Form After Urbanism:

Grossformen im Wohnungsbau is the title of an unassuming pamphletthat German architect O.M. Ungers published in 1966 as part of theVeröffentlichungen zur Architektur series (VzA #5) during his tenure at theTU Berlin in the 1960’s.1 In it Ungers reimagines the singular architecturalintervention at a scale between architecture and urbanism as a counter measureto the rapid urbanization brought about by Europe’s postwar boom. The formalcoherence of Grossform (literally meaning “large form” in German) could provide a framework within which the unplannable processes of the contemporarycity could play out, while acting as stable markers of identity in an expanding urban field ofincreasing sameness and formlessness.

Volume Editors
Julie Larsen & Roger Hubeli