furt. As a result a sort of dialectics developed between the modern design principles
that served as guidelines and the concrete context in which the work was carried out.
This dialectic explains the profusion of May’s achievement in Frankfurt.^67
May’s planning was based on the concept of the Trabantenstadt.^68 The Tra-
bantenstadtconsists of a core city surrounded by a number of satellites (Trabanten),
at a certain distance from the center but with very good transport connections. To a
certain extent this concept shows the hallmarks of fragmentation and decentraliza-
tion, but it is built according to a distinct organic pattern. The city admittedly is split
into separate parts: the urban tissue does not extend in a continuum but is broken by
green areas, being fragmented as a result (figure 23). The hierarchy between the nu-
cleus of the city and the satellites is preserved, however, and the general structure
of the city is characterized by the fact that the city center also has a central function,
serving as the “nucleus” or “heart” of the city. It contains all the important civic
amenities and the main commercial, administrative, political, and economic activities
2
Constructing the Modern Movement19
Aerial photograph of the
Siedlung of Hellerhof. The
houses on the left were built
around 1901; the long white
blocks, designed by Mart Stam,
date from 1929–1932.20 Layout of Hellerhof.