Fischer-buildings

Hello, glad you’ve made it. The houses on the right side of the street were designed by architect Leopold Fischer. But who is he? This name does not really come up in connection with Bauhaus. This could be because Fischer was not actually a member of Bauhaus. However, he was a student and colleague of Adolf Loos, the renowned Viennese architect, pioneer of classical modernism, and radical architecture critic.
In 1925, Fischer came to Dessau, where he made a career as chief architect of the Anhaltischer Siedlerverband (Anhalt Settlers’ Association). While Törten was to remain the only housing project in Dessau for Gropius and the Bauhaus, Fischer realized many housing estates in Dessau, Bernburg, Köthen, Coswig, Kühnau, Oranienbaum, and Zerbst. Nevertheless, his buildings remained unnoticed for a long time – or were even attributed to the Bauhaus.
From 1926 to 1928, parallel to the Gropius housing estate in Törten, Fischer worked with landscape architect Leberecht Migge to build the Knarrberg housing estate, not far from the Bauhaus building. And in 1929, after Gropius had left Dessau, Fischer planned the expansion of the Gropius Estate with 65 semi-detached houses on Großring, thirty of which were built. These are the houses you can see now.
Fischer had already developed and successfully implemented this type of house in the Knarrberg estate. Perhaps less radical in their aesthetics than the Gropius buildings, they were well received by buyers. Affordable housing through cost reduction, series production, and standardization was also the order of the day for him, but Fischer took a modern approach that differed from the Bauhaus, Gropius, Meyer, and Paulick. Ecological considerations and, as we would say today, “sustainability” played a particularly important role for Fischer.
An essential element of the design were the “industrial settler gardens” developed with Migge. Parallel to construction, gardening was also to be rationalized. The gardens of these houses were much larger than those of Gropius or the unrealized low-rise buildings of Bauhaus. In times of crisis – and the 1920s were just that for the majority of the population – they were intended to enable self-sufficiency, or at least significantly reduce living costs. Residents were to provide their own food, grow vegetables and fruit, and keep small animals.
A sophisticated underground rainwater irrigation system, a system for composting kitchen waste, and a peat toilet were intended to water and fertilize the vegetable beds, while winter gardens and fruit walls between the individual gardens were designed to store heat. Large windows connected the gardens and the interior of the houses, ensuring that the houses were well lit and ventilated. The floor plans and all rooms were designed for practical, efficient, and versatile use.
Surely Fischer’s buildings are interesting as another example of creating affordable, high-quality living space that also meets social and ecological standards, but with their large gardens allowing for self-sufficiency, they are more reminiscent of village life and have little in common with the progress-optimistic “urban residential meadow” envisioned by the Bauhaus, Meyer, and Hilberseimer with their urban planning concept of 1930.
We’ve now reached the end of our tour. I wish you a lovely day.