Skip to Content
Closed today, next open Thursday. Closed today, next open Thursday.

Settlement Units Density Studies, Aerial Perspective

An aerial perspective drawing of a settlement made up of consecutive L-shaped houses with courtyards and surrounding trees.

Image actions

  • An aerial perspective drawing of a settlement made up of consecutive L-shaped houses with courtyards and surrounding trees.

Date:

c. 1943

Artist:

Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer
American, born Germany, 1885–1967

About this artwork

Ludwig Hilberseimer was a German architect and urban planner who emigrated to Chicago and became chair of the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Department of City and Regional Planning. After working on experimental plans for a High-Rise City (Hochhausstadt) in the 1920s, Hilberseimer shifted the scale of his planning studies to focus on the settlement unit, a new type of urban development based on low-rise houses. The settlement unit was a residential group whose size was controlled to allow inhabitants to travel to work on foot, thus mediating between the scale of the city and the needs of the individual house. Hilberseimer modeled his settlement unit on a pattern of small, attached, L-shaped houses in long rows designed to maximize privacy at a relatively high density and to promote a fruitful repetition and standardization.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Architecture and Design

Artist

Ludwig Karl Hilberseimer (Architect)

Title

Settlement Units Density Studies, Aerial Perspective

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1938–1948

Medium

Ink over graphite on heavy buff drawing paper

Inscriptions

"80 people on one acre."

Dimensions

Approx: 39.5 × 50 cm (15 9/16 × 19 11/16 in.); Approx. image size: 30 × 40.5 cm (11 13/16 × 15 15/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of George E. Danforth

Reference Number

1983.1808.1

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share