Hans Scharoun and the Organic Urbanism. The Proposal for Hauptstadt Berlin Through Hugo Häring

Abstract

Hans Sharoun was an important exponent of the Organic Architecture. He was closely associated with Hugo Häring who developed the idea of Organhaften Bauens. This term is referred not only to architectural artefacts but to the urban development of the cities. The concept of Stadtlandschaft was first defined by Hugo Häring and later used by Hans Scharoun in his urban’s projects. One of them is the proposal for the competition Hauptstadt Berlin which made together with Wils Ebert. This was a good opportunity to think about the future development of the city of Berlin after destruction due to the massive bombing during the Word War II. The following work highlights the theoretical bases of Organhaften Bauens applied by Scharoun in the proposal and formulated by Hugo Häring previously. The proposal Die grüne Haupt-und Weltstadt is a document which helps to understand the theoretical bases of the Organic Urbanism. In this work its graphic representation will be analysed to explain the idea of linking urban development with the landscape conditions of the site, what is included in the concept of Stadtlandschaf. Often considered difficult to understand due to its lack of concreteness, the indeterminacy is in fact a tool used as a design concept of Organhaften Bauens, the organic principles applied by Hans Scharoun in this proposal, but formulated first by his colleague Hugo Häring.