Fabian Heublein: WBS70

Here is a story local to us, one from Leipzig. WBS70, where WBS stands for residential construction series and 70 for the year in which this way of standardized panel construction was developed in East Germany, is a project about connection between the inhabitants and the architectural design of the houses and neighbourhoods they live in. WBS70 is the most widespread panel construction series in East Germany, where virtually all new residential houses since the 1960s were built with the use of panel blocks. Being easy and cheap to fabricate and build after wartime housing shortage, today these panel block houses, including WBS70, are not considered particularly desirable. Nevertheless, they dominate the urban landscape of East Germany, accounting for around 1.5 million flats, and thus definitely interact with other elements of cityscape and, most importantly, local inhabitants.

“Our architecture reflects truly as a mirror”, - Louis Henry Sullivan, architect.

Fabian Heublein about the project:
The subject of interest in my work is the human being. I am interested in certain social situations as well as their influence on the way of life and the habitus of the people. WBS means residential construction series and 70 represents the year in which this way of standardized panel construction was developed in East Germany. All components are based on a horizontal and vertical grid of 1,20 m. The work is about the relationship of the inhabitants to prevailing design principles in their neighborhoods. The series of portraits, landscapes and statements of the inhabitants is presented as a book and as framed photographs.

About the photographer:
Fabian Heublein is a photographer based in Leipzig. He holds a diploma in visual arts from the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig. Fabian a member of the BBK (Federal Association of Visual Artists) since 2017.

www.fabianheublein.de

Also in Portfolio

This project combines archive material with original photographs made to reproduce elements and events connected to the story. The facts have been [...]

Absence of Water is a photographic project which documents the state of decay of some baths, pools and lidos in the United Kingdom. They were places [...]

"Wir brauchen keinen Krieg! Wir brauchen Essen und Menschenrechte!“, sagt Kyaw Kyaw, 26. Er ist ein Punk und lebt in Rangun, Burma. Früher hat er [...]