BRD 1985, D Jonas Geist, Joachim Krausse, Print digital, 42 min, absolut MEDIEN

Ernst May, named Frankfurt’s director of city planning in 1925, assembled a staff of young architects, planners and designers. With its wide-ranging aspiration to create a modern housing culture […] New Frankfurt distinguished itself as the most innovative major New Construction project of the 1920s. (DVD Booklet Edition Bauhaus - Das Neue Frankfurt, absolut Medien) 60 years later, in 1985, the filmmakers portray the New Frankfurt housing development from a historical perspective as well as from the point of view of its current users. Part 3, which we screen here, focusses on the Frankfurt Kitchen. Architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky explains the origin story of her concept in an interview; residents demonstrate its use in action; archival material and new footage reveal how the housing model and day-to-day living adapt to each other symbiotically.