European cultural heritage seal awarded to Werkbund housing estates

On 31 March 2020, the European Commission awarded the European Heritage Label to the Werkbundsiedlungen in Stuttgart, Brno, Wroclaw, Vienna and Prague.

From 1927 to 1932, 6 European Werkbund housing estates were built, which tested the industrialization of building through prefabrication and at the same time new forms of social coexistence:

1927 Werkbundsiedlung Stuttgart, Weißenhofsiedlung
1928 Werkbundsiedlung Brno, Nový Dům (New House)
1929 Werkbundsiedlung Breslau, WUWA
1932 Werkbundsiedlung Vienna, currently being revitalised
1932 Werkbundsiedlung Neubühl, Zurich-Wollishofen
1932/33 Werkbundsiedlung Prague, Baba

The Werkbund housing estates have had a significant influence on the development of architecture in the 20th century. They form a European cultural asset of exceptional standing and are still the subject of intellectual and design debates today; they exemplarily reflect the political-social developments and ruptures of the 20th century in Europe. In their entirety, the Werkbund housing estates are outstanding testimonies to the common roots of modernity.

A cross-border network, initiated to a large extent by the state capital Stuttgart in 2013, is intended to ensure the preservation of the settlements and to convey the significance of the emergence of modern architecture as a joint European achievement.

Detailed information in werkbund.brief 57