The West German Grey Architecture of the 1950s and 1960s has had a decisive impact on how German cities look, yet this architectural style has been neglected in the discourse. This is all the more surprising since many of the relevant buildings are soon to be renovated.
In this book, West Germany’s Grey Architecture is given the comprehensive analysis that it deserves, using historical as well as typological and theoretical sources. Concrete examples in Essen’s inner city are employed to explain why and how such buildings came to be, the book also offers, for the first time, a history of German reconstruction “from below”. It shows that West Germany’s Grey Architecture is in no sense something entirely negative but is the result of a stupendous joint effort – mixing traditionalism and modernism in a unique way.
