Social Individualism Walter Gropius and his Appropriation of Franz Miiller-Lyer's Idea of a New Man

摘要

In 1929, Walter Gropius developed the 'High-Rise Steel Frame Apartment Building' that was based on theories about the emergence of a New Man put forward by sociologist Franz Muller-Lyer. In his lecture at the Congres International d'Architecture Moderne conference in 1929, Gropius appropriated Muller-Lyer's sociology in order to promote and prompt the re-development of high-rise tenements and master households. Gropius' 1931 contribution to the Deutsche Bauausstellung in Berlin incorporated a full-scale community lounge and a recreation area with sporting equipment, as well as a model and plans for a 'High-Rise Steel Frame Apartment Building' that were designed in accordance with Muller-Lyer's theories. While it shows Muller-Lyer's influence, the boxing equipment found in the recreation area reflects the importance that sport, and boxing in particular, had gained after 1900. Boxing was perceived as a sport that would not only further fitness but also raise the spirits and help the inhabitant to succeed in the modern urban environment. By providing boxing equipment, Muller-Lyer's vision, which envisaged master households as furthering a community of peaceful individuals living in a condition of mutual trust, is weakened. In 1923, the sociologist Helmuth Plessner had regarded Utopian visions of ideal communities as antithesis to actual events in the Weimar Republic. The embracing of theories that promised an evolutionary and linear development towards peaceful communities can be regarded as a counterreaction to a present that was perceived as an imperfect and temporary condition. Furthermore, Gropius' appropriation of Muller-Lyer's sociology not only helped to distinguish his position from Marxist and socialist theories but also illustrated the contemporary tendency to accept Utopian ideas while simultaneously doubting the practicality of some.