Bauen am Limit

Spurred by the development of new building materials such as steel and reinforced concrete, and facilitated by ever more reliable structural engineering models, designers in the high modernity (around 1880-1970) strove as never before to increase buildings’ width and height while minimising their use of materials. This exploration of structural boundaries at the limit of what was possible contrasted with an increase in confining, codified limits to what was permitted by growing systems of regulation. This volume brings together various contributions examining the practices, thought patterns and attitudes of designers and builders in the tension between these contrasting facets of high-modern construction. This novel approach to recent construction history is complemented by exploration of continuities and breaks between high-modern notions of efficiency and today’s building industry.

• Building and construction in the high modernity
• A new approach to the recent history of construction with contributions by recognized experts
• Results of the DFG priority program "Construction as cultural heritage"