Projects by Name

In 1941, the chief of defense housing invited Gropius and Breuer to build a housing complex for 250 families sponsored by the Federal Works Agency (FWA). Breuer had actively lobbied for a defense project as private construction had largely ceased due to restrictions on material and labor imposed by the war efforts. The project was intended to house defense workers in the Alcoa aluminum factories, but the plant moved before the housing complex opened. The FWA gave the firm twelve days to produce preliminary designs and another eighteen days to complete the working drawings and specifications. Gropius and Breuer designed long blocks of one- and two-story units arranged in response to the hilly contours of the site. Units on steeply sloping sites were supported by lally columns so as to avoid the need for expensive grading of the site and foundations. The north facades were clad in brick veneer. The south elevations, which provided access to the gardens and faced the road, were faced with cedar siding laid horizontally on the ground floor and vertically on the upper story. A louvered sunshade protected the large windows on this façade, which was constructed using the truss system developed for Hans Falkner's ski lodge. The limited budget of $3,500 per house led Gropius and Breuer to use a partially prefabricated standardized wood-frame construction. While the FWA admired the complex, local reactions were negative. Tenants did not like the sunshades, the orientation of the houses, or the low wall between the open-plan kitchen and living room. Today the complex is a successful cooperative, although some features of the original design have been changed.