Apartment House for Interbau Exhibition, Berlin-Hansaviertel: Ground floor plan - Walter Gropius

A technical ground floor plan by Walter Gropius for his apartment block at the 1957 Interbau exhibition in Berlin.

This architectural drawing presents the ground floor plan for the apartment block designed by Walter Gropius for the 1957 Interbau exhibition in the Hansaviertel district of West Berlin. Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus, applied his principles of functionalism and rational planning to this residential project. The plan illustrates a curved building footprint, a design choice intended to respond to the site conditions and improve the orientation of individual units toward natural light.

The drawing displays the technical precision characteristic of Gropius and his firm, The Architects Collaborative. It details the spatial organisation of the ground floor, including the placement of stairwells, entrance lobbies, and the division of living spaces. The layout reflects the post-war focus on social housing, prioritising efficiency and the standardisation of domestic environments. The inclusion of site elements, such as the adjacent playground and pathways, demonstrates the architect's concern for the integration of the building within its urban context.

As a document of mid-century architectural practice, this plan captures the transition from the early experimental phase of the Bauhaus to the large-scale implementation of modernist housing models in the 1950s. The clean lines and clear annotations provide insight into the methodology of the design process, where every square metre was calculated to serve a specific purpose. This print offers a view into the technical rigour behind one of the most significant urban planning projects of the post-war era in Germany.