are based on
shared aesthetic goals but
they derive from changes in
lifestyle and social require-
ments, which in turn "change
the dwelling as well."
Neues Wohnen did indeed
expand to become Neues
Bauen, which included Gunnar
Asplund's exhibition in
Stockholm in 1930 and J.M.
de AizpUrua and J. Labayen's
Club Real Nautico in San
Sebastian, as well as other
architectural projects.
A series of buildings in Europe
and America - beginning
with "the Dutch stuff" and end-
Collective of the Swiss Werkbund,
living room in the Mies van der Rohe
Building, Stuttgart, 1927. Photo:
Schweizerische Bauzeitung 90, no. 20
(12November1927)
Brazilian CIAM representative
Gregori Warchavchik - is
presented by means of filmed
photographs, either in static
views or combined with brief
trick shots. This procedure,
which is used again later- for
example, with photographs
of the Werkbund exhibition in
Stuttgart-was clearly
economically motivated, i.e.,
intended to reduce travel costs.
In certain cases this meant
making do with lower-quality
photographs, resulting in
a disturbing contrast with the
high photographic quality
of the 35-mm film stock used.
Thus Richter's praise of '"static'
images" as elements needs
to be assessed in terms of an
aesthetic of economy -for
example, in the photograph in
which Mies van der Roh e's
multistory building dominates
the Weissenhofsiedlung like
a crown over the city (see the
large illustration on this page).
A.J.
77

The two sequences "The Home
Is Made Ready for Change"
and "Furniture Becomes More
Practical" show the possibi-
lities for working with the small
spaces that the middle class
could only just afford at
the time. On the one hand, the
program of the single-family
home calls for separate living
and dining rooms; on the other,
the goal was to create the
impression of generous space.
What could be more natural
than separating them with
sliding partitions? In the film
the full palette of available
options is demonstrated. First
a child opens a folding wall;
then a detail of the floor is
shown with a glass door that
can be pushed along a
wooden tread; finally the door
is opened and there is a free
view into the dining room
of the Steiger House, built
in 1927 in Kilchberg near
Zurich. The residents are at
a round table, sitting on early
standardized chairs by Max
Ernst Haefeli, recognizable
from the delicate grooves on
the seats and the way they
increase in size at the fastening
points. The semispherical
lamp is, however, desigried by
the architects of the house,
Flora Steiger-Crawford and
Rudolf Steiger, as was the
prism-shaped pantry furniture
visible in the background,
which screens off the entrance
to the housekeeping area.
The soffit lamps mounted on
the walls in pairs are also
noteworthy.
At the end of the sequence the
sliding door is closed as if by
magic. This is a different one,
however: it is a lightwood-
frame construction covered
with fabric, of the sort Max Ernst
Haefeli used in all his early
houses. Here it is a quick
glimpse of the living room of
a doctor's house on Rengger-
strasse in Zurich, building
in 1928-29, with a lamp, also
covered with fabric, from
the first generation of Haefeli
lamp designs and several
wooden Morris chairs with
adjustable backs - a model of
chair that was in fashion
around 1925.
The second sequence flashes
back to the Steiger House.
Now the center of attention
is on the mobility of the "new
·furniture," which has become a
multipurpose object or- as
the Neue ZUrcher Zeitung once
described it- a quick-change
artist. The~protagonist is
the new table developed by the
Steigers, a husband-and-wife
team of architects. Its feet
can either be fastened into the
corners of the leaf by means
of a plug connector or be
inserted to make room for a
rolling storage cabinet or two.
A.R.
79
Space can also be saved with
the help of mobile furniture.
The "variability" of space and
furniture was a slogan for
modern architecture just after
1925. The next sequence of the
film illustrates that principle
with furnishings developed by
Flora Steiger-Crawford. In
the Bella Lui Sanatorium, built
in 1928-30, the theme of
table and storage cabinet was
given a new variation in the
furnishings for the patients'
rooms. The very compact, cubic
table has a built-in drop leaf
on the left side with a mirror
on the inside; the right side
has a drawer. A rolling
storage cabinet fits precisely
underneath the table, and it
series, and it was added
compartment in front and to the design collection of the
a compartment with a door Museum fOr Gestaltung in
in back. This leaves just enough Zurich. A. R.
room for the matching Haefeli
wooden chair. The piece
is suited for applying makeup,
reading, or writing. When
the storage cabinet is pulled
out, as shown in the film, it
forms a proper piece of office
furniture. Metal rails make
it possible to use the storage
cabinet as a luggage stand
as well. When the sanatorium
was renovated in the 1980s,
these furnishings were
replaced. A subsequent coat
of brown paint was removed
from one set of the original
gray-green and black furniture
81
The folding table shown next,
in a stop-motion sequence,
is also very practical. It can be
pulled out from a narrow
workspace, along with both
legs. The tripartite leaf folds
out and becomes a real utility
or breakfast table, usefully
positioned between the stove
and the sink.
In this context one should
recall both the two-family house
designed by Le Corbusier
and Pierre Jeanneret for Stutt-
gart-Weissenhof in 1927
according to the principle of
"variability," with railroad
rooms that could be combined
into a single space during the
day, and the fan-shaped
furniture of Pierre Chareau of
Paris, which could also be
rotated and adjusted. Using
this principle it was possible to
use the same room or the
same object to satisfy
a various needs in turn.
The folding table was found
in a doctor's house built by Max
Ernst Haefeli on Klusstrasse
in Zurich, but the pull tray
shown next in the film is found
in the service hatch of the
other doctor's house, the one
on Renggerstrasse. The tray
can be placed from the coun-
tertop in the kitchen into
a niche in the wall of the dining
and be brought to the table
from there.
The switch in the sequence of
images to an adjustable
lighting fixture seems abrupt,
though not if we recall the
objectives of the time.
The relatively new invention
of electric light demanded
Max Ernst Haefeli, Floor lamp from
adequate forms of lighting and the series 1928 in the living room
hence adequate lighting fix- of the house at Wasserwerkstrasse 29
tures. In 1928 Max Ernst Haefeli Photo: Wolf Bender, Museum fi.ir
designed a lighting program Gestaltung, Zurich
that met both demands.
Thanks to an adjustable opal
glass shade formed by cutting
a cylindrical form in half- it
was possible to use this indu-
strially produced, standardized
lamp for direct as well
as indirect lighting (one of the
objectives of the avant-garde).
A.R.
83
I

opportunity to exploit in his
film the fascination of Haefeli's
mobile, multipurpose light
sources. Next he presents a
couple of "anonymous"
industrial products that will
become important for the
future development of Swiss
lighting fixtures: the German
Midgard scissors lamp by
lndustriewerke Auma in ThUrin-
gen and the French spherical
hinged lamp by the firm
Didier of Gachons & Ravel,
designed by a certain Monsieur
Gras and frequently used by
Le Corbusier. (This is pre-
sumably why the various Gras
models were later sold in
Switzerland as "Le Corbusier
spherical hinged lamps.")
With their anonymous design,
which avoided the modish,
such industrial products suited
any room, could be adjusted,
and thus allowed the lighting to
be altered as did Max Ernst
Haefeli's 1928 series. Next we
see a bright parchment bag,
which turns out to be the shade
of a floor lamp whose height
can be adjusted. It is mounted
on flexible metal tubing,
such it can be placed at any
height and pointed in any
direction. The metal shaft
of the lamp is supported by a
beautiful stand consisting
of three iron sections painted
black that are not visible in
the film. This is a floor lamp by
Flora Steiger-Crawford
and Rudolf Steiger, only a few
examples of which were
produced. This was an early
design (though surely not from
1924, as Rudolf Steiger recal-
led) whose parchment shade
produces a soft light that is
reminiscent of candles or
petroleum lamps. Such fabric
or parchment shades
only became possible with the
advent of "fireproof" electric
light. They could be decorated
by "artists' assistants" - an
option that was welcomed at
first within Werkbund circles,
but one that the Steigers, of
course, consciously rejected.
A.R.
85

just "more practicalN but also
"simpler, that is, smaller."
The new compact standardized
furnishings are conceived as
products to last that are
·cat least theoretically) suited
to assembly-line production. As
part of one's daily needs they
present a contrast to a
"luxury assortment" that was
always subject to fashion and
thus was regularly disconti-
nued. The idea of simple
standardized furniture showed
a way to avoid the dilemma
of style. A fine example
of this can be seen in the pris-
matic basic form of the
wardrobe presented in Hans
Richter's film, which has indeed
been reduced to the requi-
red dimensions. Other
examples include the metal
Building in Stuttgart-Weissen-
hof, whose form is undeniably
derived from that of hospital
beds. The switch to the Steiger
House in Kilchberg follows
abruptly. The scene shows the
corridor on the upper floor
in a panning shot that moves
from the long glass light shaft
in the ceiling past the align-
ment of the doors and down to
the floor. This room is clearly
the unadorned counterpart
to the standardized furniture.
The doors and closets are
integrated into a facade as on
an ocean liner. The standar-
dized aspect of the situation
dominates; there doesn't seem
to be any room for decorations
or for individual ideas on
the part of the architects. The
skylight with a cover of trans-
lucent glass fills the corridor
with a "neutral" light. Anyone
who has seen the recently
restored version of the house
will nevertheless be impressed
by the subtle palette, which
completely alters the spatial
effect. All of the walls in the
circulation area are light blue;
all the woodwork is painted in
various shades of gray; the
bedrooms, by contrast, are all
pink. Many of the photographs
seem extremely stark-Swiss
furnishings from the period just
before 1930 obtained a
decidedly cozy feel from their
color. A.R.
8!
Even the construction of the
ceilings in the Steiger House
characterizes an approach
to mediating between
international radicalness and
local tradition that was typical
of young Swiss architects
of the period. The flat roof was
executed using traditional
carpentry techniques; the
ceiling above the ground floor,
using a current method called
Hourdis construction; and the
ceiling above the cellar,
using prefabricated concrete
beams like those used in the
experimental Bauhaus housing
colony in TOrten, built around
the same time. All these things
served a sleek, functional
modernity that uses appropria·
te means in a pragmatic way.
In a graphically effective
the linear structure of the
corridor to that of a piece of
standardized furniture,
drawing attention back to the
main theme. A set of three
small filigree tables is shown,
and stop-motion photography
is used to demonstrate how
they can be combined. The
expressive, sculptural effect of
the tables stored inside one
another as a set is astonishing.
Each of the thin wooden legs
has an intervening space
that can also be seen between
the horizontal reinforcing
frame. The smallest table has
a second leaf that forms a
plane with the series of frames.
It is covered with linoleum
and has a border equal in width
to one of the reinforcing
frames. These corresponden·
ces and the extremely elegant
proportions of the fine wood
construction of this set
of "cube tables" recalls both
ancient Japanese examples and
contemporary sculpture. A. R.
g·
r"-' furniture - like the cupboard
in the Rotach Houses that
seems to open by itself thanks
to trick photography, together
with spare lightweight
and mobile furnishings like
those in the Stam House
in the Weissenhofsiedlung in
Stuttgart or, surprisingly,
in Auguste Perret's house for
the poster artist Cassandre
in Versailles - leaves room for
parties. The corresponding
sequence in the Rotach
Houses once again reveals
Richter's penchant for anti·
naturalistic design. He breaks
the scene of the couples
dancing in the living room into
brief sections and shows
reverse while retaining the
original sequence of the shots.
This montage technique, which
Richter had seen in Dziga
Vertov's The Man with the
Movie Camera as a means of
creating an optical rhythm,
achieves here instead a spatial
manipulation. The filmic space
is more complex and larger
than what is in reality a rather
small space (the correct
orientation is shown in the
large reproduction above). This
technique was also used in the
scene where the young man
causes the stubborn curtain to
come crashing down. A.J.
new kitchens, a central
scene in the film, the scene's
montage character is conM
spicuously violated: the
elaborate preparation of coffee
in a large kitchen ls shown in
a very long, unedited shot that
lasts some sixty seconds. In
the small kitchen of the Rotach
Houses this everyday activity
takes up much less film time in
the sequence immediately
following, though this shot too
lasts a bit more than thirty
seconds. Both shots are long
takes in which the moving pan
of the camera as it follows
the bustling housewife takes
on the function of the cut
in a kind of internal montage.
The long hallway that
separates the kitchen and
dining room is replaced
by a practical service hatch.
The same notion of Taylor
efficiencies is the basis of
Margarete Schi.itteMLihotzky's
"Frankfurt kitchen," which
was used in the Praunheim,
Bruchfeldstrasse, and
Ginnheim housing colonies
in Frankfurt am Main (New
building in Frankfurt am Main)
- a short film from 1926-27
from the German series Wie
wohnen wir gesund und
wirtschaftlich?- animated floor
plans were used to show in
a clearly didactic way the
"superiority" of such compact,
carefully designed kitchens
in contrast to a traditional,
large, and impractical kitchen.
In Die neue Wohnung the same
argument is communicated
visually, effectively transformed
to film. The two long scenes
are avantMgarde in their
discreet extravagance, and
they express Richter's mobility
in the use of filmic time and
filmic space. A.J. Humboldt Film, Neues Bauen in
Frankfurt am Main, part two, "The
Frankfurt Kitchen," 1926-27
95
A perfectly organized sequence
of kitchen tasks is demon-
strated in the Rotach Houses.'
The tone is set by an overview
of the electric kitchen
(in house no. 31) that was
photographed in 1928 for the
exhibition Das neue Heim II
(The new home, part 2), along
with a kitchen chair that was
retouched for publication
(in reality it was a Stabel/e, a
traditional-style wooden chair).
Neither the photograph nor
the film sequence that follows
shows the whole of the
immense range hood made of
wire glass, with its clear remi-
niscences of historic chimney
hoods. Then the camera
follows the ceremony of pre-
paring coffee in the gas kitchen
(in house no. 29), from the
deft opening of the sliding door
on the cupboard to the prepa-
ration of the dishes to the
uinteresting preparation of the
seen in the glass parts of the
Cana Coffeemaker from
England. The Cana functions
in a manner similar to the
Sintrax by the German company
Jenaer Glas, which was rede-
signed by the Bauhaus master
Gerhard Marcks around
1925 and has since become an
icon of modern design. The
water is brought to a simmer
in a boiling compartment
and pressed through the coffee
grounds contained in a glass
filter. Finally, the filtered coffee
is drawn back down by the
cooling of the bottle. All that
remains in the filter section,
which can now be removed, is
the grounds, so that the
finished coffee can be served
directly from the boiling
compartment. At the end of
the scene we see the prepared
tray handed out into the
dining room through the
service hatch. A. R.
Electric kitchen, Wasserwerk·
strasse31, 1928
Cona Coffeemaker, photographed in
1926 in the exhibition Das Neue Heim I
(The new home, part 1)
Photos: Museum !Ur Gestaltung, Zurich
97
The problem of the window
has always been at the center
of architectural debates.
For the second time in the
film- using the same images-
the difference between the
traditional "vertical" window
and the modern horizontal slit,
preferably fitted with sliding
fixtures, is illustrated in terms
of the problem of curtains.
So this section does not
address the question of modern
window construction, which
was so hotly debated in
specialist circles. Nor does
it take on the theme of the
various ways of relating to the
space outside. It is the fixtures
for providing privacy and
blocking light that are the basis
for the arguments in favor
of the modern solution. With
traditional vertical windows the
various sections of curtain
are drawn using a variety of
cords, which predictably leads
to complete chaos. When the
knot, which seems like it will
never be untangled, is finally
removed, the knickknacks on
the window sill have to be
removed before the windows
can finally be swung open ...
That is no longer the case after
the modern architectural
revolution. Not only can the
windows be opened by sliding
- which also serves to
emphasize the horizontality
of the window openings - with
a simple swing the curtains
slide to one side along the new
type of tracks. This was
so significant that by 1932 an
astonishingly complete series
of tracks, containing a
"ringless" solution for almost
every conceivable purpose,
was included in the Swiss
builders catalog. Le Corbusier,
too, paid a great deal of
attention to the problem of the
fall of the window. "Le tringle" -
the curtain rod - was for him
a starting point for identifying
architectural solutions. A. R.
99
furniture that can be added to Stam Houses, was, however,
after the initial purchase not included in the film.
prefigures the idea of the The title is followed by
"expanding dwelling," a topic the most brilliant montage
frequently discussed in the sequence in Die neue
1930s. A simple, cubic cabinet Wohnung. With its prominent
with sliding doors is followed alternation of rhythm it
by living and dining room leads into the concluding
with standardized furniture of section of the film. A.J.
various kinds in order to
demonstrate that simple forms
can be combined easily. The
sequence shows one of
Mart Sta m's houses for the
Weissenhofsiedlung with the
famous-Thonet bentwood
chtlirs-a_nd other pieces, some
de'signed_by Stam. The radical
steel_~_tUbe Freischwinger chair,
_WhiCh-_Was first shown in

1 <
In a repeating sequence nineteen seconds forty-one
a multiple parallel montage shots are seen, resulting
includes: feet rushing over in a rate of less than half a
steps, an extreme close-up second per edit. A.J.
of a mouth speaking,
fingers rushing over typewriter
keys, a woman holding her
head (Flora Steiger-Crawford),
and a bust portrait of a man
looking around (Hans Neisse).
As a consequence of delays
in perceiving the cuts, the
brief and still briefer scenes

11

sequence of images is
combined with stark graphic
effects. The camera is tilted
at a modernist angle, often with
an unusual worm's-eye
view, and captures the people
against a neutral dark back-
ground at various inclines, the
shots of feet are often upside
down, as are those of
the typing hands, which also
appear in multiple images
created with a prismatic lens.
This essayistic association
of ideas once again achieves
the "intensification of the
process beyond natural move·
ment,n in which "the individual
process is made typical,"
that Hans Richter advocated
in Filmgegner von heute,
Filmfreunde von morgen. The
result is an immediate image
of how hectic modern life is,
an impression then effectively
contrasted with the calm
of the simply furnished modern
living rooms.
At the conclusion of the
sequence one female and two
mate characters appear briefly;
along with Inge Haefeli,
Max Ernst Haefeli (large image
on this page}, and probably
Friedrich T. Gubler, one can see
other amateur actors and
actresses, about whom Peter
Meyer remarked: "The photo·
graphs demonstrate that the
SWB secretary and several
other members personally took
part in the film's production:
their actions have been immor·
talized there, which makes the
film especially amusing for
Swiss audiences in the know."
A.J.
10
u ... the less we need •.•" Less
what? The film does not name
the superfluous thing, but
it is shown with a series
of photographs. The expressio-
nist Chile House in Hamburg
is clearly included as well
as the historical architecture
in the bank district of Zurich
(the Kappelerhof). These
are contrasted with interiors
that radiate "calm through
simplicity of form" -for exam-
ple, the bedroom in the Mies
van der Rohe Building in
Stuttgart-Weissenhof that Lilly
Reich furnished or the living
room in the Lovell "Health"
House built by Richard Neutra
in Los Angeles. The camera
pans to introduce a Swiss
example. It is the predomi-
nantly glass living room of the
the Sonnenberg in Zurich,
designed by Max Ernst Haefeli
in 1928-29. First the camera
shows the glasswork that con-
tinues around a corner, then
it pans to the right and shows a
man (Max Ernst Haefeli him-
self?) sleeping by an open
sliding window. This is one of
the great stills from Hans
Richter's Werkbund film. Not
only does the mood corre-
spond perfectly to the scene's
theme, it also combines
all of the elements of the new
culture of living: above all
the sliding window, which
opens up in a panoramic view
onto the idyllic green of the
garden, but also the swinging
curtain that has already been
shown, and of course Haefeli's
wood furniture produced by
Horgen-Glarus, in particular his
sofa with an adjustable back.
The wall has a lighting fixture
from Haefeli's 1928 series, and
its movable opal glass shade
provides pleasant, partially
indirect lighting. All in all, a fine
example of Swiss design of a
serene, unflustered modernity.
A.R.
1<

"Light, air, and sun" - the next
section of the film takes on one
of the central formulas of
Neues Bauen. In a small book
published in 1929, Befreites
Wohnen, Sigfried Giedion, the
Swiss art historian and advo-
cate of modernism, defined the
"beauty" that corresponded
to this ideal of housing:
"A house is beautiful when it
corresponds to our feeling
of life. This means light, air,
movement, openness. A house
is beautiful if it makes it
possible to live in contact with
the sky and the tops of trees.
A house is beautiful if it has
light (glass walls) rather than
shadows (window supports).
A house is beautiful if its rooms
do not impart a sensation
of being closed in. A house is
beautiful if its charm results
House are presented by means
of stop-motion photography.
Around 1930 avant-garde
architects were competing
to produced the most refined
window details. At the time
Rudolf Steiger called for the
different approaches to be
documented at CIAM; it seems
that twenty-four models of
sliding window were exhibited.
The hall of the Bella Lui Sana-
torium shown in the film
is furnished with upholstered
chairs and smoking tables
by Max Ernst Haefeli as
well as with the new Antimott
armchairs. Clearly visible
are the slender supports of
well served." "Sun" is not the steel skeleton with
mentioned in Giedion's poem- two side-mounted solid-glass
like text, but it is suggested by lamps produced according
the significance of window to a design by the Steigers. A. R.
openings for the new feeling
of life. The house's functionality,
by contrast, is only mentioned
at the end!
In fact, in the first part of the
sequence Hans Richter does
indeed present exclusively
new types of window construc-
tions. From Haefeli's aluminum
windows in the Rotach Houses
the film moves to the ground
floor of the Bella Lui Sanato-
rium, built by the Steigers with
Arnold ltten in 1928-30, then
the sliding window in Haefeli's
LGscher House opens again,
and finally the refined, finely
proportioned sliding windows
and cabinets in the Steiger
111
kinds of window constructions
also includes a beautiful image
of a woman at the window
facade of a vacation home in
Braunwald built in 1927 by
Hans Leuzinger; then the
camera again traces the glass
facades of the Bella Lui
Sanatorium; finally, it shows
an overview of the dining hall
on the ground floor. The
second half of the argument
for "light, air, sun" is made by
showing images of various roof
terraces. As early as 1927
the roof terrace as a replace-
ment for the traditional hip
roof was one of Le Corbusier's
famous "cinq points d'une
architecture nouvelle." In
playing children on the terrace just as much as the children
of Haefeli's LUscher House do. And naturally the sick
symbolize the healthy life in as well: the last image shows
fresh air that is a consequence the magnificent view from
of this new achievement. the solarium in the fourth floor
The set table and a filled of the Bella Lui Sanatorium.
washtub obviously sufficed to The deck chairs, probably
stimulate the imagination of designed for Montana, produc-
the children. Also noteworthy is ed by the Basler EisenmObel-
the way the edge of the roof fabrik Breunlin in Sissach, are
takes the form of a bench with easily recognizable. A. R.
low railings that serve as
a backrest. The views of the
terrace and garden taken from
the roof of the development
tract make for attractive photo-
graphs.
Several shots of the terrace
of the Steiger House show that
adults - and their dog, a terrier
11:
 ':. ,,
:•, ! ·, .!>
I ·-l·.:
I'

I:.
\,,·
·.,
··. ~ ;

I,\,

Ii
The conclusion of the light-air-
sun thesis-which, unlike the
exposition, is no longer treated
in a contrasting way but
presented only in a positive
light -takes the form of
the demand that the dwelling
should be immediately acces·
sible to the outside. Ground·
floor terraces, like those
of Haefeli's house for a doctor
on Renggerstrasse, with its
beautiful view of over Lake
Zurich, fulfill this demand. This
house could serve as the
perfect demonstration object
for this argument, "despite"
its conventional gable roof,
whfch thus did not have
to be included in the image.
cony of the Rotach Houses,
by contrast, immediately recall
the corresponding motif on
the cover of Sigfried Giedion's
Befreites Wohnen.
Partial freeing-up of the
ground floor by subdividing the
living space - something Le
Corbusier had called for in his
"Les cinq points d'une archi-
tecture nouvelle" - is demon-
strated on the examples of the
Maison Cook of 1926 and the
Rotach Houses once again.
Situated just above the banks
of the Limmat, they were Cover of Sigfried Giedion's
the starting point for athletic Befreites Wohnen, 1929
activity in the manner of the
day. A.J.
1

The new task of building
bathing resorts for the whole
family on lakes or along
rivers is the ideal embodiment
of the dissolution of the stone
city. Used as a symbol, the
bathing resort reinforces yet
again the central argument
of the reform for a healthy life,
in which the new dwelling
played such an important role.
Ado(f Steger and Karl Egender's
design for the bathing resort
at KUsnacht was, together with
Otto Zollinger's resort in Vevey,
the first Swiss bathing resort to
use a modern formal language.
Constructed in exposed
concrete, in part prefabricated,
the long building with its
large angular form surrounds
the extensive bathing area
alongside Lake Zurich. In
the international panorama of
KDsnacht Bathing Resort, 1929-30,
illustrated in Henry·Russell Hitchcock
and Philip Johnson, The International
Style, 1932
the architecture of the Neues Architecture since 1922, though
Wohnen movement, the filming it was misdated as being
of existing photographs not from 1928, the year of the comM
only saved travel costs, it also petition. The legend on the
made it possible to evaluate entrance pavilion, which rises
the latest buildings. These up like a tower, was the work
including examples from an of a young Max Bill, but the site
exhibition in Stockholm in the has since been altered. A.J.
summer of 1930 and at the
Club Real Nilutico of that same
year, of which Sigfried Giedion
was sent photographs
which he also published in the
July issue of Der Baumeister.
The photographs of the
KUsnacht bathing resort, howM
ever, were made on site in
the summer of 1930, soon after
it opened.
Like the Rotach Houses, the
KUsnacht bathing resort was
later including in Henry~Russell
Hitchcock and Philip Johnson,
The International Style:
11

makes categorical demands.
The examples are no longer
from Zurich's middle-class
milieu but from Basel and
Frankfurt am Main, where at
the time the focus was
on the "minimum dwelling."
Folding beds in the Praunheim
Housing Colony in Frankfurt
of 1928-30 made it possible
to use the tiny parental
bedroom during the day. The
rational kitchen with an imme-
diately adjacent eating area
was exhibited in the Gewerbe-
museum (Crafts museum)
in Basel in 1930; it was signed
by Paul Artaria. Works by
Artaria & Schmidt are shown
next: Zurn Neuen Singer, an
images of buildings in Frank-
single women, which dates furt that embody the film's
from 1928-29, and the stern message: a block of houses
row houses of Schorenmatten from the Praunheim and
from the same period. This the Am Riedhof housing
housing colony was immedia- colonies -with the entry hall of
tely adjacent to the WOBA the Budge Home by Kramer,
exhibition buildings, and Moser, and Stam intervening -
in 1930 it was brought in as a and finally the long lines of
practical demonstration of the Hellerhof, designed by Mart
modern architecture, for which Stam.A.R.
Hans Richter's Werkbund film
would provide the commentary.
The group of friendly and
curious residents shown in the
fllm was taken in the garden of
the mirrored rows of houses.
The small wooden sheds that
articulate the austere, smooth
facades are clearly visible.
The film concludes with several