Ernst Neufert, Ines Weizman
Ernst Neufert (1900–1986) is one of the central figures in the practice and debate surrounding standardization in Germany. He is best known as the author of Bauentwurfslehre (Elements of Building Design) , a renowned reference work on spatial requirements in architectural design, found in nearly every architect's office and library. Neufert was also a practicing architect; he began his career before the Second World War and completed several housing and commercial projects in the postwar period. The key to understanding his story, and by extension the problematic history of standardization throughout his career, lies in one of his lesser-known buildings: a house he owned and lived in.
Neufert designed this house while he was a professor of architecture in Weimar. He oversaw its construction in 1929 in Gelmeroda, a neighboring village. It was a house built to a specific set of specifications and site, the first he designed for himself. It was also an experiment in which he and his family participated, testing the house as a prototype, potentially to be replicated.
But buildings are also, of course, real estate: Neufert eventually moved out and began renting out the house—and, as is often the case, conflicts arose between tenants and landlords. This conflict would have been unremarkable had it not inadvertently revealed something about Neufert and his possible association with the Nazis during the war.
see also: Weizman, Ines, (2016), Exception to the Norm: Buildings and Skeletons in the Work of Ernst Neufert Perspecta: QUOTE. MIT Press, pp. 136-148.
