New Human, New Housing. Architecture of the New Frankfurt 1925–1933

In the 1920s, an unprecedented programme of architectural and cultural renewal was established in the German city of Frankfurt am Main. This scheme became inscribed in cultural history under the name the New Frankfurt. Under the city’s lord mayor, Ludwig Landmann, and chief municipal planning officer, Ernst May, the ideas of the Modern Movement took shape. More than 10,000new residential units were planned during the housing and urban development initiative which began in 1925. Working for the City of Frankfurt, architects recruited from home and abroad created pioneering works – including standardised family-oriented flats, affordable apartments for those on low incomes, the first fitted kitchen, and child-friendly schools – and instigated developments in diverse fields, such as the industrial prefabrication of building shells and the planning of green space in urban contexts.