Ludwig Hilberseimer: Infrastructures of Modernity

After the fourth CIAM Congress, held in Athens in 1933, had put the functional city at the centre of urban planning discussions, Ludwig Hilberseimer published the book The New City (1944) in his Chicago exile. The architect, urban planner and former professor at the Bauhaus started out from a functional analysis of the city. But he found results that went far beyond the demands of his colleagues. Based on studies at the Dessau Bauhaus, Hilberseimer developed a kind of ecological urbanism that envisaged an interrelation of city and landscape. However, he was able to realise this concept only once and only in sections: Lafayette Park in Detroit was created from 1956 onwards as a joint project with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and the landscape architect Alfred Caldwell.

The international conference Ludwig Hilberseimer: Infrastructures of Modernity takes a new look at various aspects and discourses of modernity based on the special role of Ludwig Hilberseimer. In the five panels “City Building Elements,” “Großstadt: German Perspectives,” “Urban Landscapes: US Perspectives,” “Life/Theory” and “Media Methods,” infrastructures serve as a kind of leitmotif. Hilberseimer’s work, especially in its deviations, is suitable as a model for the first half of the 20th century and allows alternative approaches to a history of modern urbanity.

Participating scientists: Alexander Eisenschmidt (University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Architecture), Scott Colman (Rice University School of Architecture in Houston), Magdalena Droste (formerly Bauhaus-Archiv, Berlin), Alison Fisher (Art Institute of Chicago), Plácido González Martínez (College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Tongji University in Shanghai), Christa Kamleithner (BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg), Christine Mengin (University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), Philipp Oswalt (University of Kassel), Andreas Schätzke (Bauhaus Dessau Foundation), Florian Strob (Bauhaus Dessau Foundation), Andreas Buss (University of Kassel), Robin Schuldenfrei (Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London), Charles Waldheim (Harvard University), Nikos Katsikis (Delft University of Technology), Benedict Clouette (Columbia University), Anna Vallye (Connecticut College), Lutz Robbers (Jade Hochschule Wilhelmshaven, Oldenburg, Elsfleth), Sandra Neugärtner (University of Erfurt)

On October 28, 2021, as part of the conference, the intermezzo Ludwig Hilberseimer. Infrastructures of the New City opens at the Bauhaus Museum Dessau.

Participation in the conference Ludwig Hilberseimer: Infrastructures of Modernity is possible on site and online via Zoom. The detailed programme and the registration form are available here.

The conference is part of the Bauhaus im Text research project run by the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation dedicated to developing a historical-critical edition of Ludwig Hilberseimer’s book The New City.