When Modern Was Green: Life and Work of Landscape Architect Leberecht Migge

Increasingly vital to contemporary design, 'green" or ecological thinking was already anticipated by German modernists in the early twentieth century. At the center of this drive towards an ecological modernism was landscape architect Leberecht Migge 1881-1935).

Migge brilliantly synthesized ideas from across fields such as organic gardening, architecture, and biological theory to create pioneering projects throughout central Europe. He applied "biotechnic" principles to integrally link dwelling and garden, recycling household waste to grow foodstuffs through the use of innovative infrastructure and open space planning.

In collaboration with prominent modernist architects, including Martin Elsaesser, Ernst May, Bruno Taut, and Martin Wagner, he produced some of the most notable works of the period, the mass housing settlements, or Grobsiedlungen, of Frankfurt Main and Berlin. Migge was also a talented garden and park designer, combining green and architectural elements through his "garden-architectonic."

Haney's study fully documents Migge's life and work for the first time, challenging conventional assumptions about modernism and ecological design history.