Der große Baukasten

Abstract In Eberswalde (Brandenburg), a model house estate built in 1931 by Hirsch Kupfer- und Messingwerke has been preserved. The special feature of the eight house types built in lightweight construction is their outer skin of copper sheets. The structure consists of wall segments prefabricated in the factory, which were plugged together on the building site using patented connecting elements. One of the houses was built under the supervision of Walter Gropius, who for a short period of time was in charge of the factory’s house construction department. Here he tried to realize his idea of the building kit on a large scale, in which houses were to be produced on stock in factories. A considerable amount of plans as well as correspondence prove how profoundly Gropius was concerned with the development of the copper houses.