DIE NEUE HEIMAT (1950-1982). A Public Housing Corporation and Its Buildings

‘Neue Heimat’ was the largest and most prominent non-state housing corporation in post-war Europe. For more than 30 years, the union-led building corporation was responsible for the planning and construction of more than 400,000 apartments as well as, from the 1960s onwards, numerous municipal and commercial buildings in Germany – the majority of which are still standing. ‘Neue Heimat’ was a beacon of hope for those seeking to participate in Germany's so-called “economic miracle” or Wirtschaftswunder. The scandalous collapse of the company in the early 1980s sent a shockwave through West Germany and marked the end of an era.

With the benefit of more than a generation's hindsight, we are now well placed for a critical survey of Neue Heimat: What has become of the – still much-touted – Social Democratic vision of "a right to housing for all"? In the context of our current housing crisis and the call for new construction in many major cities, Neue Heimat's housing estates and residential concepts are relevant once more. Through noteworthy case studies, as well as numerous historical photographs, film excerpts, plans, and models, this exhibition will examine and document the buildings of ‘Neue Heimat’ for the first time. Exhibited pieces will include such large-scale estates as Neue Vahr Bremen or the overspill city of Neuperlach, vast major projects like6the ICC congress center in Berlin or the Klinikum in Aachen, as well as the firm’s international portfolio. The exhibition will focus attention on the protagonists of the ‘Neue Heimat', including some 700 architects and city planners, and their influence on both residential and urban development.

A collaboration between Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität, Munich (TUM), Hamburgisches Architekturarchiv and Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte.