Baba: The Werkbund Housing Estate Prague

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Summary: What you've missed knowing about the Werkbund
Review: The provision of mass housing was one of the most important aspects of architecture during the period between the two world wars, but it is for the great single family houses that the period is perhaps well-known, from Mies's Tugenhat House in Brno, to Corbu's Villa Savoye and Villa Stein, to Loos's Haus Stein in Vienna and Haus Müller in Prague. The collection of 33 houses by the participants in the Czechoslovak Werkbund merit equal scrutiny, and this fine guidebook provides just that. Each of the houses is described, including changes made during Nazi occupation or during the communist period, and brief biographies of the clients are included if know. The architects too are focused, as is the inellectual and social climate of the time. While this data has been available elsewhere, it is with this book that the general public can gain knowledge of this important experiment.