ARCHITECTURE OF MULTI–OCCUPIED HOUSES DEVELOPED BY THE BUILDING AND HOUSING COOPERATIVES IN MID–WAR WARSAW (1918–1939)

PAWEŁ WĄSOWSKI

A significant quantitative and qualitative share of the mid-war housing spectrum was taken by the architecture of multi-family proprietary houses developed by the building and housing cooperatives. Those supplied 15% of the new residential space total built in mid-war Warsaw.
The climax of activities of the building and housing cooperatives was noted in the twenties of the 20th century. It was that very decade to reject the model of the 19th and 20th c. tenement with all its characteristic disadvantages, like the extreme build-up density of a lot, insufficient lighting or poor ventilation. At that time the pattern of the newly emerging housing estates had not been well settled down yet, therefore the study often refers to the intermediate – hybrid solutions.
The research into the multi-family houses developed by the building and housing cooperatives was performed on three levels: the urban planning and situational one, that of the functional solutions for the apartments and finally the aesthetic aspects.
The lots to be built-up with houses developed by the building and housing cooperatives differed much in terms of their location and area, which consequently determined the manner of future development. The catalogue of houses developed by Warsaw cooperatives comprised by this study was divided into two groups: detached houses in densely built-up areas and groups of houses developed following the peripheral estate pattern.
Both of these contain subgroups defined by relations of the developed and undeveloped areas of a lot as well as the degree of opening towards the surroundings.