Ludwig Hilberseimer: The New City. Principles of Planning
Kritische Edition
Herausgegeben von Florian Strob und Karoline Lemke
Mit der Schließung des Bauhauses 1933 begann für den Architekten, Stadtplaner und Kunstkritiker Ludwig Hilberseimer die Entstehungsgeschichte seines 1944 im amerikanischen Exil veröffentlichten Buches The New City. Principles of Planning. Viele seiner am Bauhaus vermittelten Lehrinhalte fanden Eingang in die Publikation. Noch 1964, drei Jahre vor seinem Tod, äußerte sich Hilberseimer auf die Frage, was er am Bauhaus unterrichtet habe, wie folgt: „After the Bauhaus was closed I wrote my book, The New City. This contains the things I was teaching at the Bauhaus.”1 Bedenkt man, dass kein anderer Architekt länger in der Architekturabteilung des Bauhauses lehrte als Hilberseimer, ist das bisherige Desinteresse für The New City innerhalb der Bauhaus- und Moderne-Forschung mindestens erstaunlich. Die kritische Edition bringt das gesamte Buch überhaupt zum ersten Mal in deutscher Übersetzung, arbeitet die komplexe Entstehungsgeschichte auf und rekonstruiert die Kontexte. Die vorliegende Edition basiert auf einer intensiven Auswertung des Nachlasses von Ludwig Hilberseimer im Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives.
Die digitale kommentierte Edition von The New City. Principles of Planning wird mit Erscheinen der deutschsprachigen Printausgabe (bei Spector Books, Leipzig) live geschaltet.
Geplanter Erscheinungstermin: März 2023.
Ludwig Hilberseimer: The New City. Principles of Planning
Critical Edition
Edited by Florian Strob and Karoline Lemke
For architect, urban planner, and art critic Ludwig Hilberseimer, the closure of the Bauhaus in 1933 marked the beginning of the genesis of his book The New City. Principles of Planning. Much of the content of his teaching at the Bauhaus found its way into the publication. As late as 1964, three years before his death, Hilberseimer made the following statement when asked what he had taught at the Bauhaus: "After the Bauhaus was closed I wrote my book, The New City. This contains the things I was teaching at the Bauhaus."1 Considering that no other architect was involved in teaching in the architecture department at the Bauhaus longer than Hilberseimer, the previous lack of interest in The New City within Bauhaus and modernism scholarship is astonishing, to say the least. This critical edition will, for the first time ever, present the whole book in German translation, working through its complex genesis and reconstructing its contexts. It is based on an intensive evaluation of Ludwig Hilberseimer's estate at the Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives.
The digital annotated edition of The New City. Principles of Planning will be published simultaneously with the German-language print edition (by Spector Books, Leipzig).
Planned publication date: March 2023.
[1] „Hilbs’ answers to questions posed by Miss Whitney Wing, Columbia student – June 4, 1964“. Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer Papers, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives, Art Institute of Chicago. 4/4, 5.28.