AS THE AUSTRIAN CAPITAL gradually recovered from the immediate aftermath of World War I, the city began to show signs of rapid renewal. The transformation of the urban landscape observed by many prominent contemporaries from abroad, such as the German writer Ernst Toller (1893–1939), were accompanied by no less profound changes within the domestic spaces hidden behind the building facades. The newly established settlements and thousands of new apartments erected throughout the city demanded novel, functional solutions in furnishing and a modern approach to interior design. Artists, architects, designers, and other experts were tasked with devising ideas on how to improve the living conditions of the working class. Organizations such as the Advice Bureau for Interior Design and Domestic Hygiene (Beratungsstelle für Inneneinrichtung und Wohnungshygiene, BEST) of the Austrian Association for Housing Reform (Österreichischer Verband für Wohnungsreform) showcased models of domestic interiors and supported new tenants in their search for appropriate furnishings. They also sought to educate the masses through lectures and publications in the belief that modern architecture and industrial design would help to advance the new social order and foster a new, authentic culture of domestic living (Wohnkultur) which the Viennese seemed to have lost during the war. Innovative interiors equipped with clever technical solutions were also meant to liberate the working class—and workingclass women in particular—from the burden of household work by creating light, airy, healthy spaces which were easier to maintain and did not require constant supervision on the part of the housewife.

But before new interiors and furnishing could become affordable and widely available to the public, they had to be simplified, standardized, and set into serial production. To that end, the Austrian Werkbund brought together architects, designers, industrialists, and artisans to experiment with modern materials and construction methods and to produce contemporary, inexpensive furnishings that could be modified to fit the individual apartments. Some architects, such as Anton Brenner (1896–1957), even designed model apartments—machines for living (Wohnmaschinen), as he referred to them—with compact built-in closets and cupboards, folding beds, and small fitted kitchens.