Experiment Wohnbau

As an alternative to the standard mass housing construction of the postwar years, an independent typology developed in in the 1970s in Styrian social housing construction. Up to the beginning of the 1990s, it was a combination of reformist politicians, visionary officials, and architects and clients willing to experiment who produced the Modell Steiermark (or "Styria model") housing construction that drew widespread international attention. Planned participatively together with future residents, the projects bear witness to both the distinctive individualism and the community spirit of the Graz School. Andrea Jany's monograph recounts, for the first time, the historical-social development of the Styria model, while presenting twenty-eight housing projects and evaluating them according to a residential satisfaction survey from the point of view of present-day users.